Civil and Municipal - Mar 2023

115 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 1874, it was already home to a library, six churches, several small factories, mills of all kinds, a dozen general stores, and ten hotels. Today, Meaford is a municipality of approximately 11,000, having gone through the 2001 “amalgamation” process, which combined St. Vincent Township, Sydenham Township, and the former Town of Meaford into the new designation. Mayor Barbara Clumpus describes the Municipality of Meaford as both “a small rural agricultural community” as well as “a charming example of small-town Ontario,” and, in fact, she’s entirely correct in that assessment because Meaford does encompass both features. There are two townships within the urban part of the Municipality, plus three small villages and 26 crossroad communities throughout its large rural expanse. Indeed, agriculture has always been the lifeblood of the area. Because Meaford is situated within the micro-climate of the Niagara Escarpment, which MEAFORD, ONTARIO