The Saugeen Times

Goderich wins heritage award
By Lynda Cooper, 95.5 myFM Radio

Heritage

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The 'prettiest little town in Canada' has been awarded a 2009 Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for community leadership in heritage conservation and promotion.

The Town of Goderich learned Tuesday (Feb. 16) that it had received the award for the under-10,000 population category.

"I find it pretty exciting and surprising," says mayor Delbert (Deb) Shewfelt. "It was a well-kept secret. I had an inkling before the press release came out, but then it was confirmed that we were one of the selections for heritage leadership."

The mayor was joined by a contingent from Goderich to collect the award Friday (Feb. 19), meeting with Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, chairman of the Ontario Heritage Trust, at Queen's Park, as part of the province's Heritage Week celebrations.

"I find it especially rewarding to accept this award," says Shewfelt, "having been mayor in 1976 when, with the support of many volunteers, the Heritage District bylaw was passed by council, ensuring the preservation of Goderich's heritage landscape and unique downtown core heritage values."

He noted one person in particular, the late Dorothy Wallace, who was very active and very insistent that council do something about the fact that Goderich was losing a lot of its heritage buildings. "It was a tough sell at the time," says Shewfelt, "but you look back now and it was the right thing to do."

Known as "Canada's Prettiest Town," Goderich contains a rich inventory of heritage properties, including two Heritage Conservation Districts: The Square and the West Street neighbourhood.

Heritage Goderich's work includes consulting with heritage property owners and offering financial assistance through the Goderich Facade Restoration Loan Program. Numerous publications are available on the heritage of the town, including three volumes of "The Heritage Buildings of Goderich." The town also recently won the International Challenge of the 2009 Communities in Bloom awards.

"We owe a lot to the consistency of the heritage committee over the years," says Shewfelt. "A lot of it fell on the volunteers who were able to stick-handle it through council at the time. And we owe it to the co-operation of those people who have heritage properties as well."

The award will be proudly displayed in the new town hall - in a proper case just inside the door.

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Friday, February 19, 2010