Humans are wired to connect by hearing and telling stories
Kevin Swayze, business storyteller and presentation coach.
Put the power of business storytelling to work when you want your message heard — and remembered.
Connect with your customers.
Craft engaging sales presenations.
Build your brand online and in person.
Personal, deliberate storytelling does that — and more.
Kevin Swayze helps you unearth, shape and empower your story so it cuts through the static of social media. He’ll guide you to give reporters what they want to boost your image in earned media opportunities. Business storytelling helps you win positive attention in our age of distraction
Give your audience what it wants
Kevin has 30+ years of journalism experience digging for the root of what’s going on. After writing thousands of stories on daily deadlines, Kevin knows how to zero in on the key issues. He asks questions to polish your next blog entry, craft a memorable Facebook post memorable or impress clients during your next business presentation.
Put business storytelling to work
Kevin crafts messages using Emotional Intelligence and proven journalism tactics. Honestly, transparency and empathy build memorable sponsored content, sales presentations or keynote speeches. Kevin prepares you for the moment your elevator pitch impresses an investor.
Deliver your message with impact
Kevin coaches you on how to effectively connect with your audience by expanding your toolkit of interpersonal tactics and online communication skills. Learn engaging and entertaining tactics of audience engagement. Hold everyone’s attention in the room from the first breath of your speech all the way to the closing applause.
Contact Kevin today to help you build compelling, persuasive messages that are remembered and shared. Reach him by email; text or voice at 226-924-4237, or use the contact form below.
Scott Illsley is up to Halloween mischief again in West Galt, even though he doesn’t live here anymore.
He’s a Nova Scotia native and remembers the annual Halloween festival in Kentville. More than 300 “pumpkin people” decorate that town every October, he says.
He and his wife Allison brought the tradition to Cambridge in 2015, after moving to Brant Road in the West Galt neighbourhood.
“My wife Allison and I thought it would be fun to start the tradition in West Galt,” Scott says.
“The pumpkin people are silly, fun-loving folk happy to share a laugh with passers-by and the kids – young and old – love them!”
Scott’s pumpkin people aren’t usually carved up. Instead, faces are painted on, so that the pumpkins can last a week or two on display.
West Galt Goes for the Gourds
The Pumpkin Possee quickly grew to patrol streets all around Victoria Park in the historic Dickson Hill neighbourhood. Students from Highland Public School head out to tour the displays, he says.
By 2017, there were themes for every year’s display, from sports to work to music and fairy tales. The 2023 theme was movies. For 2024, it The Olympics. In 2026, it’s Water.
The displays are added to the long-standing reputation of West Galt as a prime Halloween location for trick-or-treaters, with tree-lined streets and front porches on the big homes built more than a century ago.
Scott and his family moved back to the Maritimes in 2020, to Prince Edward Island, to be closer to family. He has many friends in West Galt and returns each autumn to keep the pumpkin people tradition alive in the last two weeks of October.
Scott doesn’t advocate carving up pumpkins. He’s all about painted faces, costumes and goofy situations playing out front yards across Dickson Hill. Like the high-jumper into a pool of leaves on his front yard in 2018, shown above.
“I always say that the charm of these pumpkin people is that they don’t take themselves too seriously and neither should their creators. People shouldn’t stress about any themes. Putting up any display is amazing and the more houses that get involved the better!
“In the past, we have had themes such as Pumpkin People Playing Sports, Pumpkin People at Work, TV Shows, Music and Fairy Tales. I am always amazed at how creative the West Galt families are in what they come up with,” Scott says.
The pumpkin people are generally on display over the last 2 weeks of October, often put up the weekend after Thanksgiving.
The pumpkin faces are best painted onto the pumpkins, so that the pumpkins last a bit longer. People should also make back-up heads as the pumpkins can go soft after a week and need replacement. Squirrels can sometimes get to them too some years.
How-to Craft Your Pumpkin People
What you need:
1. Pumpkin for the head and paint to make the face – big white eyes with dark pupils show up well. It is best to make backup heads as they may need to be replaced after a week.
2. Old clothing
3. Hay, newspaper, plastic bags or leaves for stuffing
4. Frame for the body – you can use wood (1″ x 3″ or similar) or Cornstalks- tape three or four stalks together with packing tape every 2 ft or so – you need enough stalks to be stiff enough to keep the pumpkin person standing upright.
5. Optional – Flood light to light up your display at night.
Pro tip: Keep spare pumpkin heads at the ready, as replacements. Sometimes, things go soft after a few weeks, or the squirrels make their own mischief in the displays.
Scott’s Pumpkin People, Step-by-Step
1. Make a frame or skeleton for the pumpkin person out of wood or cornstalk. The frame can be very simple but will need to form at least one leg, a torso, a neck (that can all be a single piece of wood) and arms. The neck should extend 6 or so inches above the arms to allow for mounting of the pumpkin head.
2. Dress your frame in clothing. You may wish to fasten the pants to the shirt or sweater to help contain any stuffing.
3. Stuff the clothing with straw, leaves, plastic bags, et cetera.
4. To stand your pumpkin person upright, use a wooden stake, sharp at one end. The stake should be as tall as your pumpkin person if using a cornstalk frame
5. Drive stake into the ground – you may want to do this at a slight angle to match the angle of the leg
6. Slide one leg of the pumpkin person over the stake. For a cornstalk frame – unbutton or lift shirt and wire stake to cornstalk frame. For wood frame – screw stake to leg with wood screws.
