By Liz MacKenzie
Photos: Elaine Sigler
The grand finale for our summer student heritage researchers, Mark Farine and Vincent Bergeron, was a Heritage Walk on Dalhousie North. Under the direction of Nancy Miller Chenier, Michel Rossignol, Robert Smythe and Marc Aubin, they documented some of the colourful history of Dalhousie North. The work was made possible by an 8-week Canada Summer Jobs 2015 grant. Brendan Bowen (of Bingham rink fame) did a cameo project on Polly Drouin, former part-owner of the storied Lasalle Hotel and local NHL hockey hero.
On July 18th, the researchers put on a superb performance for more than 100 people. There were two English and two French tours featuring buildings from Bingham Park to Murray Street. Based on their extensive research, Mark, Vincent and Brendan told stories that brought early Lowertown history to life. Many descendants of the families that settled Dalhousie Street joined the walk and were thrilled by the recognition of their history. Merchants and the North Dal Summer Avant Garden Party were key to the success of the event. Merchants and the BIA lined the street with balloons.
Frank Sukhoo of Sukhoo Sukhoo put on an amazing pop-up fashion show with models strutting their stuff along Dalhousie. There was a sidewalk sale at Wunderkammer, and at Das Lokal a BBQ and vintage clothing popup shop. There was music and the Ottawa Art Galley set up a studio for kids.
And the people came. Visitors and the community spilled onto the streets drinking root beer floats from Goods and Cylee’s fabulous Frozen Hot Chocolate. There were smiles all around as neighbours hailed each other across the streets. One old-timer said, “it is just like the old neighbourhood”.
and Vincent Bergeron, each pursuing
master’s degrees at Ottawa University
The Lowertown Community Association (LCA) made lots of new friends – more than 20 people signed up to get involved in the association’s work. We sold T-shirts, Memories of Lowertown CDs and copies of Ottawa Then and Now donated by photographer John McQuarrie.
For the Heritage Committee, it was hugely gratifying to see so much interest in Dalhousie North, an oft-neglected part of Lowertown. The LCA is grateful for the participation of merchants who helped promote the event, to the BIA for providing balloons, a banner and marquee, and to Heritage Committee members who volunteered. Special thanks to Robert Smythe for his supporting Urbsite blog Dalhowzie or Dalhoozie http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2015/07/dalhowzie-or-dalhoozie-its-time-for.html?q=DALHOUSIE .
Requests to repeat the tour came from many, including Heritage Ottawa. A very experienced heritage researcher told us it was the best tour she had ever been on. Now that says a lot about our guides and about our neighbourhood. So there will be a repeat performance and we will give lots of notice. It’s a not-to-be-missed event.