A collaboration between the City of Morden, Manitoba, Morden Collegiate Institute (MCI), and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #11 is helping Morden preserve and showcase its historical war displays.
Confederation Park’s aging historical displays have been replaced with redesigned signage, bringing together the work of generations of MCI students, local educators, city staff, and community members.
The task was completed by MCI students, local educators, city staff, and community members. The project is not only updating the signs but also making sure the people behind the names are not forgotten, while giving a younger generation of students a meaningful role in preserving their community’s history.
The project began when the city recognized an opportunity to give the park’s existing displays a much-needed update. Since the original signs had been a student project, Morden Parks Manager Jonathan Friesen reached out to retired MCI history teacher Darryl Toews, whose research had provided the foundation for the first displays. Toews was pleased to hear the city wanted to continue the project that began with students a decade ago.
The project helped students discover the people behind the names, and they approached the project with seriousness and diligence once they understood the responsibility involved in presenting the stories of local people who served during wartime. Students brought their own perspectives to the project and were able to take the project beyond the classroom as they worked with the city’s in-house graphic designer, Brock Tyler, who incorporated the student-created graphics and wording into a consistent format that also followed the city’s developing park signage standards.
The original collection of 30 displays has been consolidated into a smaller number of larger signs, allowing more information to be presented together. The current installation includes five signs: two covering the First World War, two covering the Second World War, and one French-language sign.
Source: Robyn Wiebe, PembinaValleyOnline
