Melody Falconer–Pounder

Parade Marshall 2025
Melody Falconer-Pounder first discovered Bayfield on her 17th birthday outing. It was the start of a 40-year love affair with the place and its people. 
 
From the time she was nine years old, Melody wanted to become a journalist and a
photographer. It was a determination she never lost, and she graduated from
Sheridan College in Oakville in Print Journalism in 1989. Her first job was as a
junior reporter for the Clinton News-Record, and later she would become Special
Editions editor with the Goderich Signal-Star. However, the family business
beckoned, and she would leave the daily grind of being a reporter to take up the role of innkeeper alongside her husband John at the Bayfield Village Inn (today’s
Ashwood). The desire to continue to document small-town life remained strong, and in addition to working in the hospitality industry, she became the village
correspondent for the Bayfield Bugle, a section of the Clinton News-Record, in
1992 - a job she enjoyed for 16 years. However, when correspondents were being
phased out of small-town newspapers, Melody and a team of devoted villagers
decided they would try and change the way local people absorbed their news, and in the summer of 2009, the online-only Bayfield Breeze was established. 
 
At its heart, the Bayfield Breeze was created as a place to share the latest
happenings in the village, highlighted by articles and photos. It is an information
source primarily created for, with and by its residents. Since its inception,
neighbouring communities have grown to enjoy this “paperless” paper as well.
As a result, the issues now benefit from an expanded base, including some of the goings-on beyond Bayfield’s borders that may be of interest to locals. Over 2,000 people receive the publication in their inbox every Wednesday. More than 850 issues have been launched. 
 
Community and volunteering have always been mainstays of Melody’s life. She
started volunteering with Bayfield Guiding, part of Girl Guides of Canada, in 1989
and continues to do so to this day. Although she didn’t have the benefit of being a
youth member of GGC, she has certainly made up for that in the years spent
helping young women and girls achieve their goals in the program. She also does a large portion of the administrative work to keep Bayfield Guiding running
smoothly – from permissions to go on camps and outings to organizing the two
cookie campaigns a year – she often refers to herself as “Paperwork Owl” but most
know her simply as “Brown Owl”. Melody is proud of the fact that Bayfield
Guiding is thriving with 50 youth registered for the 2025-26 year, aged five to 14
years of age. Their energy is amazing! 
 
Melody was a member of the Bayfield Optimist Club for 20 years, being one of the
first three women ever to join the formerly all-male organization. She has also
served as co-chair of the Goderich Lions Club’s Camp Klahanie and was
instrumental in helping the youth camp move from a property owned by Girl
Guides of Canada to a revitalized and successful local camp for many youth
organizations to enjoy. She is also currently the booking secretary for the newly
established TSJ Hall in Bayfield and organizes the monthly Bayfield Lego Club
meetings alongside her husband, whom she has had the good fortune of being
married to for 34 years. She is also grateful to be the step-mom of two adult
married children, as well as Gramel to two pretty awesome grandchildren. 
 
She now resides on her family’s home farm, established in 1832, but Bayfield is
only a 10-minute drive away, and her car travels there often because the village will always be, at its heart, her home.