Poppy project almost ready for installation

Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum volunteers created a stunning display of poppies on their Castlereigh Street building for last year’s Remembrance Day, and this year are going far beyond that with a project to decorate the historic Queen Street Court House as well. The display from last year will be recreated at the museum next Tuesday, Nov. 1, and with direction from museum community engagement co-ordinator Barbara Worthy, volunteers are now in the final stages of preparing netting to drape the Court House building with 4,000 poppies, from the speakers balcony above, down around its majestic doors and pillars. About 40 volunteers have either knitted or crocheted poppies out of bright red yarn, with black centres, and more than 9,000 zip ties are attaching them onto large rolls of bird netting, a task volunteers were hurrying to complete last week and this. In addition, some purple poppies have been made to attach to the Sentineal Carriage’s horses’ harnesses, to recognize the large number of horses that were injured and died in the First World War. Some of the poppy netting will go around lampposts — 12 on King Street — and some on wreaths for the doors of the museum, as well as 30 wreaths for Old Town businesses, but the bulk will adorn the front of the Court House on Queen Street, which promises to be a stunning display. There will also be a poppy garden at the museum, recognizing those who died in the First and Second Worlds Wars. Research for the project, including details for the design and rounding up all the necessary supplies — including the volunteers — began in August, and will come to fruition soon. In September, volunteers were knitting and crocheting in earnest, mostly at home, with bags of completed poppies arriving at the museum regularly. It’s been a little easier this year, even with so much more to do — volunteers having learned the process, what needs to be done and how best to do it, last year, especially how to attach the poppies safely to the netting, and ensuring there are enough poppies on each, without any blank spaces, says Worthy. She estimates it has taken about 1,000 hours for women to get the poppies made and the netting ready to lift into place, but that goes along with “days of laughter and remembrance.” “It’s incredibly hard work,” says Worthy. “It is fun, and the women enjoy it, but it’s tiring. They work very hard, standing, bent over a table for long periods of time, and it’s hard on your back. It really reminds us of all of the women who worked in factories during the war effort.” Tuesday morning’s plan is for a group of men from Davey Tree Service, who looked after the installation at the museum last year, to begin at the Court House. “Fingers crossed for the weather,” says Worthy, and if all goes well they’ll finish at the museum the same day. Last year, the weather was a problem when it was time to take down the display — it stayed up about a week longer than expected. The other challenge is having a space to dry the poppies, which takes about three days, before putting them away until next year — Worthy is hoping there will be space for drying inside the Court House.