Harry Hatch: A Special Presentation by David Hatch

Harry Hatch: A Special Presentation by David Hatch

Thursday, September 24th at 630PM at Wellington Heritage Museum

Doors open at 6:00PM

Born on April 12, 1884, near Roblin’s Lake in Ameliasburgh, Ontario, and raised in Prince Edward County, Harry Hatch helped his father run a Deseronto hotel and tavern as a young man. But with the help of his uncle, it was Hatch’s purchase of a Whitby, Ontario liquor store in 1911 at the age of 27, that truly launched his alcohol fueled ambitions. When he died in 1946 at the age of 62, Harry Hatch was one of the wealthiest men in Canada. From booze runner to booze baron, Harry Hatch’s life story truly is an unbelievable rags to riches journey. His, is an incredible story Hollywood could never have dreamed. It’s an amazing Canadian story that begins and ends right here in Prince Edward county. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER, DAVID HATCH:

Long time PEC resident, David Hatch has spent 45 years working in the Canadian television industry. After working for CFMT, TSN and Global Television in Toronto, he founded WhistleStop Productions Inc. in 1991. Since then, he has produced numerous award-winning programs, including 37 seasons of Motorcycle Experience for TSN. Each year, Motorcycle Experience is seen by over 1 million viewers across Canada.

When David founded WhistleStop Productions Inc. to produce Motorcycle Experience, he along with his partner Stacey Hatch, also launched a full-service broadcast television production company focused on the creation of original sports, magazine and documentary programming right here in Prince Edward County. 

For over 3 decades, WhistleStop Productions has produced original, award winning network television TV series and many one-off, “live to tape”, sporting event productions.  David’s extensive programming resume includes over 500 hours of original, broadcast, network programming for TSN, RDS, ESPN and ESPN International and 180 hours of original series television for Blue Ant Media.  

WhistleStop Productions created and produced 23 original television series for Netflix, Cottage Life TV, Travel & Escape, Love Nature, Discovery Velocity, HGTV, Smithsonian Channel, HIFI HD and Destination America.

In 2025, David co-produced along with Bernie Finklestein, the feature length documentary film, Atomic Reaction which aired on the CBC Documentary channel and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award in the Best Historical Documentary Category. 

David is a bit of a history nut and his fascination with the bootlegger turned billionaire, Harry Hatch began with a visit to his grave site in Deseronto some 15 years ago.