Emo, Ontario

History

Emo was officially created on July 1, 1899, and celebrated its centennial in 1999. Emo's first reeve was Alexander Luttrell, an Irishman who named the town after a namesake village in Ireland near where he was born. The council was composed of Charles Fisher, John Dungey, Benjamin Phillips, and Thomas Shortreed.

Climate

Emo has a four-season humid continental climate with extreme temperature differences between summer and winter. The daily mean difference between January and July is as much as 34 °C.

Local government

Emo is located in the Rainy River District. The current mayor is Jack Siemens, while Michael Loney, Anthony Leek, Scott Kinnear, and Lori-Ann Shortreed are councillors. They were elected in 2014, with Shortreed being appointed in 2016. Elections are held every four years, in October.

Amenities

Emo is about halfway between two bridges to the United States, one at Fort Frances (approximately a 30-minute drive) and the other at Rainy River (about 40 minutes by road). It is identified in many cycling resources as an excellent overnight stopping point because of the facilities (shelter, showers and bathrooms) available in the waterfront park.

There are many volunteer groups and a strong sense of community in Emo. In Emo's Lion's Park, a picturesque riverfront area, a new play structure was funded through volunteer fundraising efforts, and a 2005-2006 fiscal year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation [1]. The park is also home to the Emo Spray Park, a $500,000 community-driven project completed in July 2010. A safe way for kids to engage in water play, the spray park attracts thousands of visitors in the summertime.

The Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps 144 Fort Frances meet in Emo, led by Lieutenant Terry Newman until it's disbandment due to lack of interest in 2011.

The spring brings the opening of the walleye fishing season, and the annual Emo Walleye Classic.

The Emo Speedway draws race participants and fans from the central United States, Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba. The track is a 600-metre, high-banked dirt oval track which operates every Saturday from May through Mid-September.

Emo is also home to five different religious denominations, including Knox United Church of Canada, as well as Baptist, Catholic, Anglican and Christian Reformed churches.

Initially located in private homes of local women, the town library was moved to the schoolhouse in 1940 and to its own building in the 50s.

Demographics

Population trend:

Emo Walleye Classic

The Emo Walleye Classic is a two-day catch and release fishing tournament held annually in Emo, during the final week of May each year. It takes place on the Rainy River, which marks the border between Minnesota and Ontario.

Upwards of sixty Canadian and American teams of two participate each year, each paying a participation fee ($500 in 2015). An organizing committee and many local volunteers assist at the event, and many local businesses and individuals sponsor the event.

On each morning of the tournament, anglers head upstream and downstream from the Emo waterfront to their chosen fishing spots. The weigh-ins are held in the evenings at the Emo/LaVallee Community Centre where results are posted live. On the final day of the tournament, the top ten teams from day one are brought into the arena with their boats.

Classic history

The tournament began in 2002 with forty-four participating teams, and has grown since then, with thirty-eight teams competing in 2013. The first winners were Harvey Cochrane and Oliver Gibbons who won as a result of the leading team having three fish over the legal size. In 2008 Doug McBride of Devlin, Ontario and Steve Ballan of Fort Frances, Ontario became the first team to win the tournament twice.

Past winners

Records

2005 Tournament - Day 2 - Doug McBride and Steve Ballan: 10.02 lbs

2005 Tournament - Day 2 - Doug McBride and Steve Ballan: 15.06 lbs

2005 Tournament - Doug McBride and Steve Ballan: 25.82 lbs