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Just off Hwy 401 about 100km west of downtown Toronto, KITCHENER lies at the centre of an industrial belt whose economy is based on rubber, textiles, leather and furniture. The town was founded as Sand Hills in 1799 by groups of Mennonites , a tightly knit Protestant sect who came here from the States, where their pacifist beliefs had incurred the wrath of their neighbours during the Revolution. Soon after, German farmers began to arrive in the area, establishing a generally good-humoured trading relationship with the Mennonites. The new settlers had Sand Hills renamed Berlin in 1826, but during World War I it was thought prudent to change the name yet again and to prove their patriotism they chose "Kitchener" after the British field marshal. Today around sixty percent of Kitchener's inhabitants are descendants of German immigrants, a heritage celebrated every year during Oktoberfest , nine days of alcoholic stupefaction when even the most reticent of men can be seen wandering the streets in lederhosen. The Mennonites have drifted out of Kitchener itself, and are concentrated in the villages north and west of Waterloo, Kitchener's glum northerly neighbour. Kitchener's centre is marked by the Farmers' Market , open on Saturdays from 6am to 2pm - be sure to sample the delicious German sausages. The Mennonite traders are unmistakeable, with the men wearing traditional black suits and broad-brimmed hats, or deep-blue shirts and braces, the women ankle-length dresses and matching bonnets. The Ontario Mennonites are, however, far from being an homogeneous sect - over twenty different groups are affiliated to the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and although they all share certain religious beliefs reflecting their Anabaptist origins - the sole validity of adult baptism being crucial - precise practices and dress codes vary from group to group. Members of the traditional wing of the Mennonite movement, sometimes called Amish or Ammanites after the seventeenth-century elder Jakob Ammann, own property communally and shun all modern machinery, travelling to the market and around the back lanes on spindly horse-drawn buggies. To explain their history and faith, the MCC runs The Meeting Place (May-Oct Mon-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1.30-5pm; Nov-April Sat 11am-4.30pm, Sun 2-4.30pm; donation), a small tourist-office-cum-interpretation-centre in the village of ST JACOBS , just north of Waterloo on Hwy 86, where there's also a popular Mennonite craft shop. Back in Kitchener, the only conventional tourist sight of note is Woodside , boyhood home of prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, about 1km northeast of the centre at 528 Wellington St N (mid-May to mid-Dec daily 10am-5pm; $2.50). Set in a pretty little park, the house has been restored to its late-Victorian appearance and has an interesting display in the basement on King's life and times, though it doesn't give much away about his eccentricities - a dog lover and spiritualist, he amalgamated the two obsessions by believing his pets were mediums.
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