7. Consider supporting opposite leg with a shorter stake
8. Mount head onto neck but cutting a small hole in the bottom of the pumpkin
When was the last time you took a walk around Queen’s Square and soaked up the history?
In my 40 years living in Cambridge – the last 13 of those years in West Galt – I am now convinced that the square at the west end of the Main Street bridge is the most historic crossroads of the city.
It’s where Galt’s founder, William Dickson, planned the village’s western gateway, welcoming visitors on foot, on horseback in stagecoaches, for community fairs, sports, stage shows, and movies; and political gatherings, church services, and parades, says Andrew Taylor his 1970 local history book, Our Todays and Yesterdays.
Who remembers the Queen’s Hotel, Scott’s Opera House, and the early Galt arena on the Square?
Trains rumbling down the middle of George Street to the big factories along Grand Avenue?
Did you learn to swim at the YMCA pool – or do you splash in the Gore Centennial Fountain on hot summer days?
Do you gather silently on the Square every November, shoulder to shoulder with thousands of your neighbours, for Remembrance Day services around the cenotaph?
They’re all what I’ve learned is part of nearly two centuries of history that Queen’s Square is built on, as described by Jim Quantrell in his chronology book, Time Frames, published in 1993.
Free Walking Tour
Join me on Saturday, September 26, 2026 for a 90-minute walking tour around the square. I’m leading the walk, organized by the Cambridge Public Library.
It’s set to start at 10:30 a.m. at the Queen’s Square branch. There’s no cost, but you must register in advance to join the tour at: https://events.cambridgepl.ca/event/17218602
And bring along your stories about the square to share with your neighbours.
The more I talk with people, the more history I learn about the square.
References
Quantrell, Jim. Time Frames: Historic Chronicles of Galt, Preston, Hespeler and Cambridge (2nd edition) City of Cambridge Archives,1993. Cambridge Public Library call number: 974.344 Qua Catalogue link; https://cambridgepl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S207C1117203
Taylor, Andrew. Our Todays and Yesterdays: A History of the Township of North Dumfries and The Village of Ayr, 1970. Published for the North Dumfries and Ayr Centennial Committee. Cambridge Public Library call number: 971.344 Catalogue link: https://cambridgepl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S207C1041626
The feature story is about long-time West Galt teacher Graham Ponting and his partner Ellen Nelson. I enjoyed interviewing them and learning how many West Galters remember attending his English classes at Southwood Secondary School, where he worked for 13 years before taking on the Vice Principal role at Preston High School.
Stan Switalski created the photographs for the feature story.
Also featured in the October Edition:
The history of the Jenny Wren statue at Queen’s Square, erected to remember the thousands of Women’s Royal Canadian Navy service members trained in Galt in the Second World War.
The Snowdons first met at the Cambridge Fall Fair in 2018 – and moved into a home with newborn Ellis in January in 2025, not far away from the fairgrounds.
They’re the featured family in the June 2025 edition of Neighbours of West Galt, published by Best Verson Media. I had a wonderful time interviewing them and Stan Switalski created the cover photo and images for the feature story.
I’m the content coordinator for the monthly magazine and collect information to share in the publication. The full-colour magazine is distributed by Canada Post to homes in selected areas Cambridge, Ontario, west of the Grand River.
There’s no direct mail subscription service offered, so I encourage you to share your copy with your neighbours who don’t receive one in their mailbox.
Share your news and photos!
Please share your West Galt news, photos or events using this submission form.
Other stories in the June 2025 edition include:
An update on a community cafe opening for the summer in the Kent Street area, by Zenen Treadwell. Learn more about the laid-back drop-in conversation spot at credenzo.cafe
The Pets of the Month section features submitted photos photos of Ivy, a leopard gecko; and dogs Louis, Charlie, Chloe and Boston.
Main Street in Galt features Pride Week Events June 1-14, 2025, as the area is closed to traffic for expanded restaurant patios and events, hosted by the Downtown Cambridge Business Improvement Association.
rare Charitable Research Reserve in Blair reminds everyone to watch out for baby turtles as breeding season arrives in June.
Rob and Sue Fox are on the cover of March 2025 edition Neighbours of West Galt, in a photo by Stan Switalski.
I enjoyed interviewing my long-time friends Rob and Sue Fox as the featured family in the March 2025 edition of Neighbours of West Galt, published by Best Verson Media. Stan Switalski created the cover photo and images for the feature story.
I’m the content coordinator for the magazine and collect information to share in the monthly publication, which is distributed to selected areas west of the Grand River in Cambridge, Ontario. There’s no subscription offered, so I encourage you to share your copy with your neighbours.
Please share your West Galt news tips, photos or events using this submission form.
Other stories in the March 2025 edition include:
A history story I wrote about F. J. Brown & Son Jewellery Store, which has been a fixture on Main Street since 1890.
Advice about how much to expect new windows and doors to cost, in story by Linton Window and Door.
The House Doctor offers tips about protecting your house from Radon Gas seeping into your basement.
The Pets of the Month section features Callie, a Mini Australian Shepherd dog, and cats Scout and Bravehart.
A rundown of what’s happening in Cambridge Wedding Week, March 3-9, 2025, hosted by the Downtown Cambridge Business Improvement Association.
A 1965 aerial photo of a new subdivision under construction along Blair Road, from the Cambridge Reporter Collection at the City of Cambridge Archives.
Books by Irish Authors to help you get into the St. Patrick’s Day mood, offered by YourBookishLife.com
Rob and Sue Fox are on the cover of March 2025 edition Neighbours of West Galt, in a photo by Stan Switalski.
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