Station Keepers hope to live up to their name

Just when the likelihood of any kind of revival of the Barry’s Bay Railway Station looked dim, along came a new volunteer group called The Station Keepers. Barry Conway, a Barry’s Bay native who retired to Mask Island after a career as a journalist and professor, appeared as a delegation at the April 2 Council in Committee meeting. (Photo above) The Station Keepers has negotiated with MV Township to run programming at the Station from May through October. The Township will, as before, hire summer students to staff a Visitor Information Centre during July and August. Conway explained The Station Keepers’ programming proposal and answered questions from members of Council before they passed a By-Law authorizing the agreement.

Conway defined the Station Keepers as a “broadly-based coalition of like-minded people who are sensitive to the Station’s position within the local community as an icon of [the Valley’s] unique cultural and historical identity.” He said they are a “baker’s dozen” of committed individuals who are passionate about the whole community not just Barry’s Bay.

For more information about The Station Keepers, email:  info@stationkeepers.com   

(Image courtesy The Station Keepers)

Conway told The Current that The Station Keepers aim to fundraise and support the Railway Station so that eventually it functions year-round as a culture and heritage centre for the local community, with a seasonal tourist centre. Until then, they will provide cultural and heritage programming throughout the year and their volunteers will provide support to keep the Station open on weekends from May to October. All Station Keepers programs and events will be free to the general public but will use various means to raise funds for the programming and to support the Station, Water Tower, Caboose and Water Tower Park. The Stations Keepers hope to develop special interest clubs for walking, bicycling, photography, art, etc. Plans include a new revitalized museum at the Station.

He told Council that The Station Keepers intentionally wanted to “go public” so they attended the Opeongo Heritage Cup Tournament last weekend. They handed out about 125 brochures and had a lot of discussions with people, but they did not hold a membership drive pending Council’s approval. “With your permission and the By-Law we will launch a membership drive and tie it closely to access to the station which we hope would open the first weekend in May. Our first major celebration [will be] on the Long Weekend with a salute to teachers from 1894 to 2019 and [celebrate the 125th] anniversary of the First Schoolhouse.”

During his presentation Conway, an avid historian, referred to local historical figures and prompted frequent laughter as he told stories with genuine Valley wit. He said, “We want to tell the history and deal with all the wonderful, chaotic, interesting stories…. to talk to people about how they got here, whether it was 150 years ago or last month.” He said, “There’s great fun, great beauty, great joy in our history. We simply would like to use one of the [iconic buildings] in town [as our operations base] to produce the one thousand and one stories that are out there.”

Barry’s Bay CN Station (Photo: CSTM)

Councillor David Shulist assembled a group of stakeholders last December. In early 2019 they organized themselves into an independent volunteer and fundraising group. Members include former or current members of the original preservation group who had saved the Station from destruction in the 1990s, as well as the Barry’s Bay Heritage Society Genealogy Group, the Madawaska Valley Culture & Heritage Society, Wilno Heritage Society/Polish Kashub Heritage Museum, Mission House Museum & Gallery. Conway told Council there was depth in their small group as evidenced by archaeologist Don Webb, historian /  genealogist Theresa Prince, Carmel Rumleskie of the Combermere museum, Bill Houle who combines good business sense with knowledge of history. Conway himself last year originated the Opeongo Readers’ Theatre podcasting group which filled the Legion last Remembrance Day when they read 28 letters from local men serving in WWII.

CAO Suzanne Klatt and Conway have been in discussion for several weeks. A main premise of their talks was that Station Keepers is an independent organization at arms-length from the Council. Klatt provided Council with a By-Law setting out in detail the respective responsibilities and expectations of both Station Keepers and the municipality in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

CAO Sue Klatt, the “new Horace Landon”

Conway complimented Klatt on her part in the negotiations: “One of the great delights of the last six weeks has been dealing with CAO Sue Klatt. Sue doesn’t know this but she reminds me of one of the great heroes of this community, Horace Landon. Horace came up in the 1920s as a clerk for Conways Mill and he became what in modern terminology was the CAO in the 1930s.” Conway said Landon brought both telephone and hydro to Barry’s Bay. He said Klatt with her “great sense of humour and creative problem solving has resolved a lot of the issue that were confronting us to move forward on this. So I want to tip my hat to Sue for being the new Horace Landon.”

After hearing Conway’s presentation, each member of Council expressed support for the partnership. Acting Mayor Shulist said of The Station Keepers, “Everybody there has that same passionate vision of promoting culture and heritage.” Although Mayor Love was absent due to a family bereavement, he said he spoke to her just before the meeting. Shulist said, “She is 100 percent in favour of this proposal.” He said, “It’s a good partnership between public and council. The one thing we want to ensure is that we are as a council definitely arms-length here. This is going to be your show but if there is any help that you want, we need to be there for you…. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and we need to bring that Railway Station to life as it should be.”

Responding to Conway’s request for help to recreate a “lost” Valley fiddle tune from the Shanty days of the 1860s, Councillor Ernie Peplinski said, “This is a real breath of fresh air and thank you for what you’re doing…. I’ve enjoyed meeting with you the last couple of weeks and talking about your dreams. It’s exactly what I was thinking all along…. so I’ve no doubt at all that this is going to be very successful.”

Councillor Mark Willmer said his view essentially repeated the others’. “What you people have done is fantastic and it’s what I had hoped would happen to the train station…. We need positive partnerships right now…. I’m looking forward to it. Congratulations.“

Councillor Carl Bromwich kept his comments brief: “Very, very short. This is very exciting. Thank you.”

Council passed a Resolution to hold first, second and third readings of the By-Law so that it could take immediate effect. Click HERE to read By-Law 2019-25 including the MOU Terms of Reference.