You’ve tucked away all of your old school memories. There’s a shoebox in your closet and it’s full of old handbills for the openings of prominent buildings like Village Tree Mall and St. Albert Place. A bookshelf in the basement has a row full of dusty photo albums. Your family might even have a secret stash of classic local memorabilia such as lapel pins and posters that has been stored away for years.
Irene Harvey wants to turn it into gold through a kind of cultural alchemy. She is on the gala committee for Rendezvous 2011, the group organizing yearlong celebrations for the city’s 150th anniversary next year.
Harvey wants all long-term residents and families from St. Albert to dig through their attics and crawlspaces to find the stuff that our history is made of. Looking over her own collection of items — including many pieces from when her late husband Ronald Harvey was mayor — she said it’s easy to forget all of those moments but they are still important to St. Albert.
“I found it interesting to look through,” she stated, the memories still strongly attached to each item. “You don’t think of it as history because you’re living it, but what you’re living now is going to be history.”
She hopes people can spend some time going through all their old items not just to consider lending them to the committee. She said it would also be a great way to reconnect with our collective past, as well as an activity to heighten interest in next year’s celebrations.
Any items lent to the committee will be put on display during various events throughout 2011 including a kick-off gala in January, homecoming in July and the Rendezvous picnic in August.
To learn more about the celebrations or to assist with this project, please call 780-458-4630 or visit www.rendezvous2011.ca. The committee’s office is located at 109B – 50 St. Thomas St.
