Goderich Signal Star, 2017-01-25, Page 3Darryl Coote/Editor
Starting Sunday, Jan. 22, Huron County PRIDE will be selling toques, tie-dyed socks and colourful
trinkets to raise the $5,000 necessary to permanently paint one of Goderich's downtown crosswalks
in the Pride rainbow. Displaying the wares from left are Huron County PRIDE's treasurer Kathleen
Greer -Armour, its founder Greg Anderson and its public relations officer Gail Huber.
H
uron PRIDE kicks off
crosswalk fundraiser
Darryl Coote
Editor
The words 'they' and
'them'are treated as both sin-
gular and plural gender -neu-
tral pronouns within this
article. -- Ed.
Huron County PRIDE
began its first fundraiser
Sunday to make Goderich
more inclusive and safe for
everyone.
The recently formed
LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisex-
ual, transgendered and
queer) advocacy and sup-
port group is looking to raise
$5,000 to cover materials
and labour to permanently
paint one of Goderich's
downtown crosswalks in the
Pride rainbow.
Kathleen Greer -Armour,
the group's treasurer, said the
idea for the project was born
from her wanting to show her
17 -year-old child, who identi-
fies as transgender and gay,
that Goderich can be as
accepting as big cities.
"I was looking for ideas to
promote positivity and end
homophobia and transpho-
bia, she told The Signal Star
on Wednesday, Jan. 18, a
couple days before the
group's fundraiser kicked off.
She said her child had par-
ticipated in forums on gender
and sexual diversity in
Toronto and Ottawa and they
were looking elsewhere from
Goderich for community.
"So they were looking at
bigger city things and I
wanted to show them that
Goderich really could be as
diverse and supportive of
everything that they were
about," she said.
Her child, Emmet, is a stu-
dent attheGoderich District
Collegiate Institute (GDCI),
and they had put up anti-
transphobia and -homopho-
bia posters at local busi-
nesses and the high school
but "unfortunately some of
the children in the high
school didn't take to kindly
to that and they kept getting
ripped down so I wanted to
make a stand," she said.
She had a friend at 104.5
The Beach so she approached
the local radio station with the
idea of doing an interview to
raise awareness of transgen-
der people in the community.
"That's how it started and
they came up with the idea
to expand that," she said.
Together, Greer -Armour
and 104.5 wrote a request to
town council to paint the
crosswalk. That request was
considered in late November
2016.
During that meeting,
council decided to purchase
and fly the Pride flag during
Pride month this June and to
examine the possibility of
painting one of the cross-
walks in the downtown
square.
"The Goderich town coun-
cil is willing to consider
approving it but they want
all the fundraising to be
done by our group," she said.
Which is the reason
behind the Sunday, Jan. 22's
fundraising kick off.
Through donations and
the sale of Pride toques,
socks and trinkets such as
key chains, Greer -Armour is
hoping to have the $5,000
raised by February so coun-
cil could approve the project
and have it ready to be
.unveiled to the community
during Pride month.
"So when they raise the
Pride flag, which they have
approved, they will also have
the kick off for our cross-
walk," she said.
The day before she spoke
with The Signal Star, Greer -
Armour approached 29 busi-
nesses in the downtown core
to mostly positive feedback,
she said.
"I think there's a huge
LGBTQ [ally] presence here
in Goderich and I think peo-
ple have just been waiting
for someone to rally them
together," she said.
Huron County PRIDE will
also be expanding its pres-
ence in the community as
well with its participation in
the BIA's annual ICEtacular
this February.
For those interested in
purchasing an item, donat-
ing or wanting more infor-
mation about the group or
the crosswalk initiative, con-
tact Huron County PRIDE
via its Facebook page.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 • Signal Star 3
Nort%
Contributed photo
A photo of the hotel design from the front of the building.
Large new hotel and conference
centre for Goderich
Justine Alkema
Postmedia
Goderich will soon see a
large new infrastructure pro-
ject come to town. The
county recently approved a
four -storey hotel and confer-
ence centre to be built at 135
Gibbons Street. It will be
built on the site of the former
Victoria Public School, front-
ing onto Britannia Road.
In 2015, the town put out a
request for interest for the
site to see if any businesses
or public agencies were
interested in using some or
all of the land.
"One response was a. pro-
posal for a hotel," said Huron
County Planner Victor
Kloeze.
A public meeting was held
in Goderich iri December
regarding the building. Offi-
cial Plan and Zoning By-law
amendments were made,
and the Town of Goderich
and the .County both
approved the project.
The developers for the
chain hotel are 2516203
Ontario Inc.
Kloeze outlined the bene-
fits of the hotel at a recent
county council meeting. He
said that the location, of the
hotel is ideal as it is a five-
minute walk from the down-
town core. He said that is
ideal from a tourism and
transportation standpoint as
people can easily access
downtown restaurants,
shops and theatres by foot;
they will not need a car.
He said it's also good for
economic development and
tourism, it's on an arterial
road, it's an efficient use of
land and resources.
Several county councilors
commended the project say-
ing it's not just good for
Goderich but for the entire
county.
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