MOOSE JAW — It’s been over four months since the Royal Canadian Legion left its original home on High Street West, so it now wants to honour its new space with a celebration.
Branch No. 59 is holding a grand opening at 693 Fairford Street West on Friday, Sept. 19, with a ceremony and ribbon cutting at 1:30 p.m. The ceremony will take place at the flagpole in the parking lot located off Seventh Avenue Northwest.
After the ceremony concludes, the veterans’ organization will provide a free light lunch.
Anyone interested in attending should contact the office to confirm a spot; call 306-692-5453 or email [email protected].
If the weather is poor, the ceremony will occur in the lounge.
Branch No. 59 left its original home at 268 High Street West — in which it had operated since 1927 — on May 1, after deciding not to renew its lease with the building’s new owners. Before leaving, though, it held a farewell ceremony on April 19, which included a final beer sale, meat draw, 50/50 raffle, Chase the Ace fundraiser and flag-lowering ceremony
“It’s going to be a great day,” said Christine Simpson, Branch No. 59’s president, noting that members have offered mostly positive compliments about the venue since it opened.
Continuing, Simpson said many dignitaries are expected to attend, including the president of the Legion’s Saskatchewan Command, the mayor, MPs, MLAs, and members, along with other interested residents.
The branch president commended everyone — from contractors to volunteers — who helped renovate the building so it met the Legion’s needs, while she thought the venue inside was visually appealing and would continue to improve daily.
Continuing, she said she was “very much so” looking forward to the ceremony, especially since the organization had worked diligently since May to work out as many kinks and issues as possible that affected the building.
Some issues the organization had to address included installing a new sound system, the placement of photos and paintings, setting up the bar and planting and maintaining a garden. Luckily, many subject-matter experts offered advice about how best to address these issues.
Simpson noted that it was a good feeling to have such experienced people work out these small issues. Besides Legion members, she commended the building owner, Jamey Logan, since his team performed most of the major renovations.
“These are your subject-matter experts. They know if (something) is going to work this way, like the plumbing or the air conditioning or the heating,” she said. “We haven’t had any problems with any of it at all … .
“It’s going along fantastic.”
Simpson pointed out that, similar to people moving into a new home, the Legion will likely want to make changes to the building as time progresses, such as installing new doors or windows. However, major projects like that shouldn’t happen anytime soon since the building is so new.
“It’s all coming together and working seamlessly,” she remarked.
Simpson added that, now that the branch has a new home, it will restart its many activities this fall, including bingo, darts, crib, shuffleboard, curling, the Elks’ meat draws and looking after veterans.
