Celebrating 30 Years!
Rotary Club of Fonthill Volunteers and Friends were at the Bandshell on Saturday to set up the annual miniature village of Temperanceville this Saturday. The village will remain on display until the end of December.
The display started 30 years ago and the buildings are to 1/10th scale.
Links
- Club Archivist Gail Levay's Scrapbook
- Nov 25, 2023 Setup Photos
- Early History of Fonthill - myPelham.com
- PIECES OF OUR PAST: Twenty-four old Pelham names - PelhamToday.ca - Feb 2019
- Quaker Meeting House Joins Temperanceville - Voice of Pelham - June 4, 2014
- Beautiful Temperanceville, Now Known as Fonthill, Interestingly Described by F. Emmett Kinsman - Welland Tribune - April 27, 1936
- Wikipedia - More references
History
The Temperanceville miniature village was first envisioned in 1993 by a group of Fonthill Rotarians and Friends of Rotary. There were 25 members in the club at that time. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the display.
Rotarians and local residents and churches built the buildings used in the original display of around 25 1/10th scale buildings. Local Rotarians continue to repair and maintain many of the buildings contributed over the years.
Keith's Restaurant was one of the first replicas built. It is currently being restored along with several others, and is not part of this year's display. There are around 15 buildings that survive today. The oldest building currently on display is the Print Shop, built in 1993.
There are several churches currently in the display that were build by their respective congregations.
Fonthill Rotarian Doug Burr, who passed away after a battle with cancer in 2017 always provided hot refreshments for the setup of the village. Doug's daughter and son-in-law still provide this service for us, courtesy of their family Tim Horton's.
