This year marks the 25th anniversary of Loyalist Township. The township celebrated the milestone with a community free-skate this week at the W.J. Henderson Recreation Centre.

Loyalist Township was formed on Jan. 1, 1998. At the time, this included the amalgamation of Amherst Island Township, Ernestown Township, and Bath Village. Now, the main areas in Loyalist are Amherstview, Bath, Amherst Island, and Odessa. Smaller communities within the township today include Emerald, Ernestown, Millhaven, Morven, Nicholson's Point, Stella, Storms Corners, Switzerville, and Wilton.

The history of the area dates back much further than 25 years. The roots and namesake are tied to the United Empire Loyalists who settled in the area after the American Revolution.

Since forming in 1998, the township has seen steady increases in population. There has also been a large industrial boom in the area over this time; Deputy Mayor Nathan Townend noted the amount of growth within just the last five years.

"In my time, the municipality has grown a lot. I mean, from the time that I moved into the municipality, and then even from the time I got elected in 2018, the municipality has grown substantially; not just in residential terms, obviously in industrial terms." said Townend.

Townend went onto explain how bringing the smaller communities together isn't just about the data or numbers.

"I think we've come a long way as a township in using our recreational facility, basically, as a tool to try and bring our various communities together, and I think we're just continuing to go from strength to strength there. But I would say too, sometimes when you're talking about things like that, it's hard to point any data necessarily. These are kind of feelings; they're more intangible. But I definitely do feel like  the township has become a more cohesive, unified community of communities than it has been in the past," said Townend.

Looking into the future, Townend expects the trend of growth to continue for Loyalist. He noted, however, the growth may put some pressures on the township, mentioning factors such as higher traffic, more densified residential units, noise concerns, and general safety concerns.

"All of the things that are just typical growing pains, [we're] seeing those and we're going to need to manage them effectively to make sure that we don't go backwards as far as staying a unified township and having Loyalist be a place people want to come and live, and enjoy living," said Townend

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