Manitoba park, once named after Peter Nygard, renamed to highlight the region’s agricultural history
A Manitoba park named after fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been transformed into an homage to the grain elevators that once looked over the lands.
Formerly known as Nygard Park, Prairie Sentinels Park was reimagined in the town of Deloraine, a community near the Turtle Mountains in the southwest corner of the province.
The project was undertaken by the Deloraine-Winchester Historical Society about a year ago, recently formed and looking for a project to showcase the heritage of the area.
The group became aware that the naming rights for Nygard Park, situated on Main Street in Deloraine, had lapsed and approached the town council about its availability.
In a statement provided to CTV news dated June 16, 2020, the town’s council said, “Council of the Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester along with the newly formed Deloraine-Winchester Historical Society would like to announce the renaming of the park located at 108 North Railway Avenue East.”
“DWHS has proposed dedicating the current park space to a pictorial history of the grain elevators – the Sentinels of the Prairies (so-called because they “kept watch” over the prairies) that were once so vital to this community.”
Peter Nygard came to Canada as a child from Finland with his parents in 1942. The family first lived in the town of Deloraine in a converted coal shed without running water.
The park was named after Nygard in 2002.
In 2020, Nygard was accused of rape and sex trafficking in a class-action lawsuit and was later charged arrested under the Extradition Act for nine charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking.
Nygard remains in custody, and the charges have not been proven in court.
GRAIN ELEVATOR HISTORY
CPR yards Deloraine, Manitoba, c1905 (Supplied: Jan McClelland)
The park is located right along the railway siding in town, where the grain elevators once stood along the track.
“In fact, one of the elevators was Ogilvie’s and it was the very first elevator built in Deloraine,” said McClelland. “It is a perfect fit because that whole piece of the park was where an elevator once stood.”
Grain elevator history has become somewhat of an obsession for McClelland after spending countless hours researching the history of the area for the project.
“I lived, breathed, and slept elevators for six months last year. They were on my mind when I went to sleep, they were the first thing I thought of when I woke up. I have become intimately familiar with every elevator that was ever built in this municipality,” she said.
Deloraine was a happening place back in the 1880s, with no fewer than five grain elevators going up within a decade, starting in 1886.
“It was a really exciting place to be. The grain industry was new, exciting, and risky, we had all kinds of people that went on to found things like the Grain Exchange in Winnipeg,” McClelland said.
One elevator remains from the peak of 13 in the municipality. It is located about one and a half kilometres west of the town. It is privately owned and still in service.
OPPORTUNITY FOR EDUCATION
Prairie Sentinels Park (Supplied, Jan McClelland)
“It’s really a huge opportunity for people to learn about prairie life who didn’t grow up on the prairie,” said McClelland.
The park is set up with a walking path dotted with 19 storyboards filled with pictures and text.
There are also over 60 flagpoles, part of a millennium project when the Town of Deloraine raised the flags of about 250 different countries in 2000.
Those poles will now host the flags of countries that buy wheat from Manitoba. Unbeknown to the historical society at the time of planning, Manitoba sells wheat to over 80 countries.
“So we couldn’t fit all the flags in. We would have had to buy another two dozen flag poles,” said McClelland.
Smaller elevator models, built for use in parade floats, are also planned.
The project came together through grants, and sponsorship opportunities with local businesses, families, and individuals.
The park is open but the work is not finished. Landscaping, installation of the storyboards are just a couple of the things that still need to be completed.
The celebration of its creation has been put on hold because of the pandemic, with a tentative date now set for September 11.
“We would really like to be able to celebrate the park opening with people around, not just live-streaming it or six people in attendance.”
-With files from The Canadian Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Angst and calls for resting places as Surrey, B.C., pet cemetery development continues
A single headstone is all that remains of dozens of markers for long-buried pets in a subdivision in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, where a half-acre parcel bears a large sign announcing the proposed construction of new homes.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.