For twenty-three out of the past 25-years, the streets of Vankleek Hill have been filled with out-of-towners desperately searching for the rarest of collectibles buried deep inside the dusty piles of ‘stuff’ that, until very recently, had been stacked in boxes next to the water heaters of local hoarders finally looking to downsize.

…this would have been the 25th Anniversary of the Event but the Pandemic hit and it was cancelled in 2021 and 2022 because everyone was dead or dying or infected or heavily dosed on Ivermectin or drinking bleach or because most people were trying to avoid the other people who were doing all of those things.

But, hey, you never know what you’ll find in a town-wide treasure hunt. I haven’t heard of any ‘historical’ finds at Vankleek Hill’s T&T Event, like an early version of the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms tucked away in a frame of your grandmothers favourite velvet Elvis portrait, but there are always plenty of tools, furniture, baby stuff, kitchenware, video games, music and movies in various formats, books, instruments, and even car parts that may or may not have recently come off vehicles from Hawkesbury [car thefts in the city here].

I did take part in the VKH T&T a whole bunch of years ago. I set up a small selection of books, movies, and CD’s on my parents front porch, and I also put a $150 price tag on the car seat holding my then 1-year old son, Victor. I ended up selling pretty much everything except Victor, including contributing to the delinquency of minors by selling my copy of ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ (including the cheat guidebook) to some early-teen kids… who then probably grew into the grownups behind the reason for Project Volcano [all about Project Volcano here], so I guess that’s on me.

…anyway, disregarding for the moment any culpability on my part in the rash of car and car part thefts in Hawkesbury over the past decade, please enjoy the photos below — just click on one to get the carousel started, and don’t forget to leave a comment… seriously, let me know what you think. Thanks.