Passing the Torch

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME IN THE PLANNING, but as of this issue, I am very pleased to announce that Tralee Pearce is taking over as the new owner and publisher of In The Hills. I couldn’t be more delighted.

Tralee has deep roots in this community. She lives in Mono on the farm where she grew up – and where, full disclosure, I married her father, Doug Pearce. Tralee was in her 20s at that time and working in Ottawa, but we quickly formed a bond not only through our mutual devotion to her father but also through our work as journalists.

When Doug became ill in 2012, Tralee moved back to the country to be nearby, and not long afterward, in 2014, she became associate editor of In The Hills, bringing with her a wealth of experience. After her start at the Ottawa Sun, and a stint with Now Magazine, she spent 15 years at the Globe and Mail as a writer and editor of lifestyle, health and news stories. She also freelanced for publications such as Canadian Living and Modern Farmer.

In addition to her considerable writing and editing contributions to In The Hills, Tralee has also managed several special projects. These include the 2023 refresh of the magazine’s design, the upgrade and ongoing management of our website and social media, and our DEI initiative. She also co-ordinated “25 under 25,” our forward-looking 25th anniversary celebration of local young people. It was produced in print and onstage in partnership with our longtime friends at Theatre Orangeville and the Museum of Dufferin. (Most of those young people had not been born when In The Hills, the theatre and the museum launched in 1994!)

But as happy as I am that Tralee is keeping the magazine within our family, even more important, she is keeping it within the In The Hills family. Over the past decade, she has forged strong working relationships with all the people on our masthead – that hard-core team of remarkable editors, contributors, ad sales managers and operations staff who dedicate their talents to making In The Hills the voice of our community and countryside.

As for me, I retire with mixed feelings, of course, but the dominant one is profound gratitude to that same exceptional team – some of whom have been with the magazine almost from the beginning and have become as much friends as colleagues. It has been an extraordinary privilege to work with people so passionately driven by common purpose. If I could, I would name you all in brilliant lights on this page. But there is one, I know you’ll all agree, who deserves a special shout out: our art director Kim van Oosterom. For more than 25 years, Kim has magically transformed the raw ingredients of our words and photos into the visual feast that is so essential to the character of the magazine.

I am also extremely grateful to our advertisers. Your willingness to trust us to deliver your message is what keeps us going. And of course, I am forever grateful to our loyal readers throughout Headwaters. You are what it is all about. Thank you for welcoming us into your homes four times a year, and for assuring us over and over again that you think of In The Hills as your magazine – the best compliment of all. 

I leave in confidence that under Tralee’s stewardship, the magazine will continue to tell the diverse stories that reflect and honour the people and landscape of our beautiful and beloved hills. 

Thank you again and to all. It has been the pleasure of a lifetime.

Addendum: I also leave on one particular note of pride. When I arrived in Caledon in 1974, it was a brand new town, though still very much tuned to the rhythms of agricultural life. As determined as we were to fit in, our new farmer neighbours, the Petch brothers, issued the dictum, not unkindly, that we would have to live here for at least 20 years before we could be considered “local.” The community has grown and changed enormously since then, but the Petches’ words have always stayed with me. The brothers may have underestimated the timing a bit, but as I lope off into the country sunset, I like to think that somewhere along the way I did finally make the grade.

– Signe Ball

BACK IN THE DARK AGES OF THE LATE 1990s, when I was an arts writer at the Ottawa Sun and Googling everything wasn’t yet a thing, I would often call my father at home in Mono – on a landline! – and ask him to consult one of his many reference books for a fact or detail relevant to my work. 

One day, as I was trying to write a review of a dance performance at the National Arts Centre, I lazily dialled him for help describing the production’s backdrop. What the heck is that famous gold-leafed painting by Gustav Klimt called? Is there a “p” in Klimt? 

When he picked up, my dad unusually – albeit gently – cut the call short and promised to call me back the next day. When he did, he told me he had met a woman he cared for, Signe. He explained that they had been together when I called about Klimt, and he hadn’t wanted to ignore her to shuffle off to his library. I was thrilled at the news. They married shortly thereafter. 

What I’ve come to learn in the years since is that I wish he had passed the phone to Signe when I first called. She would have known the answer to my questions off the top of her head.

After working with her closely for almost 10 years, and as I now step into her shoes, it’s hard not to be in awe of her encyclopedic knowledge of oh-so-many topics, but especially of the Headwaters region – its people, history, natural environment, and the issues that shape it. She is driven by a fierce curiosity about the world around her, a trait I consider embedded in the DNA of this magazine.

Signe’s curiosity, however, isn’t merely a tool to accumulate more facts and figures; it serves a greater drive, which is to reveal and build connections among readers, advertisers and the people we interview, including farmers, artists, chefs, nature experts, volunteers, athletes, municipal officials, business owners and others. The reality is they’re often one and the same – many are neighbours who haven’t yet met in person, but who meet in our pages. And whether through calls, letters to the editor, or now even texts, we learn about where those connections take people: in many cases, to places worthy of yet more fascinating stories in In The Hills.

So, as I look to the future as the new owner and publisher of this magazine, I’m grateful not only for what I’ve learned from Signe about the craft and hard work of magazine making, but also for the way she has encouraged our communities to care deeply about the stories they have to tell and to trust In The Hills to do those stories justice. 

I aim to stay curious, to ask as many questions as I answer, and to honour the incredible legacy Signe has built over more than three decades. I hope you’ll join me in thanking her for her dedication to Headwaters and to all of us. Personally, I have so much more to thank her for. Now that neither of my parents is still living, Signe remains a guiding force in my life, even if she takes a step back from her work role.

On that note, Signe, if you don’t pick up that phone when I call seeking wisdom, I do know where you live!

– Tralee Pearce