A piece of correspondence at Tuesday's (April 18) City Council meeting turned into a new directive to City Staff.

The Airdrie Legion hopes to partner with the City to make the cenotaph more visible by moving it from its current location behind the Town and Country Centre to a spot near the Nose Creek Museum.

"Because of the explosion of the population here in the last ten years, the difficulty is that, I'm not gonna say the majority, but a large percentage of our public here do not even know we have a cenotaph because it's hidden behind the T&C," said Bill Drummond with the Legion.

The idea originated in a conversation with Mayor Peter Brown at the recent Vimy Ridge Celebration. Drummond said placing the cenotaph near the museum is an ideal location since it would be visible from Main Street, and since there is a large area of land that would lend itself to gatherings. The nearby Light Armoured Vehicle is also a factor.

At the same event, Drummond found out a piece of information that would help them fund the project.

"Our MP, Blake Richards, informed me that there is a $50,000 matching grant if we want to move the cenotaph or build a new one."

Drummond is also hopeful that businesses in Airdrie would participate to see the project come about. He said when the Legion installed the LAV, businesses came out of the woodwork to help with the project, and the recent relocation of the cenotaph in Cochrane was largely undertaken by local businesses. Drummond hopes the same type of buy in would happen with this project.

The Legion and the City are going to consult all stakeholders, including the museum.

"We don't want to tread on anyone's toes," emphasized Drummond. "We want to cooperate with the museum because, I feel, the cenotaph is part of this town's history, and if we can place it beside the museum I think it would be advantageous to the museum as well as advantageous to us."

Mark Locking with the City says the project was a bit of a surprise to City Staff, but they are already working on figuring out the details of a move after City Council directed them to look at all aspects of either moving the cenotaph or building a new one. According to Locking, the City will look at both the proposed museum site as well as other possible locations in Airdrie.

 

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