Submitted Photo Karen-Anne Cherwonogrodzky
Medicine Hat’s restored civil defence siren will soon be moved from the Esplanade to the airport.
As the heritage assistant with the city, my main role is to support the heritage resources committee, more commonly known as the HRC. This is a very active committee that in 2018 recorded a total of 828 volunteer hours. These hours do not include the 160 hours donated by the Ewart Duggan House Heritage Garden Volunteers, some of whom are HRC members, who oversee the Heritage Garden through an HRC sub-committee. These volunteers are already hard at work in the garden.
As a reader of the Medicine Hat News, you have likely read one of the Heritage in the Hat columns that appear bi-weekly on Saturdays. Malcolm Sissons, former chair of the HRC, as well as Sally Sehn and occasionally other members of the HRC spend a great deal of time researching these columns. Research is definitely how the majority of volunteer hours are logged. In addition to these articles a great deal of research has gone into our Centennial Certificate program and the Walking Tour booklet by Sally Sehn. Last summer, the First Street South Municipal Historic Area Walking Tour Booklet was released. This booklet continues to be popular, as are the tours that will be available again this summer. The booklets are available at the Esplanade Box Office for $5. Included with the purchase of the booklet is the opportunity for a one-hour guided tour of the southeast section of the First Street South Municipal Historic Area by the same researcher, Sally Sehn. Tours are arranged based on interest and Sally’s availability for a Saturday or Sunday morning. For more information and/or to register, please give me a call at 403-525-8607 or by email at karche@medicinehat.ca. Sally is currently researching the southwest section of the former Esplanade, so another walking tour booklet is in the works.
In addition to continuing to recognize Municipal Historic Designations with a bronze plaque, a new focus of the HRC is the signage of non-designated resources. Their first such sign, utilizing the city’s new signage standards, will recognize the former Toronto Street School that once stood on Third Street SE. Another sign will explain the history of the restored civil defence siren. It is soon to be moved from the Esplanade foyer to the airport where it will be on permanent display.
A focus for me recently has been adding information to the HRC pages on the city website. If you haven’t checked out our pages, I would encourage you to do so at medicinehat.ca/heritage. There is a lot of information on our evaluated resources, our plaque program, as well as research on resources that have received Centennial Certificates. If you have missed any of the Heritage in the Hat series you can find these under the Heritage Awareness section.
My favourite site to visit in the summer is the Ewart Duggan House Heritage Garden. The gate is always open, so come on in, take a stroll, enjoy the variety of plants and relax under the pergola. The flowers have started to bloom! The history of the garden will be added to the website in the near future.
Karen-Anne Cherwonogrodzky is heritage assistant at the Esplanade.
