A presentation about Morden's History through murals and benches brought several people out to the Morden Activity Centre on Wednesday afternoon to learn about the community.
Presenter and avid history buff Cheryl Link said this type of sharing took place last year with a few people attending but this year, more chairs had to be brought into the room for people to take part.
"Just about all the benches and murals have some kind of historical background to them. Some I think could have more context, but that's the history and I was willing to go out and research that and bring it to this group. We had a wonderful group here, lots of people. Sometimes there's only three or four of us, but today there was more. So obviously, this is something that's touched other people's hearts as well."
While there were some people who have lived in Morden most of their lives in attendance at the presentation, many were new to Morden and came to learn more about their new community.
Link said there is a special bench beside the iconic clock tower in Morden.
The money for a bench had been donated by long-time Corn & Apple vendor Bessie Rodriguez from Bessie's Shish Kabobs. She always had a long line up for her famous kabobs and thought a bench near her location would be helpful. Unfortunately, that location was private property, so the money was kept for a later time. The money was later used to honour "Big Time" Bergman.
"Wayne was just such a huge community member. All the entertainment that he brought to Morden for the Corn and Apple stage, and at the Access Event Centre, at that time it was just the Recreation Center, the Grand Ole Opry, that he brought to the Kenmor Theatre with Terry Titchkosky and Maurice Butler. Everything was buzzing around Wayne, even when he was just at a social, playing the music up on the stage. Everything was abuzz with him."
The bench is in that space so people can enjoy the music of the Corn & Apple Festival each year.
Ruth Isaac was at the presentation and talked about a bench she and her brother added to the community on Stephen Street across from her workplace at the Murray Dodge Ram in their parents' names, Frank and Elsie Isaac. Frank worked all his life in Morden in retail and Isaac recalls often walking down the main street in Morden with them, so for her a bench was a great way to commemorate them.
For Link, she has a few murals that she really likes.
"I think my favorite are the Chautauqua murals. There's three of them that are remaining, one on the side of the Legion, one on the side of the Menzies Medical Centre, and one right here on this building at Morden Activity Center. Those three were done in 2008 as part of the Culture Canada Program. Morden was chosen in that year, and the very first rural community who had ever been chosen for this honour, and it was an honour."
Many other activities took place that month including a one-person play written by Larry Danielson and a video made by David Rabinovitch of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre.
Benches can be found all over Morden at Milne, Confederation and Livingstone Parks and along Stephen and North Railway Streets and the remaining murals are located on the Morden Community Thrift Store, Confederation Park, Menzies Medical Centre and several are on the Morden Activity Centre.
There have been some lost murals due to refurbishing buildings with one painted over and a couple removed either for relocation or repair and were damaged in the process, like the mosaic at the Access Event Centre and the one on the side of Marathon Pizza, according to Link.
She expressed why keeping Morden's history alive in these forms is so important.
"I think one of the most important (reasons) is that if you don't remember history, you're doomed to repeat it. Some things we want to repeat, we have some wonderful history in this community. Other things, maybe not so much, especially when you look at world history, but it is important. It's important to people. You can tell by the number of people that came here today. When I mentioned some of the murals being gone and the condition of some of the benches and some of the signs curling and rusting and things like that, there was a real buzz around the tables. That surprised people. It shocked them."
The conversation that followed the presentation was rich in personal memories and connections to other points of interest in the community such as the work done to the cenotaph at Confederation Park and the adding of names and plaques to the area, as well as trees planted there on the 100th anniversary of Canada and Morden.
The next presentation is taking place November 20th at the center with Dave Stobbe sharing his experience staying with an Amish Family in the United States.