Supper in support of old mill set

The Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society will host its second annual Heritage Dinner as a fundraiser towards fixing up the old mill in the city.

“Last year’s sold out Canada 150 Heritage Dinner allowed the Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society to retire our debt, and together with ongoing fundraising efforts, our focus of permanently preserving and improving the Brick Mill continues,” said Larry Pearen, a Society director, at a press conference Monday.

The upcoming dinner will be hosted Sept. 26, at St. Gerard’s Hall.

The Heritage Dinner is designed not only as a fundraiser for the Yorkton Brick Mill, but as a showcase for heritage in our community and to demonstrate the important role it has played and will continue to play in the development of our City, explained Pearen.

This year’s Heritage Dinner will have two guest speakers: Kristin Catherwood, Saskatchewan Heritage, who will discuss ‘Untangling Intangible Cultural Heritage’ and Kenn Propp who will share ‘Harvest Meats –The History of a 90 year old family business.'

Pearen also took the opportunity at Monday’s press conference to mark several sizeable donations to the Society.

“We are pleased to announce that Harvest Meats, in their celebration of 90 years, will be our Diamond Brick sponsor – our Title Sponsor! Harvest Meats has been a supporter of this Brick Mill project since the beginning and we thank them for their generous support,” he said.

Propp said he recognizes “the importance of preserving the history of the city. He called the mill a sort of “Waterloo in the city” in terms of being a last chance to preserve a building of such vintage, and that is an important undertaking.

Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney noted, “Council hasn’t always been supportive of the effort,” but with the Society formed and strides being made that view point is changing.

“I think there will be support for this moving forward,” he said, adding “we don’t have very many historical buildings left.”

In addition, The Yorkton Business Improvement District made a donation of $25,000 over five years.

Yorkton Co-op Association donated $10,000 from their Building Community Fund to help with our foundation and east wall stabilization project.

David Dungey, owner of Canadian Tire, donated five Colorado Spruce trees to add to landscaping at the Brick Mill site.

Additional trees, benches and historical signage will improve the site for all to enjoy.

Tickets for the upcoming supper are $50, with a tax receipt of $25, and are available from all Society directors.