With its roof newly shored up and the public engaged, there’s plenty of life left in the Old Boys Memorial Entrance at the Picton Fairgrounds.

Two dozen residents met with Lisa Lindsay, Director of Recreation and Community Facilities, to discuss the renovation and offer ideas for the future of the space.

Built in 1920 as a ticket booth and gatehouse, the Old Boys Memorial Entrance honours those residents who sacrificed their lives in the First World War. 

As Picton’s Cenotaph grew and expanded to honour those who lost their lives in WWII and the Korean War, however, the Memorial Entrance lost its prominence. In recent years, the building has been relegated to auxiliary storage — and become an easy target for vandals.

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 78 President Diane Kennedy approached Council during last year’s budget deliberations, lamenting the deplorable state of the building. She asked the municipality to stave off its deterioration.

A green room and dressing 
area for live 
performances and weddings 
at the Crystal Palace was one idea. Reverting back 
to a ticket booth and gate house for the Fall Fair another.

$50,000 was set aside, of which roughly half has gone to replacing the roof. The renovations were declared a “Project of Special Interest,” making any public donation eligible for a charitable tax receipt.

Chris Palmer, Supervisor of Museums and Cultural Services, noted the new metal roof resembles the cedar shakes of the past and is guaranteed for 25 years.

“With the cedar shakes of today, we could only get a five-year guarantee so it really wasn’t an option,” he said. “The people doing the roof renovation did remark that despite the decay of the previous product, the boards underneath have held up relatively well.”

Next Steps

A green room and bridal dressing room, to accommodate both live performances and weddings hosted at the Crystal Palace was one of the suggestions offered by the public. Reverting back to a ticket booth and gate house for the Fall Fair another.

Ms. Kennedy agreed the building should have new uses and be available during public and private events.

But it should also commemorate those Prince Edward County residents who paid the ultimate price for freedom in the Great War. She suggested plaques or storyboards in front of the building explaining who the “Old Boys” were — a collection of County expats who funded the Memorial  — and listing the names of those who died in service of the Empire on the Western Front in Belgium and France between 1914 and 1918.

The gazebo and the inukshuk to the east of the Memorial Entrance, installed for the arrival of the 2010 Winter Olympic torch, are being removed.

The gazebo has reached the end of its life and the stone cairn is being relocated inside the Prince Edward Community Centre.

Work is expected to be completed before Remembrance Day.