On Saturday, August 29, officials of the Moosomin branch of the Royal Canadian Legion officially unveiled their new benches and planters on Main Street.
The seating area is not the only upgrade to the hall as a federal grant was used to make renovations to the exterior of the building.
The seating area, however, was made possible through the generosity of some local businesses and individuals.
Donna Lafleur, Secretary-Treasurer for the Moosomin Legion, first thought of bringing in benches from out of province, but with price tags reaching as high as $30,000, a local solution was quickly explored.
“We thought why don’t we see if we can find somebody locally that can create some kind of a bench for us, and after we do our exterior renovations, we will do some sort of seating area out front,” said Lafleur.
“We wanted a community space on Main Street, because there is really no seating area, so we decided what better location than right across from the Post Office where everybody goes pretty much every day.”
The three metal benches were designed and built by Kelly and Stacey Romanow and the wooden benches and planters were created by Ken Aldous.
Both Romanow and Aldous donated part of their labour to the project.
The seating area and everything on it was all made possible due to donations of money, time and materials by local businesses and individuals.
Park Concrete was chosen to do the cement pad and they donated part of the cost of the job.
Crushrite Concrete donated part of the cost of the cement.
Margetts Construction donated all the back fill for the prep of the area.
Borderland Co-op made a cash donation.
Kassies Jewelry donated the plaques.
Shawn Stephen from Stephen’s Welding helped prep the seating area by removing the posts and chain-link fence that was there before.
The seating area is intended as a community space.
“We have had nothing but positive comments,” said Lafleur.
