Saturday will be a big day in Sexsmith .
It will be Chautauqua Day.
There will also be a ribbon cutting ceremony at the old grain elevator to mark the start of a restoration project.
Lynda Drysdale with the Elevator Preservation Committee says the elevator was built in 1961.
“And it’s the last prairie giant in the Peace Region eligible for restoration. Sexsmith was the grain capital of the British Empire between 1938 to 1947. A lot of people don’t know that. Between 1931 and 1932, there were 1.1-million tons of grain shipped from Sexsmith.”
She explains why this is the only one left in the Peace Region that can be fixed up.
“Most are in disrepair and a number of them have been destroyed. When this particular elevator came to the point where it was questionable about whether it was going to meet its demise, there were several of us that stood up and said ‘You know, we would like to help preserve it.'”
Upgrades to the roof will be the first work done to restore the town’s only remaining elevator.
Drysdale says grants, donations, and a raffle will help pay for the project.
“We also have a program that we started. If you have an elderly person in your family or a past relative that was in the grain industry, a farmer in the area, doesn’t have to be right in Sexsmith or close to it, you’re welcome to donate $100 in their name and we’ll put their name in the log book in the elevator.”
That ribbon cutting will start at 2 p.m. Saturday.
