Colourful Mystery Quilt one of many unique items donated to 35th Conservation Dinner
Former Conservation Dinner Committee Chair Janet Clarke incorporates fascinating donated fabric of unknown origin into quilt donated to auction on April 3, 2025
One of the highlights for guests of the Conservation Dinner is seeing and bidding on beautiful, one-of-a-kind items that are donated to this popular charitable community event.
Janet Clarke is a former Conservation Dinner Committee Chair, community volunteer, and member of the Board of Directors of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation (ABCF). She is also a donor to the auction. This year, she is donating a colourful and eye-catching piece she calls the Mystery Quilt. The quilt is a mystery, she said, because it incorporates some donated fabric that arrived at her home as a mysterious donation with an unknown history.
Janet and her friends sew quilts and capes and fidget aprons and other items for local charitable causes. She doesn’t know the source of the colourful fabric pieces that arrived at her door but she had an inspiration to use them in her design for the Mystery Quilt she is donating this year. She calls the fabric “funky,” and “neat.”
Some of the squares were sewn and she pieced the others in her design which she then had machine-quilted. The fact she doesn’t know who dropped off the fabric or where it came from gives the donation a fun and special quality. “I was happy to get it,” she said. It was enjoyable seeing the visually impactful piece come together. “It was my happy summer project,” she said. “It made me happy doing it.”
The 35th Conservation Dinner takes place on Thursday, April 3, 2025. This gala dinner and auction has raised more than $1.39 million, for projects in local communities, over its history dating back three and a half decades. The event features a live auction, silent auction, general raffles, special raffles, appetizers and a delicious Dinner. It’s a chance for fun and fellowship and to support needed projects, in local communities, such as outdoor recreation, trails and parks and conservation areas, habitat for local species, and programs for local youth.
The Mystery Quilt is one of the unique items at the charity auction this year. Other items include dining, sports, arts, crafts, travel experiences, and much, much more. To buy tickets to the Conservation Dinner, or to donate, phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 or email info@abca.ca or visit the Ausable Bayfield Conservation office east of Exeter at 71108 Morrison Line (south of Highway 83).
The Conservation Dinner takes place at South Huron Recreation Centre at 94 Victoria Street East in Exeter. Tickets are $100 each and patrons receive a charitable gift receipt, for income tax purposes, for a portion of that amount. Find out more at conservationdinner.com and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation’s Conservation Dinner web page.
Exeter Lions Club has been co-partner, with ABCF and the watershed community, on the Dinner, since 1991. Net profits are split 50-50 between community conservation projects of the Conservation Foundation and community conservation projects of the Exeter Lions Club.
Conservation Dinner Committee names Mike Brintnell as Feature Artist for 35th Conservation Dinner in 2025
The Conservation Dinner Committee has selected Mike Brintnell, of Mike’s Signs in Exeter, as the Feature Artist for the 35th Conservation Dinner and Auction on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Mike Brintnell is a renowned sign-making craftsman and a life-long resident of Exeter. “I’m very proud to be the feature artist this year,” he said. He is working on a feature piece of sign art that will incorporate photos of historic Exeter businesses from the past as well as photos of current businesses in the town.
Chris Keller, of Exeter Lions Club, is Conservation Dinner Committee Chair.
“On behalf of the 2025 Conservation Dinner Committee, I am honoured to announce Mike Brintnell, of Mike’s Signs, is the featured artist for the 35th Conservation Dinner,” he said. “Mike’s work is truly an art form and he is renowned for the quality and excellence of the signs he envisions and crafts,” the Chair said. “We are excited that Mike’s tribute to local businesses, past and present, will be the feature art for this year’s auction.”
Mike is a long-time supporter of his community and has donated many times to the Dinner over many years. Some of his popular auction items have been the focus of bidding battles. Those auction highlights have included an historical sign for Exeter’s 150th anniversary; and a much sought-after creation, by the sign maker and sports enthusiast, about the history of hockey’s Exeter Hawks.
Mike has lived on the same street (even the same side of the street!) in Exeter for almost his entire life. Even back in secondary school, Mike had an interest in art and a love for making signs. As a young person, he even made signs at the request of classmates. “I knew I always wanted to do art in some way,” he said. The future sign artist wasn’t sure art college and a career in visual arts was a fit for him so he studied marketing at Fanshawe College. While there, he took a sign writing course. “I learned that that’s what I wanted to do,” he said.
