The Citizen, 1987-11-25, Page 1VOL 3 NO. 47
Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel,
Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1987.45 CENTS
Festival plans $1.6 million project
Chris Borgal, architect, shows some of the features of the preliminary
design for expansion of Blyth Memorial Hall to Katharine Kaszas,
artistic director of the Blyth Festival at a gathering to show the plans to
local civic leaders and arts supporters on Friday night at Memorial
Hall. The $1.6 million plan calls for linking Memorial Hall with the
former Bank of Commerce building providing a new art gallery, box
office, facilities for the handicapped and washrooms as well as more
backstage room at the stage level.
Area municipal representatives,
business people and arts support
ers from across the country got
their first glimpse of the future look
of the Blyth Festival when Festival
officials and volunteers unveiled
plans for a SI.6 million capital
expansion program Saturday
night.
The proposal calls for purchase
of the former “bank” building on
main street and building an
addition to tie the building in to the
backstage area at Memorial Hall as
well as building an addition on the
rearofthe Festival’s “garage”
building on Dinsley Street East.
Architect Chris Borgal explain
ed thatthe thrust ofthe plan, which
is still in the design stage, is to
improve working conditions for the
staff and make going to the theatre
more comfortable for patrons.
While the Festival would like to
see the whole project completed as
quickly as possible, it can also be
undertaken in phases. The first
phase would be building of an
addition to house workshops for
the construction of scenery, cos
tumes and props at the Dinsley
Street garage. Presently all the
work must be done in second floor
workshop above the municipal
offices and library where working
conditions are primitive.
Katherine Kaszas, Artistic Dir
ector said that the fact all the
Festival’s workshops are unusable
in the winter makes it impossible
for the Festival to expand such
activities as touring to other parts
of the country.
Second phase of the project
would involve renovation of the
upper floor of the bank building to
provide a rehearsal space where
the entire set for a show will be able
tobe put up in a stage area identical
Huron gets Crime Stoppers
to the stage in Memorial Hall.
The third stage would see the
building linked to Memorial Hall.
Sets would be able to be transferr
ed directly from the rehearsal area
to the stage of Memorial Hall. The
second floor of the addition would
be additional backstage area.
The ground floor of the new
addition would be for the public
area. The addition will be situated
at the back of the lawn at the south
side of the hall and will form a
Huron County has joined a
growing number of areas across
Canada in a crackdown against
unsolved crimes and by mid
March should have its own Crime
Stoppers program.
Plans for the Huron County
Crime Stoppers program were
unveiled at a meeting at the
Goderich Detachment of the On
tario Provincial Police on Wednes
day night. Among those talking to
potential board members for the
program and the media were
representatives of similar Crime
courtyard between the two build
ings with plenty of room left for
activities on the lawn, Mr. Borgal
said.
The lower floor will feature a new
art gallery, an enlarged box office
and a covered area so those lining
up at the box office won’t be
exposed to the weather. There will
also be additional washrooms anda
lift for the handicapped which will
give access both to the theatre
Continued on page 26
Stoppers Programs across the
province.
Crime Stoppers is a program
which pays people who call in tips
for unsolved crimes publicized in
local media. People are allowed to
stay anonymous. No tax money is
involved. All money is raised from
public donations and decisions on
how much should be paid out are
made by a board of directors of
local citizens.
Murray Smart of Owen Sound
explained the program’s working
Continued on page 27
Brussels
promo video
rates ++ +
A promise made to Brussels,
Morris and Grey ratepayers last
May has been kept, and the reality
of it has surpassed even the most
optimistic expectation.
Thefirst public viewing ofthe
long-awaited promotional video
produced by the Brussels, Morris
and Grey Industrial Committee
was held following a gala dinner in
Brussels on November 18, and
virtually everyone present ex
pressed amazement at the excel
lent quality of the 11 -minute tape,
which was produced using all
volunteer labour over the past six
months.
Linda Thomas of Brussels, a
professional videocameraman and
editor, donated more than 12 hours
of her time to the straight shooting
ofthe scenes used, as well as nearly
15 hours in straight editing to
produce the tape which one expert
said would have cost more than
$10,000 had it been dome commer
cially.
At the end of the program, Mrs.
Thomas received a standing ova
tion for her work from the 120
people present at the opening,
while the members of the BMG
Industrial Committee - Keith
Mulvey of Brussels, Leona Arm
strong of Grey and Clem McLellan
of Morris - as well as volunteer
Jerry Wheeler of Brussels, who did
much of the initial spadework,
were warmly congratulated.
“I think it is quite a feather in
(this community’s) cap that such a
professional product could be
produced with all volunteer labour;
we should all be mighty proud of
them,” said Bev Brown of Brus
sels.
The colour video, which was
promised at the Brussels Ratepay
ers public meeting last May,
begins with an aerial overview of
the area (with flying time donated
by Gerrit Van Keulen of the
Brussels Flying Club), and contin
ues on to cover the main street of
Brussels and various cultural and
recreational aspects of the three
communities involved, as well as
interviews with several entrepre
neurs who have established busi
nesses in Brussels over the past
one and a half years.
Doug Bertrand of Grey Owl
Enterprises, a light industry esta
blished in Brussels last May, says
that he chose the community after
investigating several other loca
tions because it offered low rental
and purchase prices of facilities, an
available labour force, and easy
access to markets, all of which are
vital to the success of his box-man
ufacturing plant on the village’s
main street. Al Teeft, who opened
the Brussels EMA Store in June,
1986, and June Warwick, who is a
partner in the just re-opened
Brussels Hotel also gave their
reasqns for choosing to locate in the
area, which is billed on the tape as
“a great place to live, a great place
to work.”
Ridgetown mayor Russ MacMil
lan and Ron Beavis, president of
the Ridgetown Chamber of Com
merce, were guest speakers of the
evening, invited by the BMG
Industrial Committee to explain
how their community of 2,000 had
accomplished a remarkable upturn
initseconomyoverthepastfew
years because of the active promo
tion of the Chamber of Commerce,
the Ridgetown Economic Develop
ment Committee, the town council
and the residents of the town, all of
whom had worked closely together
to attract tourism, new businesses
and several industries to the
region.
“Anything can happen if the
people of the area work hard
Continued on page 6
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