One hundred years is a milestone worth celebrating.
Just don’t ask Jim Millar what the centennial of the Ioco townsite will look like in September when the historic company enclave for the nearby Imperial Oil refinery celebrates its founding.
The executive director of Port Moody’s Station Museum has got $27,000 from Heritage Canada, but uncertainty over the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming months is limiting his options for the party he’s been charged with organizing, along with some guidance from Mary Anne Cooper who — at 106 years-old — has been there, done that.
The celebration needs to leave a legacy so future generations can learn about and appreciate the 23-acre townsite’s unique position in Port Moody’s history, Millar said. Hopefully, that will spark renewed efforts to preserve and restore its crumbling buildings, like some of the small, wooden homes, the grocery store and the community hall, even as possible redevelopment by the company that owns part of the townsite clouds its future.
While an earlier effort to restore the old footbridge that links the east and west parts of the townsite was rejected by Port Moody council, Millar hopes the erection of several interpretative signs that visitors will be able to discover on a self-guided walking tour, as well as the installation of park benches along the route will give people renewed reason to visit the old village for years to come.
“It’s a beautiful spot,” Millar said, adding the project also includes the creation of a digital book of collected memories and photos of the townsite that will become a kind of living history that grows and evolves with each contribution.
Wednesday, museum coordinators Markus Fahrner and Brianne Egeto were strolling around the townsite sketching out possible locations for the interpretative signs and park benches. Millar said he hopes the walking tour will bring visitors back in time when Ioco was a thriving little community that offered its residents pretty much everything they needed and everyone looked out for everyone else.
“Kids couldn’t get away with anything without someone catching them,” he said. “It was a nice place to grow up.”
While the exact nature and number of signs will depend on the budget, Millar said he anticipates the walking tour should be ready by August.
The park benches will be put together by members of the new Port Moody Men’s Shed Society that is preparing to occupy the old tool shed in front of the museum. They’ll be placed on public road allowance so they won’t be disturbed by any future redevelopment of the site.
Millar said the city’s heritage society is also in discussions with School District 43 about possible access to the old Ioco school just across the street.
Longer term, the group is in the early stages of determining the course for a public art project after council recently approved funding for up to $60,000.
Still, Millar said, the celebration of the townsite’s centennial would be so much more special with a party.
“It’s a difficult situation,” he said of the ever-changing public health orders. “We’re going to try to get it in front of people’s minds as much as we can.”
