left to right: John Barclay, BIA; Marc Nadeau, OMCA; Maggie Boyer, NG Times; Don Munz, artist; and Jim Beveridge, B&H store.

Last Sunday, a cheque for $400 was presented by Don Munz, Jim Beveridge and Maggie Boyer to the Oxford Mills Community Association [OMCA] to help defray the costs of the new gazebo in Maplewood Park, sponsored by the Association. Don Munz and John Barclay had worked on a number of heritage themed drawings of downtown Kemptville, which were mounted in storefront windows in Kemptville as part of a BIA initiative. Maggie Boyer, of the Times, suggested that prints of the pictures could be sold in collections of 10 to raise money for OMCA, and Don graciously agreed to the plan. Funds for the printing of the drawings was supplied in part by the Municipality’s Heritage Advisory Committee, supplemented by Don himself, and Classic Graphics produced the packages of prints at a favourable rate. A display of ten drawings was then framed by Canal Galleries in Merrickville, paid for by the NG Times, and put on display in the B&H store in Kemptville, thanks to Jim Beveridge, owner of the grocery store.

This amazing example of community co-operation resulted in the cheque for $400 being presented to Marc Nadeau, President of OMCA, last Sunday in the B&H store. The funds will be a welcome contribution to the cost of installing the new gazebo in Maplewood Park, after the previous structure was demolished by the Municipality, which then left it to OMCA and the Oxford Mills community to replace the iconic gazebo at their own expense.

Thanks and congratulations must go out to everyone involved in the project, all of whom offered their time and services without charge, and to Classic Graphics and Canal Galleries, who provided their services at a sharply reduced rate, which made the entire project feasible.

Thanks, also, to those residents who bought the collections of prints which Don Munz had so skillfully created and donated to the project. The Kemptville BIA made great use of the drawings to brighten up otherwise empty storefronts, as well as adding to other windows in the BIA footprint.

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