Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Former publisher of Sentinel-Review still writing and snapping photos

George Czerny created a book about Georgian Bay and has now released an updated version

Writing and photography are a passion; Collingwood area also his passion 

By Mark Schadenberg
As I had regaled in a previous submission in this location, the seven years I spent writing sports and producing pages with a mouse in my hand, are important memories in my life.
As stated, I was given the opportunity to switch my media focus from radio to print by then Sentinel-Review publisher George Czerny.  At that juncture – and I will be tossing out more names for Woodstock newspaper readers to suffer flashbacks from – Keith Pierson was the managing editor and Alison Downie was city editor. The sports editor -- as we busily tracked our little world of athletic endeavours -- was Cale Cowan.


If you guess I knew George Czerny from the local sports scene somehow, well that’s the wrong conclusion. Czerny was a member of a volunteer local committee called the Dairy Capital Snow-Or-No Fest. As an advertising sales consultant at K-104, I represented that media office on the same committee.
Yes – Woodstock did have a winter carnival in February in the early 1990’s and even then warm temperatures and puddles made winter fun nearly impossible. There were sled dogs and hot dogs, mud slo-pitch, free public skating and a turkey bingo.
George Czerny must have loved sleet, snow drifts, skiing, snow angels and winter tires, as today he resides in Collingwood.
As pointed out previously, I have personally thanked George for hiring me as a sports reporter. Just like I say today in real estate: “Good luck discovering someone with more passion about this community than myself.”
Czerny – now 70 -- is retired from the newspaper business, but through my magical ability to scour the internet, and because I did not want to tell him I was penning this plug, I have compiled background information on books George Czerny has written. He doesn’t describe himself on his Facebook profile as retired by the way as he’s a ’self-employed writer / photographer’.


If you want to study the piano stylings of Georg Handel, you must research author / composer Carl Czerny, who passed away back in 1857.
Meanwhile, actor Henry Czerny is known for roles in movies Mission Impossible, Clear And Present Danger, Ice Storm, and more recently the TV show Revenge, but I do not believe the 56-year-old actor is any relation to George Czerny.
GEORGIAN BAY
If you want to plan a trip to Georgian Bay or the greater Collingwood area, look up published works by George Czerny, including a book called George’s Georgian Bay -- published in 2004.           
Czerny’s most recent effort is an updated travelogue to the 12-year-old edition, so naturally it follows it’s entitled George’s Georgian Bay: Revisited. The new 214-page book – according to the photo taken by the Wasaga Sun newspaper – appears to be a coffee table book.
I have not skimmed its pages, so I’m not sure if the lore of Christian Island is included in this updated text and photo journey.
Whether it be the tip of Tobermory and its famous Flowerpot Island, or communities such as Parry Sound, Midland - Penetanguishene, Owen Sound, Thornbury, Meaford, Killarney, Lion’s Head, Wiarton, Wasaga, Ossossane, Peekaboo Point, or the Frying Pan Island, this inlet called Georgian Bay appears (through researching the area online) to be quite a destination any month of the year.
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“I love Georgian Bay because there are so many different contrasts and venues: urban, rural, water, wilderness. There are so many different things,” said author George Czerny in the story printed in the Wasaga Sun to promote the book’s release. 
“I wanted to give people the idea that if they landed in Canada, came from the airport in Toronto and came to Collingwood and read my book along the way, they would have some idea of what they can enjoy.”

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If you’re a sailor or a catch-and-release rod-and-reel person or simply someone who enjoys camping, canoes and cottages, consider venturing over to www.blurb.com to purchase your copy. The hardcover books is about $93, but includes more than 120 photos, including The Blue Mountains and many every-day sites, views from great heights, and places to fly kites. 

His accompanying website is up for the world to fall in love with George’s home: www.ilovegeorgianbay.com. Images may lure you and an aluminium contrivance with a modest outboard motor to navigate the French or Severn rivers this spring.
George Czerny has also produced different books about Collingwood in particular, with emphasis on the area’s rich history in ship building. Another called Eyes Over Collingwood focuses on photography of the area.
A book called Making Tracks And Changing, which I have also not read, is noted on his website to be both poetry and life advice.
It would appear, George Czerny has evolved his journalistic resume into a retirement lifestyle of searching for a story with a map, a GPS tracker, a sailboat, a camera, a pen, and wife Nancy as companion, and then adding a genuine ability to sell a destination he loves – Georgian Bay – a place to visit and discover yourself.  

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 Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage

A full-time Realtor in Oxford County,
considering a summer 'staycation' 
in Georgian Bay area

757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

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