08/28/2026
I don't usually share candle ideas before I've actually made them.
One of the things I love most about Oswego River Candle Co. is the surprise. I have a long list of candles inspired by the history, places, people, and stories along our rivers and lakes, and I usually keep those ideas to myself until the day I'm ready to bring them to life.
There is one candle, though, that I have always intended to make.
I've had the idea for a long time, because it represents a place that has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. A place woven into our history, our communities, our memories, and what so many of us simply call home.
I've thought about the scent, the feeling, and what I want that candle to represent. I've always imagined the day I would finally release it.
So why am I telling you about a future candle now?
Recently, one of our most beloved lakes was unexpectedly thrust into the public spotlight.
And because of that, I don't want anyone to be shocked or confused when, someday down the road, this candle finally appears.
This is different from something I shared the other day about Dolly Parton.
That was a choice.
We don't normally talk about national news on this page, but Dolly gave me an opportunity to talk about something positive right here at home—her Imagination Library and the impact it has had on children and families in Oswego County.
This is not a choice.
Something that is deeply local to us has been pulled into a national conversation, and I don't want to pretend that hasn't happened.
But I also don't want that conversation to define what this place means to me.
Because there is an important connection here that has nothing to do with politics.
The Oswego River flows into the lake.
It's where our river meets the lake, where our communities meet the water, and where so much of our local history comes together.
So when I tell you that I've always intended to make a candle representing this place, it isn't some new idea born out of what's happening now.
It's part of the story I've been telling all along.
I could choose not to make the candle.
I'm not doing that.
I could try to create something that panders to everyone and carefully avoids choosing a direction.
I'm not doing that either.
I'm going to make the candle I originally intended to make.
I'm choosing the lake.
Lake Ontario. 🌊
And I'm choosing that name because that's what it is to me.
The name Ontario carries centuries of history, rooted in the Indigenous history of this region and carried forward through generations of maps, records, communities, and stories.
That history matters to me.
Because names can carry history. They can carry memories. They can connect us to the people who came before us and to the places they called home.
And here's the important part:
The lake isn't political.
It never was to me.
It was a place to watch the sun come up. A place to spend summer days. A place where families made memories. A place where people worked, played, explored, and built their lives.
Someone may have made it political.
I'm not going to.
And if I'm being completely honest, I think the whole situation is a little silly. Not because history or names don't matter—they do—but because something that has simply been part of our lives for generations suddenly needs to become a debate.
I'm not making this candle as a political statement. I'm not making it to attack anyone, and I'm not making it to tell anyone else what they should think.
I'm making it because I said I was going to.
Because it's part of the history and story that Oswego River Candle Co. exists to celebrate.
And because someday, when this candle finally does make its way onto a shelf, I don't want anyone wondering why I chose the name I did.
You'll already know.
Lake Ontario. 🌊🕯️
And maybe that's really what this comes down to.
You don't have to convince everyone to agree with you. You just have to know what you believe in—and be comfortable enough with it to let other people believe differently.
For me, this isn't complicated.
It's a candle for a lake.
A lake that was here long before the politics surrounding it today, and will still be here long after them.
That's the lake I'm choosing to celebrate.
