Melancthon celebrates birthday with special day in Horning’s Mills

Written By Brian Lockhart

The Township of Melancthon held a special event to celebrate its

171st birthday on Saturday, June 22, with events taking place at the Community Centre in Horning's Mills.

While the town's founding does not have a specific date, the day is celebrated every year on the third Saturday in June.

“Today is the 171st anniversary of the founding of Melancthon so we take this day to celebrate and bring the community together,” explained Melancthon Deputy Mayor James McLean. “As a council, we really want to bring people together. We've been doing this for the last couple of years and it's getting bigger every year.”

The Township has an interesting past. It was founded in 1853 by Louis Horning who took advantage of local waterways and built a mill. The mill attracted other businesses to the town and the village began to grow. More mills were built along the river over the years.

Several familiar family names in the area descended from the original settlers with several generations having called Melancthon home. While largely rural, the township has three villages – Horning's Mills, Corbetton, and Riverview.

“For this event, we throw out the welcome to all residents of Dufferin County and it's an opportunity to bring the community together and celebrate,” Mr. McLean said. “It's a celebration of the township. We found that during COVID when everybody were stuck in their homes, people felt isolated. The last three years we've been trying to get people out and bring back a sense of community.”

Originally planned to happen outdoors, inclement weather moved the celebration to the community centre. The community centre has been recently renovated to preserve it for coming generations.

The event featured activities for people of all ages.

“There's a live band – Dufferin County Line is playing music for us,” Mr. McLean said. “Mono Breweries is serving alcohol. We have a number of different vendors and there are children's games. The Mono–Melancthon Fire Department is working the barbecue.”

The event did bring out many people who celebrated their town and enjoyed line dancing to the band at the community centre.