An Introduction to Our Readers
Since 1818 the doings of Dundas, Ontario have been recorded by a long line of print newspapers whose solemn duty, aside from yanking the tail of the Hamilton paper tiger cat, was to keep the people of the valley informed on their own business.
It was an old Dundas boy Fred J. Moss, who set type at the DUNDAS TRUE BANNER, who said that “a town without a newspaper is a dead town”. Well lest any person claim that the community of Dundas has gone to its last resting place in the super-city in the sky, the Editors of this paper wish to humbly present to the public a new news for Dundas:
THE GRANITE BALLOON.
We hope our little rag will serve Dundas competently, if not comprehensively, as a source for local news, events, musings, and general information.
Vive Le Dundas Libre!
“The Granite Balloon” – An Explanation of Our Namesake
Our namesake is the public ‘art’ installation which Hamilton set up in the Dundas Driving Park in late 2022. Five poorly conceived stone “balloons” engraved with confusing and out-of- context text and imagery. The project took 7 years and $150,000 to complete - well not entirely, they were originally supposed to be attached with metal wires, an idea that was abandoned due to safety concerns at the last minute. Partially broken during installation, their remaining knots were all broken off sometime in the summer of 2024.
So “why” do you ask, would we choose them as our namesake? Because in their own strange way the granite balloons have united all the people of Dundas. Yes, every last person, albeit in a mutual sense of baffled disgust at the decisions that allowed them to come to pass.
But rather than brood, we hope Dundas will embrace the balloons as a powerful symbol of civic pride. We actually take from these balloons great inspiration. In publishing this newspaper we have been asked repeatedly:
“Are you sure this paper is a good idea”
“Isn’t this a waste of time and resources?”
“Does anyone even want this?”
And to this we say:
Did the people who made the granite balloons stop to think if it was “a good idea”, “a waste of time and resources”, or “if anyone even wanted it”?
No!
So remember what Admiral Farragut said: Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead!