What do you want Huntsville residents in 2067 to know about what our town is like today?
Students at Huntsville High School, in partnership with the Town, have built a time capsule to reside in the new swing bridge master’s cabin – which students also built – to be sealed this fall and to be opened on July 1, 2067.
Engraved in the panels on top of the time capsule is the message:
Created by Huntsville High School Building Students and placed in the SWING BRIDGE MASTERS CABIN HUNTSVILLE, ONTARIO on the occasion of its rebuild June 2016
What’s inside? Find out July 1, 2067 CANADA’S 200TH BIRTHDAY and not a moment before!
Whoever you are, whatever you do
The good wishes of this community will stay with you.
The time capsule was built in the form of a bench that will be filled with significant items and then sealed until 2067. It was placed in the Canada Summit Centre yesterday (June 30) with a book to allow Huntsville’s residents and visitors to make suggestions for what it should contain. The book of suggestions will also be sealed in the capsule.
The capsule was a suggestion by the students after they were approached by Teri Souter, the Town’s Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage, about building a replacement for the existing swing bridge master’s cabin. The cabin is in a state of disrepair and, rather than dispose of this piece of Huntsville’s heritage, Souter embarked on a project to have it replaced. (Read the story about its need for replacement on Doppler here.)
The new swing bridge master’s cabin was to be installed before the end of the school year but, due to circumstances outside of the students’ control, the installation has been delayed, a message that Souter relayed to the students on June 13.
“Sometimes despite the best efforts we put in, things don’t go as we planned,” said Souter. “The real measure of our character is what do we do with it from now? I don’t want you to lose faith. It is going to be installed. I’m really proud of what you guys have done.”
It’s the cost of the installation that has caused the delay. The District of Muskoka received a single response to its RFQ in an amount beyond what they had budgeted for the project.
“I can see some deflated, sad faces out there. I want you to know that I understand how you’re feeling because I feel it too. This is something that happens, so how are we going to make lemonade out of lemons?”
Students suggested a fall installation may be cheaper and asked about the possibility of fundraising to help offset the cost of installation, suggestions that Souter said she would relay to the District which has responsibility for the bridge and cabin. She also said that splitting the remainder of the project into three parts – removal, disposal and installation of the cabin – may invite more bidders who have the ability to complete one part of the project but not another.
Some of the students who built the new swing bridge master’s cabin and the time capsule (inside cabin) Garret Hall, Victor McCann; (back row from left) Tyler Jones, Scott MacDonald, Byron Boothby, teacher Greg Young, Mayor Scott Aitchison, Councillor Jonathan Wiebe, Nick Drewery, Ryan MacDonald, Chris Knowlton, Cody Parent, Myles Fetterley, Scott Perry; (front from left) Brandon Vowels, Daniel Sanderson, Elora Middleton, teacher Jeff Brady, Scott Chapeskie, Mitchell Ward
For now, the cabin will be stored until it can be installed on the bridge. And the efforts of the students who held up their part of the project and completed it on time have not gone unnoticed.
“I am really proud of what they’ve produced,” said HHS building construction teacher Greg Young. “I think they’ve done a dynamite job.”
Souter is pleased that the students agreed to be involved. “It was a really fabulous opportunity to engage the youth in our community, to be able to provide them with superior building materials so they could have the experience of what it’s like to build something real that will last for a long time, and to give them the opportunity to be engaged in the protection of part of our history long after the rest of us are gone.”
To make a suggestion for what should be in the time capsule, look for it in the Canada Summit Centre in the hallway to the left of the main entrance.
The message on the back of the time capsule suggestion book
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A preservation of an aspect of Huntsville that is slowly disappearing would be good to include, such as family farming. My grandfather, Bill Sinclair, was an advocate of farming in the region (he was awarded the Governor General’s award for his efforts).