From 1983 to 1991, the future business owner worked in the sign business for a London company. After that, he decided to go out on his own. He learned he needed a vendor’s permit to have a business. So, he went to the public office to get one. There, Mike was asked “What’s the name of your business?” Not having a name at that time, he thought quickly on his feet and said, ‘Mike’s Signs.’ The rest, as they say, is history.
Mike bought his current house and sign-making location in 1993 and he has been creating sign art there ever since.
The sign-making business has changed quite a bit over the years. In the early years, Mike painted everything by hand. Now, he has new technology at his fingertips to design and complete his creations. In 1995 he got his first vinyl plotter. In 2019, he upgraded to a 54-inch digital printer that can cut vinyl and also print. Although the days of hand-painting signs are almost gone, he says every so often “someone comes in with a project that I hand-paint.”
A box of thank you cards is a lasting reminder from some of the clients who have appreciated his craftsmanship in designing and creating signs for them. The Exeter sign artist takes great pride in his work and he says he’s proud when he sees his lasting legacy of signs in nearby communities and even some places farther away. “We were camping up north in Ontario and I saw a sign and said to my wife, ‘I made that sign.’”
Mike and his wife Patty have three children: Travis, Connor and Abbey. The Conservation Dinner supports community projects, such as recreation and youth projects and trails, that are near to their hearts as outdoor nature enthusiasts. “My wife and I quite often walk the South Huron Trail,” Mike said. “We have for years.”
This year’s feature artist is known far and wide for his artistic excellence in sign design and creation but he says he enjoys working in the town he has always called home. “I love a small town, I love the community,” he said.
Anyone who has photos of Exeter businesses they would like to share with Mike, for possible inclusion in the feature art design, they can email him at mikessigns@hay.net
The 35th Conservation Dinner community fundraiser and auction takes place on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at South Huron Recreation Centre at 94 Victoria Street East in Exeter.
Sign artist Mike Brintnell, of Mike’s Signs in Exeter, is creating a tribute to past and present businesses with sign art as auction Feature Art for 35th Conservation Dinner on April 3, 2025
Feature artist is 26th in Conservation Dinner history
Mike Brintnell, of Mike’s Signs, is the 26th person to be named a feature artist. The Conservation Dinner has named him feature artist for the 35th Conservation Dinner on Thursday, April 3, 2025. Featured artists in the auction’s 35-year history have worked in a wide range of media from visual arts to other media including floral art, woodwork; quilting; culinary arts; wine-making; sculpture (wood, metal and ice); and now sign-making.
Previous feature artists include: Stephanie Denomme, owner of Blush and Blossom Floral (2024); Dark Horse Estate Winery Inc. (2023); Diane Carson, The Electric Quilter, Exeter (2022); wood craftsman David Loerchner, D. L. Creations, Bayfield (2018); Iceculture Inc. of Hensall (2017); Jim Dawe, Murals in Metal (2016); culinary feature artist Chef James Eddington (2015); Tammy Laye (2014; 1990-1995); Madeleine Roske (2013); Martin Zimmer (2012); Catherine Weber (2011); Fran Roelands (2010); Bill Nieuwland (2009); David Bannister (2008); Tim Clark (2007; 1997); Teresa Marie (2006); Rae Ann Ladouceur (2005); Elisabeth Tonner-Keats (2004); Randy Jones (2003); carver Fred Negrijn (2002); Ken Jackson (2001); Kent Wilkens (2000); Barry Richman (1999); Flora Doerr (1998); and Peter Etril Snyder (1996).
The Conservation Dinner is a dinner, auction and fundraiser that has raised more than $1.39 million for needed community projects over almost 35 years.
The 2025 Conservation Dinner is the 35th event since 1990. The Exeter Lions Club has been co-partner, with Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation and the watershed community, on the Dinner, since 1991. Net profits are split 50-50 between community conservation projects of the Conservation Foundation and community conservation projects of the Exeter Lions Club.
Tickets are available now for the Conservation Dinner. To buy tickets to the Conservation Dinner, or to donate, phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 or email info@abca.ca or visit the Ausable Bayfield Conservation office east of Exeter at 71108 Morrison Line (just south of Highway 83). Tickets are $100 each and patrons receive a charitable gift receipt, for income tax purposes, for a portion of that amount.
People can buy their tickets from a Conservation Dinner Committee member or from the Ausable Bayfield Conservation office. People can pay for their tickets by cheque, cash or credit card. They can even pay by e-Transfer. (If you are buying your ticket by e-Transfer, be sure to use the dinner@abca.ca email address and include your mailing address and/or email address in the e-Transfer message box and specify if the payment is for a Conservation Dinner ticket or if the payment is a donation to the Dinner).
