Bonnyville's Canada 150 Mosaic has been unveiled and is on display for everyone to see at the Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre.
Members of the Bonnyville Friendship Centre, and the Town and MD of Bonnyville were on hand at the C2 on Saturday, Oct. 21 for the official unveiling.
With hundreds of pictures submitted for the project, residents had no trouble finding familiar faces as they gathered to inspect the artwork in its permanent home.
“This is a wonderful idea and a legacy that's going to be here forever. The nice thing about it is that everybody who takes a close look is going to recognize a relative, a friend or somebody that is known to them,” said Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski.
The mosaic is made up solely of pictures taken within the community, and was created with the help of various organizations from around town.
“We sent out an invite to different organizations within the community. Over the course of a few meetings, we made the decision to apply for grant money. Within those first few meetings we had representatives from the Town and MD of Bonnyville, the Dove Centre, the Bonnyville Municipal Library, the Centennial Centre, the Bonnyville Community Learning Council, and the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce,” explained Lauri Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Bonnyville Friendship Centre.
Upon securing the grant funding, the committee formed in the original meetings got to work collecting the many pieces to the eventual wall-sized mosaic.
Under a strict timeline, and with plenty of help from the community, the committee produced the artwork in time for the town's Canada Day celebrations at Little Leap Park.
There, residents were given a first look at what will now hang in the centre for anybody who utilizes the facility to admire.
Newly appointed MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk got his first look at the finished product at Saturday's unveiling, and was blown away by the end result.
“It's fantastic. The fact that there was so much work put into it, and the input from the community is very important. It's nice to see it here at the Centennial Centre, this is the hub, a lot of people have a chance to come up and see this now,” noted Sawchuk.
Fitzpatrick echoed Sawchuk's comments, reaffirming the Centennial Centre as the perfect location for ideal exposure.
In its permanent home, the project will freeze moments and memories in time, extending across generations. Not only for now, but for years to come.
“It's nice because it shows people in the community from both the past and the present. It's great to have something to commemorate that, especially with it being in accordance with Canada 150,” said Fitzpatrick.
