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What's your story, Coquitlam?

Stories Told, Stories to be Created is the theme for Coquitlam 125.

 

If you happen to see actors dressed up in old-fashioned clothes at special events in Coquitlam next year, get curious.

Hear what they have to say about the city’s past.

Because they also want to hear from you about what makes the municipality tick.

On Jan. 2, the city kicks off its 125th anniversary with a celebration at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex.

There’ll be plenty going on to launch the year-long party — budgeted to cost $854,000 — with free recreation and live entertainment from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., including an opening ceremony at 11:10 a.m. (free activities will also be on the go at the City Centre Aquatic Complex on Pinetree Way).

But driving next year’s festivities will be a storytelling component that not only aims to share Coquitlam’s past but will also weave tales for future generations.

The Coquitlam 125 theme is Stories Told, Stories to be Created, an idea sparked by the city’s CAST (Coquitlam Anniversary Steering Task) Force headed up by Joan McCauley, the executive director of Place des Arts.

“We know that Coquitlam has great stories,” she said, “and we want people to tell them to us,” she said.

Already, the group commissioned by the city to collect the words — in written and video format — has documented stories from a few current and former leaders and residents.

Brunella Battista of Artists Rendering Tales Collective Inc. said they’ve captured narratives from previous workers at Fraser Mills (once the biggest sawmill in the Commonwealth), city freeman Don Cunnings and elders at Kwikwetlem First Nation.

And her crew will be at every 125th event to collect more anecdotes from the general population for the city’s blog (coquitlam125.ca) and art projects. “They will form part of our legacy,” McCauley said.

Added Battista, an Italian immigrant who teaches at Douglas College: “Coquitlam is a developing community that has many multicultural links. We need to foster that sense of pride in who we are and where we come from…. Storytelling includes everyone and everybody has a story to tell.”

The historical characters are there not only to entertain but to jog people’s memories, Battista said. As the actors re-enact a bit of Coquitlam’s past, viewers can also relate their own accounts of the city.

Among the first group of historical characters to be introduced are:

• French-Canadian millworker Pierre Chartrand (played by Gardiner Millar), a composite character of the many Maillardville pioneers;

• Margaret Hortin (played by Lori Sherritt), one of the Powder Puff derby racers in the 1950s and ‘60s who was prominent at the Westwood racetrack with her MGA coupe;

• and Lum King (portrayed by David H. Lyle), the operator of the dairy at Alderson Avenue and Blue Mountain Street who entertained customers with his piano playing and Scottish folk songs.

Battista said historical characters will be present at such special events as neighbourhood nights (block parties), Kaleidoscope (arts and culture fest), the community heritage picnic (Sept. 17 at Blue Mountain Park) and Lights at Lafarge (grand finale in November).

• Visit coquitlam125.ca for a full list of what’s to come in 2016.

jwarren@tricitynews.com
@jwarrenTC

 

HELP NEEDED

Artists can bring Coquitlam’s stories to life by volunteering in the city’s 125th festivities next year.

Visit coquitlam125.ca/artists or email artistsrtcinc@gmail.com.