The Craigmyle 100th celebration is just over two weeks away, and is sure to be a jam-packed family fun weekend.
The Centennial will be taking place from July 17 to 19 and will have activities planned such as a parade, kids entertainment, a scavenger hunt, a historic town walk, photo walk, beer garden, family dance, fireworks, pancake breakfast and a tribute to the Craigmyle Historic Church. There will be lots for everyone to do.
Marlene Bannister, chair for the Craigmyle Heritage Foundation, formed to plan and organize the Craigmyle centennial weekend, told The Mail that the Foundation planned many projects for the 100th celebration weekend.
After many meetings, which began in the Spring of 2012, the Foundation began on the various legacy projects including the Craigmyle Centennial Park, an update to the Craigmyle History Book, and a Buy-a-Brick campaign.
Through local fundraising, grant money and with the help of Starland County, a new park and playground was set up for the celebration weekend.
“For $100 (you can purchase) a brick (that will be) laid in the park. The name itself is going to go on a plaque that is going to be more visible than just the brick itself,” she said. The plaques are going to be displayed on a sign that will be permanent in the park.
Some are purchasing bricks ‘in memory of’ which will be displayed in a special area, she explained.
“We have reached the deadline to have your name appear on the plaque for our centennial weekend, but we are still taking orders because we will be doing a second printing and will sell the bricks through the Centennial weekend so people can order bricks and then at some point after that we will do our second printing,” she explained.
The history book is a 300 page book. The Foundation has updated to the Craigmyle portion of the previous history book which was called the ‘Delia Craigmyle Saga” which was printed in the 1970’s.
“This is an attempt to get stories that were missed in the first book or things that have happened since the printing in the 70’s, so there is quite a bit of new family information that is going on in the community or there are some stories that just didn’t make it into the first book,” Bannister explained.
The Craigmyle Historic Church was built 100 years ago and Bannister said the church is having a special celebration as part of the Centennial.
“They are having a church tribute on the Sunday and that is followed by a luncheon at the church,” she said.
Bannister explains that one of the main reasons the town chose to have their 100th celebration this year was because of the church being built 100 years ago.
“We were incorporated in 1919, so if we were going to go by our incorporation date then we still can’t celebrate our centennial for a couple years but it was a thriving community well before it was incorporated,” she said.
“We picked 1915 because of the churches anniversary but it is pretty much when the first CN station became operational and the first station master was installed and that is kind of the beginning of when this started being a real community - when the train set foot in it,” she explained.
Bannister said there will be various other activities taking place during the weekend as well which include street performers, circus performers, and a dance troop. Included in the kids entertainment will be facepainting, a puppet making workshop and bouncy castles. She also said there will be several food and drink stands throughout town.
Those looking for more information can visit the Craigmyle Centennial website at www.craigmyle100.ca.