The auction and dinner supports projects such as a family-friendly fishing derby, accessible nature trails in Bayfield, Clinton, Parkhill, Lucan, Arkona, Exeter, and Varna; opportunities for students to experience outdoor nature education; a $1,000 student environmental grant for students in local communities; a summer job at Ausable Bayfield Conservation for a senior secondary school student; turtle monitoring and events in Port Franks and Ailsa Craig; aquatic habitat studies in Old Ausable Channel, Grand Bend; nature day camps; Owl Prowl; and parks and conservation areas.
The annual event features live and silent auctions of art and distinctive items such as travel packages and sports and entertainment memorabilia. The Dinner has special raffles, general raffles, appetizers, fun and fellowship, and a wonderful meal.
Conservation Dinner Committee thanks Jayden’s Mechanical for support of community; encourages other businesses and individuals to consider buying tickets for this community fundraiser on April 3, 2025
The Conservation Dinner Committee thanks Jayden’s Mechanical Ltd. for being the first business in 2025 to buy tickets for a table of ten for the community fundraising event on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Chris Keller, of Exeter Lions Club, is Chair of the Conservation Dinner Committee.
“On behalf of the Committee, I would like to thank Jayden’s Mechanical for their support of the community and for buying the first table of ten for the Conservation Dinner,” he said. “Their generosity will help to realize many important local recreation, education, youth and nature projects that could not happen otherwise. I hope their example will inspire other businesses and individuals to get their tickets as well for this enjoyable and worthwhile event in support of needed community projects.”
Chad Insley is General Manager of Jayden’s Mechanical Ltd. He says the company is pleased to support the Conservation Dinner which benefits local projects such as the family-friendly fishing derby, youth programs, educational projects to protect turtles and aquatic species in the area, and parks and trails and conservation areas.
“We look forward to the Conservation Dinner in April and we are pleased to support this community fundraising event of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation and Exeter Lions Club,” he said. “We encourage other businesses and residents to also get their tickets for an event that is lots of fun and which benefits important projects in our area.”
This gala dinner and auction has raised more than $1.39 million, for projects in local communities, over its history dating back almost three and a half decades.
The annual charitable event features live and silent auctions of art and other distinctive items including travel packages and sports and entertainment memorabilia. The Dinner also includes special raffles, general raffles, appetizers, fun and fellowship, and a wonderful meal. The Conservation Dinner takes place at South Huron Recreation Centre at 94 Victoria Street East in Exeter.
Tickets are $100 each and patrons receive a charitable gift receipt, for income tax purposes, for a portion of that amount. To buy tickets to the Conservation Dinner, or to donate, phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 or email info@abca.ca or visit the Ausable Bayfield Conservation office east of Exeter at 71108 Morrison Line (just south of Highway 83).
Find out more at conservationdinner.com and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation’s Conservation Dinner web page.
PHOTO INFORMATION: JAYDEN’S MECHANICAL LTD. BUYS FIRST TABLE OF TICKETS FOR CONSERVATION DINNER 2025 – Jayden’s Mechanical is supporting local community projects, of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation (ABCF) and Exeter Lions Club, by being the first business to purchase a table of 10 tickets for the Conservation Dinner and Auction on Thursday, April 3, 2025. Shown in photo, from left to right, are Chris Keller, of Exeter Lions Club, Chair of the Conservation Dinner Committee; Chad Insley, General Manager of Jayden’s Mechanical; Keisha Stacey, Controller with Jayden’s; and Dave Frayne, Conservation Foundation Chair. The Conservation Dinner Committee would like to thank Jayden’s Mechanical for their leadership and community support and the committee encourages other businesses to consider purchase of a table of tickets in support of the community. The Conservation Dinner raises funds for local recreation, youth and nature projects. These include a family-friendly fishing derby; parks and trails and conservation areas; job experiences and grants for youth; and aquatic species education and habitat. The Conservation Dinner in Exeter is happening for the 35th time in 2025. To buy tickets to the Conservation Dinner, as an individual or a business, or to donate, speak with a Lions Club or Conservation Dinner Committee member or phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610. This gala dinner and auction has raised more than $1.39 million, for projects in local communities, over its history dating back almost three and a half decades. The Conservation Dinner takes place at South Huron Recreation Centre at 94 Victoria Street East in Exeter. The annual charitable event features live and silent auctions of art and other distinctive items including travel packages and sports and entertainment memorabilia. The Dinner also includes special raffles, general raffles, appetizers, fun and fellowship, and a wonderful meal. Find out more at conservationdinner.com
