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Fernie Miners’ Walk unveiled during heartfelt ceremony
A significant part of Fernie’s and the Elk Valley’s heritage was given due homage during a special celebration Oct. 8.
A large crowd gathered in front of Fernie City Hall Saturday afternoon to witness the unveiling of the long-awaited Fernie Miners’ Walk, a special salute to coal miners and mining, complete with a sculpture of a smiling miner (keep looking, you can see it at the right angle), informational exhibit, colourful banners celebrating Fernie’s features, bricks bearing the names of many of the donors to the project and more.
The event was attended by a who’s who of elected leaders in the Elk Valley and Region, including Kootenay-Columbia MP David Wilks, East Kootenay MLA Bill Bennett, all the mayors and many councilors from Fernie, Sparwood and Elkford, Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) directors and City of Cranbrook Mayor Scott Manjak.
Along with the elected officials, many project donors and volunteers were on hand to celebrate the unveiling, which enjoyed a brief dazzle of sunshine in the midst of a mostly cloudy and rainy day.
Emceeing the afternoon ceremony was project coordinator, City of Fernie Coun. Mary Giuliano, who was was joined at the podium by the original members of the Fernie Miners’ Walk Society: Mike Pennock, Helen Bachlet, Mary Loughery, George Cockburn and Bob Morris (pictured above).
“We want to express our deep appreciation to all of you for coming but also to our dignitaries who made time to be here with us,” Giuliano said, before introducing guest speakers, beginning with Fernie Mayor Cindy Corrigan.
“They’ve done a great job. I personally want to thank each and every one of you,” Corrigan said, adding the miners’ walk is a place for people to remember history and those who have been lost in the mines.
“We need to remember that history because that’s why we are all here. It’s also a chance to look forward,” she said.
MLA Bennett echoed Corrigan, noting the importance “of remembering what mining has meant here.”
While tragedies occurred, most especially in the earlier days of coal mining in the Elk Valley, those events “made us who we are,” Bennett said.
Mining hasn’t only been a large part of the Elk Valley’s past, it is leading the way into the future, said the former minister of mines.
“Right now the world needs high quality metallurgical coal” that is found in the Elk Valley, he said. “We’re fortunate to have this mining heritage” and to be sustained by it, still, he told the crowd.
The project is also a testament to Mary Giuliano, he continued.
“Mary Giuliano is my hero. She gets so much done. She drove this,” he said, with help from her community and committee.
Recently elected MP David Wilks, who left his post as Mayor of the District of Sparwood to take his seat in Parliament, said, “This is a great day to unveil the miners’ walk. This is a great legacy for Fernie to carry forward. There is a ton of history for us to carry forward.”
Just to give everyone a strong reminder of how important coal mining is to the region, Wilks told the crowd that it also accounts for one per cent of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (which was $1.34 trillion US in 2009).
Giuliano thanked Bennett and Wilks for their assistance in the project.
She then turned her praise to Nic Milligan of Teck Coal for paying for 132 bricks bearing the names of all the miners lost in the 1902 Coal Creek Mine disaster and for giving $100,000 to the project.
Speaking on behalf of Teck, Joni Krats said the project is “an act of respect and thanks” to miners and mining heritage.
The enhanced public space in front of city hall “contributes to a community’s livability,” she added.
Giuliano said Teck’s contribution provided much-needed momentum to the project but much fundraising country had still to be covered, when Columbia Basin Trust’s (CBT) Carrie Schafer became involved, who directed the Miners Walk Society to submit a grant application. That resulted in a further $87,000 being provided for the project.
CBT board member Cindy Gallinger, from Elkford, stated CBT is “proud to support the miners’ walk. Congratulations to Mary and her team for this beautiful exhibit.”
The initial funding for the project came from RDEK Electoral Area A director Mike Sosnowksi’s discretionary-grants-in-aid fund and from the City of Fernie.
Sosnowski, after noting his lengthy family ties to coal mining in the region, said he finds the walk a fitting tribute.
“It honours those who have dedicated their lives to working on the coal mines,” he said. “When Mary comes asking it is always a pleasure to support her vision,” he added.
Another political speaker with long ties to mining was at the podium next.
District of Sparwood acting mayor Sharon Fraser, who lost her father in a 1967 explosion in a mine, said she sees the project as something that reminds all Elk Valley residents of the common tie the three municipalities in the valley have.
The communities of the Elk Valley and Crowsnest Pass “are really united because of mining. We really are like sister cities,” she said.
District of Elkford Mayor Dean McKerracher, who spent 38 years working in coal mining, said the day was “a very special occasion for Fernie and for the valley. I understand the losses. I have been around a few of them, too,” he said, also reminding those in attendance that coal mining remains the here and now and future, and not just the past.
“Coal is here to stay,” he said.
Cranbrook Mayor Scott Manjak, who is in the throes of moving to Sparwood, said he finds the project to be “an example of why I love living here. You’ve got partnerships,” he said, pointing out the importance of coal mining to Cranbrook’s economy.
“It runs through the fabric of who we are,” he said.
The event then rose to an entirely cooler level when six Fernie school children read portions of the history depicted on each exhibit that makes up the miners’ walk.
“As you will see the exhibit is interactive for kids, and for this reason we wanted students to be involved in this opening,” Giuliano said, introducing Max, Claire, Brooklyn, Nytasha, Daniel and Austin (all pictured), who each flawlessly recited chapters of Fernie’s mining history.
The next speaker was project designer Lorne Perry.
“Lorne knew immediately what it was the committee wanted and was able to place it on paper in minutes,” Giuliano recalled. “Not only that but he believed strongly in the project – so strongly that he donated over $25,000 of work to it, as did many of the fabricators and artists who were involved.”
Perry opened by stating that Fernie had now joined “a very elite group” of communities “that honour their founders and workers.
Many ideas were bandied about, and a great deal of work was undertaken, he said, before explaining why a traditional bronze sculpture was ruled out for the project.
Birds poop on bronze sculptures and a couple of months after they are unveiled, they’re forgotten about “and there it sits for 400 years,” Perry said.
In the end, after much brainstorming, sculptor Jeff de Boer had his direction.
“It’s not your ordinary bronze sculpture that you’d see in a park,” Perry said. “The face that you see doesn’t exist at all. It exists in your mind. So it is actually a memory that counts here,” he added.
“What you see before you couldn’t have happened without the help and involvement of those who donated in so many ways. I wish I could name each one individually but I know I would miss someone from the list, so instead we want to say publically to everyone who contributed in any way, thank, thank you,” Giuliano said, before listing off an impressive array of names and organizations responsible for the project becoming a reality.
“The local talent displayed in the fabrication of this exhibit is truly impressive,” she said. “Thanks to all of you for producing something that we can be proud of for years to come, something not only honours mining and miners but also all of the resources that make Fernie such a great place to live.”
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW
