A Port Moody man is calling on his fellow residents to support the Ioco Ghost Town Day in honour of its passionate stalwart, centenarian Mary Anne Cooper.
Jeff McLellan was among the approximately 300 people at Tuesday's council meeting to hear the debate on a road through Bert Flinn Park but it was a speech at the end of the meeting that got his attention, in which Cooper "spoke so passionately about community, and how the original pioneers who founded Port Moody had to come together as a community in order to survive and grow into the amazing city we all call home today."
He noted Cooper was one of group of locals who lobbied PoMo council to designate the Ioco Townsite as a heritage area in 2000, leading to the first Ghost Town Day in 2001.
"We have a very valuable heritage area there at the end of Ioco Road, and it represents what I hope you will always hope to have — community," Cooper said at the meeting. "It's not just a place of houses. It's not just a place of industry. It's an illustration of how people worked together and made it work in a pioneer community."
Volunteers organizing this year's celebration were hampered somewhat after receiving only a fifth of the $2,500 in funding they usually receive from the Heritage Commission to hold Ghost Town Day. Coun. Barbara Junker, who chairs the commission, said a greater portion of the funding is going toward its own growing heritage festival.
McLellan said in his Facebook post that after a divisive six-week campaign over Bert Flinn Park that "seemed intent on pitting neighbourhood versus neighbourhood," it was only fitting that, in honour of Cooper's 102nd birthday next month, he would rally the community to support Ioco Ghost Town Day.
"I thought it was great that somebody in the community was wanting to help out," said Jim Millar, director of the Port Moody Station Museum. "This is a grassroots festival. It's so easy to forget about things. The new generation coming along has no idea what the history was of the place, so I think it's important to know what our forefathers and mothers did before us."
Within an hour, McLellan's post had generated $900, Millar said.
The free, family-friendly event will offer live entertainment by The Syndicate, Theatrix, Nigel Tucker and magician Dennis Hewson, as well as children's activities, trolley tours of the Ioco Townsite, a wood-turning display, bouncy castle and much more. There will also be food trucks on site.
Donations ($25 and up qualify for a tax receipt) can be made online at www.canadahelps.org/dn/14327 or via the museum's site at portmoodymuseum.org/support/donate/ (indicate in the Message section that the donation is for Mary Anne 102nd Birthday or Ioco Ghost Town Day). Cheques can also be dropped off at the museum.
• Ioco Ghost Town Day is on Sunday, Oct. 2 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Ioco Townsite (Ioco Road and 1st Avenue). Click here for more info.
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