Griffen Horsley – Living in Orillia

Do you see yourself leaving Orillia and/or moving back in later life?

Definitely yeah, I definitely see myself leaving Orillia. I’m sure I’ll come back. One of the biggest things about Orillia is it really is a beautiful town. Again, that image of the water for me is a huge thing. The lake it was such a huge part of my childhood. I think there will always be a very familiar and strong sense of home here in Orillia.

If you had a magic wand and you could change one thing in Orillia, what would you change?

That’s a good question, I guess I would want to change – since it was so common to hear this in high school and even now it’s really common to hear – that sort of refrain of, “oh, there’s nothing to do in Orillia.” I guess I would magic wand some fun activities for people to do because I think there’s a lot of opportunity for Orillia to be really active and exciting.

The flip side of that question, what is one thing you would never change about Orillia?

Maybe the weather is what I’d change. I’d make it warmer.

I think the sense of Orillia, the sort of feeling of this artsy, homey feeling I think I would want to keep that. Definitely the sense of community is really strong in Orillia, you can especially feel it in the downtown area. You can just tell that this is like oh, this is Orillia.

I think that feeling is a good one, I think it’s the feeling of having to leave your small town, I think that’s a feeling that people often mix up with, “oh, I want to go and experience something new” with, “oh, this place is no fun.”

Maybe that’s something I’d change, I’d make it so that people sort of feel a little bit more at ease with how nice this town is.