Jeff Russell to appear at Warkworth Lilac Festival

WARKWORTH -- Jef (Mr. Fix-It) Russell has become an unex-

pected local celebrity, thanks in large part to his useful and enter-
taining handyman column that appears (somewhat) regularly in
the Warkworth Journal.
Now, the Warkworth Lilac Festval is turning to Mr. Fix-It in
hopes of cashing in on his surging popularity with his legion of fans
in the Greater Warkworth Area (GWA). Festval organizers are
hoping the appearance of Mr. Russell will help atract more young-
er people to this years event, which kicks of on Saturday, May 24,
with a number of actvites taking place on Main St.
For the past couple of years, the Lilac Festval -- in associaton
with Home Depot -- has ofered a birdhouse building and paintng
workshop for children. This year, organizers have decided to help
those kids whose birdhouses built in previous years have either
fallen apart or are in need of some expert repair.
And is there anyone beter suited for that job than Mr. Fix-It?
Janice Allen, who co-chairs the Festval with Judy Norlock, says
the organizing commitee is absolutely thrilled that Mr. Russell
has agreed to appear at this years event, despite his busy sched-
ule.
We are so excited that Jef is hostng this workshop for us, Mrs.
Allen told The Journal. We think the kids and parents and every-
one else atending it will be just amazed with Jefs incredible
handyman skills.
Over the past few months, Mr. Russell has been busy trying to
keep up with demands for public appearances. Since he started
writng a handyman column for The Journal last December, he has
become Warkworths equivalent of Mike Holmes. In fact, Mr. Rus-
sells celebrity status has reached the point where he has begun
charging an appearance fee to show up at events.
Mrs. Allen acknowledged that Mr. Russell has graciously
waived his appearance fee for the Lilac Festval. The only thing he
requested is if we were having a beer and wine garden again this
year, he would like to be set up as close to it as possible, she said.
And how exactly does Mr. Russell plan on repairing all the kid-
dies birdhouses?
Duct tape. Thats right, nothing but duct tape.
It can pretnear fx anything, Mr. Russell told The Journal. As I
always say, If ya cant fx it with duct tape, then ya arent using
enough duct tape!
Judy Norlock (lef), Terry Fontyn and Janice Allen are thrilled to have local celebrity carpenter Jef Russell (inset) appear at this
years Warkworth Lilac Festval on Saturday, May 24. Festval co-chairs Mrs. Norlock and Mrs. Allen, along with Friends of the
Lilac chair Mrs. Fontyn, are hoping Mr. Russells surging popularity will help atract more younger people to the two-day
event. (Photos courtesy of Jeanete Seaborn and Tracy Russell)
Popular Mr. Fix-It to host a birdhouse repair workshop for kids