Eatonia Centennial Committee donates $5000 to Heritage Board

By Joan Janzen
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

The Eatonia Heritage Board was pleased to receive a $5,000 donation from Eatonia’s Centennial Committee. The cheque will be presented on the evening of Wednesday, June 16th, in front of the Lutheran Church, which is a heritage building in Eatonia.

Sharon Price, a member of the Eatonia Heritage Board, said the funds would be used to complete a signage project in Eatonia. “A few years ago, Bill Wardill had written a book called ‘A Walking Tour Guide,’ so we will do signage around town of those places. We approached the Centennial Committee, who knew we were going to do this project, and they gave us the funds,” she explained.

The Centennial Committee had been planning a 100th-anniversary celebration for the town in 2020 but didn’t due to Covid-19. However, they had done a lot of fundraising for the event. “Kim Becker and Lindsay Larocque were two individuals who spearheaded the Centennial Committee,” Sharon said. Now their generous donation to the Heritage Board will be enough to cover the costs of the signage project.

“Tentatively, we will be putting up about twenty signs,” Sharon said. “We want to be sure it’s done right.”

Eatonia Heritage Park includes an Eaton Catalogue House from 1917, a CN railway caboose and Eatonia’s 1924 CNR railway station on its original site. Railway artifacts are featured on the main floor of the railway station. The second floor features artifacts and literature from the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars and the Canadian Legion Cold War bunker in the basement. The railway caboose has been updated with audio-visual equipment.

The Heritage Board has another project that will be going ahead during the summer months. “A motor car was donated to us,” Sharon said. The building that houses the motor car will be painted and sided. “Friends of the board help out, mostly husbands of board members,” Sharon said.

The heritage buildings can be seen by appointment. You can call Sharon Price or the town office for information or arrange a tour.

Eatonia’s 1924 CNR Railway Station sits on its original site.

The CN Railway Caboose

PHOTOS BY KATE WINQUIST