Sydney and Jamie Hardie have lived in Innisfil for almost 18 years in a beautiful one-level home just steps away from the lake and Innisfil Beach.
The Hardies have two boys — Tom, 14, and Sam, 21 — and an eight-year-old wheaten terrier name Phineus, or Phin for short.
Jamie loves being near the water and close to family. The family enjoys paddle boarding, kayaking, and swimming, so much that Jamie will go for a swim in the lake even when the temperatures hover around the freezing mark.
Sydney and Jamie are entrepreneurs and own an advertising, branding and design company called Hardie & Company, a business they started together in Brampton and have operated successfully for almost 25 years.
“We work with a lot of libraries,” says Sydney. “We helped to rebrand the Innisfil library, redoing their logo for them… It’s a really great sector to be working in."
Jamie has been a speaker at the Annual Ontario Library Association Conference in Toronto since working with the Innisfil Library and from there, Hardie and Company has met and worked with many more Ontario libraries.
For the past 13 years, the Hardies have also been taking in co-op students from Georgian College who are learning about graphic design.
“We work with them and give them projects to do,” Sydney says about her co-op students. “It’s a good experience for them to have. We really just throw them in the deep end sometimes and ask then to create a logo design.”
The Hardies have been involved with the Alcona Business Association for several years, and both have been very invested in the arts and culture programs within their community.
Sydney is the chair of the Innisfil Studio Tour, while Jamie participates as an artist himself every year with his painted portraits. However, due to COVID, the tour was cancelled this year, an event that would have celebrated its 28th year.
“As the studio tour isn’t running this year, we’re doing online features of the artists and promoting their websites instead,” says Sydney.
Both Sydney and Jamie have helped organize the Innisfil’s Got Talent event, showcasing gifted musicians and artists from the community. Sydney is also the chair of the Innisfil Arts, Culture & Heritage Council (IACHC).
Every year, the Hardies participate in a fundraising event hosted by the IACHC called 'Dinner in White'; a worldwide event started in Paris which gives registrants only a few short hours notice to show up at an undisclosed location for a pop-up style picnic, dressed in white clothing.
“The funds from the silent auction of the dinner-in-white go towards our community’s youth initiatives, such as the skate park in Lefroy,” says Sydney. “We like to support the different town organizations that put on these events… it’s a great way to meet people.”
The Hardies are so passionate about the arts and culture, that Jamie built their own mini-library box outside their house, receiving and giving away free books to anyone in the neighbourhood.
“It was a really fun project,” says Jamie. “A little free library with the concept: take a book/leave a book… people just love it.”
Jamie also added an octopus tentacle that pops out of the top of the library box which catches the attention of many locals.
“People really get a kick out of it and enjoy it,” adds Sydney. “It gives us opportunities to meet new people and talk to new people. It’s an interesting way of connecting."
In their neighbourhood, the Hardies are well known for throwing the best themed block parties every year (pre-COVID), including their famous Mexicana party where they host a giant pot-luck style buffet of different Mexican dishes, contests and games, live performances from 'Zorro', and a live DJ with karaoke and dancing all night.
“It’s definitely a popular party that everyone comes to expect every year,” says Sydney.
