Niagara-on-the-Lake Poppy Project volunteers prepare for installation

The Poppy Project continues to grow!

Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum volunteers are preparing to once again create a stunning display of poppies on their Castlereagh Street building and at the Court House on Queen Street, leading up to Remembrance Day, and this year are also planning an expanded display at the Royal Canadian Legion on King Street. The installation is expected to take place at all three sites on Nov. 1.

The displays will consist of multi-cascading nets of poppies, a poppy garden honouring local veterans, and poppy wreaths displayed by local businesses. The poppies are made, and this week volunteers are attaching them to the nets that will drape the buildings.

The Poppy Project represents hundreds of hours of hand labour by a team of 40-plus local volunteers, popularly known as The Poppy Brigade. Now in its third year, the brigade, under the direction of co-ordinator Barbara Worthy, has become an accomplished and efficient army of knitters, crocheters and sewers. For eight weeks in the fall, these volunteers meet to ensure all aspects of the project are completed and ready for installation.

“Our amazing volunteers created more than 2,000 poppies again this year,” says Worthy. “So now they have created more than 6,000 poppies. And the wreath ladies once again braved poison ivy and rose thorns to harvest and dry even more grape vines for the dozens of wreaths.”

The museum is busting at its seams when the brigade is at work, with much of the museum’s temporary exhibits pushed aside to make room for the 14-foot-long nets, boxes of vines and flowers, signs, cables, screws and mountains of zip ties, to the intrigue and amazement of visitors, adds Worthy.

“This is a perfect example of how our museum expansion will enable these projects to be undertaken without any disruption to the public’s enjoyment of our current exhibits,” says the museum’s managing director Sarah Kaufman. “Our new multi-purpose programming space will provide ample room for this and other volunteer driven projects, year-round.”

Local arborist, Davey Tree Expert Company of Canada Ltd., will again be volunteering their invaluable skills to help with the intricate job of hanging the massive poppy nets, starting at the Court House early on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 1, weather permitting, then moving to the NOTL Museum, and then finally the Royal Canadian Legion. The public is encouraged to come and cheer them on.

The Poppy Project, as a symbol of remembrance, was created to complement the annual Royal Canadian Legion poppy fundraising campaign. “I have been a volunteer on this project since it began,” says Dee Steele. “For me, this is how I can honour those men and women who fought for our freedom. This is my way of giving back. Their sacrifice should never be forgotten.”