Barrie is getting ready to party for Promenade Days this weekend, but there is the matter of a national honour and pride to deal with at Memorial Square before the celebrations begin.
Friday is the official opening of the new Meridian Square with the weekend full of music and activities to honour Canada’s birthday and the downtown Barrie Promenade Days festival.
One of the most cherished aspects of the new centre will be the revamped Memorial Square and Friday morning there will be a key piece respectfully brought in with full military honours.
Canadian Forces Base Borden Chief Warrant Officer Michael Charette was on hand Wednesday morning to lead the exercise that will have over 125 soldiers and personnel ready for a very proud and solemn service.
“Today was the orientation for the various parade positions in preparation for the cenotaph rededication ceremony on Friday,” said Charette. “On Friday, we will have a 100-man guard from CFB Borden with various troops and personnel from the base who will form a guard and with the assistance of the Grey-Simcoe Foresters we will bring forward and permanently place an urn into the wall here with sacred soil that was brought home from Vimy Ridge in 2015.”
The idea that the Canadian Forces shows up and just places the urn in the awaiting wall is clearly not the case as approximately 30 camouflaged soldiers descended on Dunlop Street to learn their positions and the route that will be taken for the 10:30 a.m. ceremony.
“Any cenotaph, any monument for our fallen soldiers and recognizing their sacrifices is always important to us and is something we take very seriously,” Charette said. “This project has been a little while in the works to get where it is; it's a great improvement for the city and for the memories we need to honour and we’re going to do it right.”
Joining the approximate 125 soldiers will be 12 to 15 veterans, various command teams from the base and the city of Barrie will many VIP guests in attendance as well.
The event starts at 10:30 a.m. and lasts approximately an hour and a half at the new Memorial Square.
Many residents have said they love the new centre of town and voiced their positive opinions on it online, but still there are a few who feel moving a cenotaph was a negative thing, despite the area becoming much more spacious for memorial events.
Charette has been to many Remembrance Day ceremonies in downtown Barrie and gives a military perspective on the issue.
“Memorial Square is simply awesome,” he said. “It is truly fitting of what a memorial square should be as it gives a place for us to do our parades, a place for veterans, families and citizens of Barrie to pay their proper respects on special occasions where we honour those who made sacrifices to our country.
"It really is an awesome place now that fits well with the waterfront and downtown Barrie; it is truly the heart and pulse of the centre of what’s happening here and I think it’s great for the city.”
With planes flying overhead during the ceremony and many marching military personnel, the urn will be brought toward the final resting spot in style.
Leo St. Croix and Jennifer Clark, from Rainbow View Farms in Phelpston, Ont., are usually seen providing their horses and wagons for the many city events. On Friday, the duo will be transporting the urn on its final leg up Dunlop Street to the square by horse and carriage.
“I have done funerals before and that’s a solemn event for sure,” said St. Croix, “But this is definitely a huge honour for us; my dad was in the second World War with his two brothers. The three of them came back, one died and the other had been shot and wounded, so for me it is important and I’m honoured.”
The repatriation takes place at Memorial Square in downtown Barrie at 10:30 a.m., Friday, and is open to the public.
