The Greenwood Board of Trade (BOT) assembled for its monthly meeting recently and one of the main items on the agenda was the significant heritage value of City Hall and the need to preserve it, particularly that of the historic courtroom, where the board was meeting due to ongoing renovations to council chambers.
Special guest Linda Larson, MLA for the Boundary-Similkameen riding, attended the meeting to outline steps required to secure a grant of up to $25,000, potentially to be used for various restorations projects, including the cleaning of the stained glass windows that are mounted in the ceiling of the building.
The same artist that produced several windows for the B.C. Legislature building in Victoria crafted the glass, and, reportedly, it was his only project outside of the B.C. capital.
Larson also stressed the need to archive the significant amount of historical material stored in the building. She suggested that such a project could be contracted out to a college or university, perhaps as part of an Archive Conservation certificate program.
To apply for a grant, the board will need to form a special committee, possibly called the Heritage Restoration Community, ideally comprised of a BOT member, along with a Greenwood Museum representative, a council member and one or two other individuals from the community.
“If you put a committee together,” Larson said, “I can get you money.”
The board passed a motion to form the committee.
Treasurer Colleen Fraser presented her monthly report, which stated that the Board currently has a little more than $8,000 in reserve. She also provided a summary of Founder’s Day finances, which saw the event come very close to breaking even. Expenses totalled $5,409.74, which was only $49 more than the revenue generated. The budget for next year’s Founder’s Day was set at $6,000.
The board also made a motion to apply to the city for a site at which to install permanent signage that could advertise not only Founder’s Day but also other community events.
The upcoming Harvest Dance was officially cancelled. The board cited competition with a similar event in Midway as potentially damaging to both dances as far as attendance is concerned, and proposed that they work with Midway to perhaps alternate the fall event between the two communities to maximize its attendance.
The Founder’s Day committee will be meeting every month from now on, with Janet Matsalla replacing Jim Nathorst as chair.