An announcement made at Midale's 23rd annual Farmers Bonspiel banquet on Saturday revealed the Midale Civic Centre will be renamed the Joe Vilcu Memorial Civic Centre. Brad Eggum, president of the Midale Curling Club, explains the decision was prompted by a reflection on his service to the community after his passing last year.
“We unfortunately lost Joe in an accident earlier this fall or summer and Joe has been a very visible member of our community for well pretty all his life, but the last 30 plus years, 40 years perhaps Joe has been just front and center on everything community. He has dedicated himself to service on our local municipal council and he has spent time as the president of the rec board for the Midale recreation complex.”
“He's had a real strong special interest in the curling club and everything goes on in that Civic Centre building right from trying to find funding to keep that place going day to day, all the way down to little jobs fixing things up and there's just no part in that facility that Joe hasn't had his hands on over the years.”
M.O.R.E 2000 board member Kyle Hoium proposed the initial idea, and it was agreed on across the board.
“That building's never had a memorial name on it, never been named after someone in the community and after Joe's service we should look at reflecting that. We talked with members of town council and the RM council which I sit on and the decision was absolutely unanimous.”
Eggum was uncertain of the exact timeline for the change to be made, but assures the sign is already in the works.
“The sign is being manufactured now by a local welding fabrication shop right in Midale. When they have that ready, we'll try and get it up in a reasonable timely fashion after that.”