100 Celebrating 100 Years of
y t i n u m Com www.pittmeadows.bc.ca /pittmeadows @citypittmeadows
1914 2014
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Celebrating a centenary is a time for looking back and moving forward. The News hopes to capture the first 100 years of the municipality of Pitt Meadows, from district to city. It all started, way back, on April 24, 1914 . . .
Pitt Meadows’s beginnings were humble, but full of promise Local historian checks back into files for how it all began By Leslie Norman, Curator, Pitt Meadows Museum
In May 1912, just two years before Pitt Meadows was incorporated, by some accounts, the area was a hot commodity. A picture of the community, as painted in the developer-slanted Coquitlam Star newspaper, was that of a booming area marked by “rapid development,” including the construction of many roads into areas of “fertile land reclaimed from the river.” In reality, Pitt Meadows was a young, isolated agricultural community of less than 200 people. The first school house had opened less than six years before and the post office, located in the only general store in the community, was only four years old. Roads were scant and the only bridge over the Pitt River was the single track CPR span. However, road work was being done at a fairly good pace, with Dewdney Trunk being graveled over a two-mile stretch and what is now Baynes Road being pushed through as was the new Park Road. The Seventh Day Adventists made up a good part of the population of the community, as they had a colony in the area of what is now Hoffmann Park, and in that September, a road,
now known as Advent, was built to accommodate their needs. Further north, Archbishop McNeil purchased more than 700 acres on the bank of the Pitt River, with the intention of settling Catholics in a colony on the site, and the government was in the process of pushing Harris Road north to assist them.
In reality, Pitt Meadows was a young, isolated agricultural community of less than 200 people. The CPR had begun the double tracking of the railway through the area and an encampment with hundreds of workers was newly located on the banks of the Pitt River. One article in the Star noted between 200 and 300 railway men were at work with steam shovels at “the gravel pit,” although we have to guess what pit that was. In less than two years, the original single-track bridge would be floated up river to become the area’s first auto crossing. There were already some movers and shakers in the community. Wellington Jeffers Harris had
Pitt Meadows’ first municipal hall photographed shortly after construction in the fall of 1914. It is the first image we have of anything in Pitt Meadows after incorporation.
been the reeve of Maple Ridge and was an MLA and diking commissioner, and W.J. Park had taken over the secretaryship of the fledgling Milk and Cream Shippers Association of the Lower Mainland. By August, there was a move afoot to become a municipality. The Star reported: “a movement significant of the development already attained by the rich agricultural district of Pitt Meadows, and of the confidence felt by the residents in their future growth, has just began, having as its object the incorporation of the locality as a municipality, and the property owners are being asked to sign a petition to this end ...” W. J. Park was appointed secretary of the committee in charge of organizing the “movement.” The intended boundaries of the new municipality were to be west from Maple Ridge to the Pitt River and south to the Fraser River and north to Pitt Lake – 13,000 acres, or 25 square miles, with a total population of somewhere between 300 and 400. The countdown had begun. 100 Years of Community -- 3
Once the municipality was created, it got down to business, fast Pitt Meadows came into being April 24, 1914
The 1912 council consisted of Reeve Nelson Lougheed, John C. McFarlane (Ward 1), A.G. Denoon (2), William Ansell (3), Moses Ball (4), and G.H. Fulton(5) along with clerk D.C. Webber. - Maple Ridge Museum
By Leslie Norman, Curator, Pitt Meadows Museum
The deed is done, on April 24, 1914, by provincial order in council, this community became a municipality and was free to call itself the District of Pitt Meadows. What came next? Well, on May 4, at noon, the first meeting of the municipal council was held in the Number 1 School House building at the corner of Harris and Hammond roads and with returning officer W. J. Park present, the reeve and councillors were sworn in. John Blaney, a former Maple Ridge reeve, served as Pitt Meadows’ first reeve and the councillors were W.R. McMyn, W. Reid, W. Richardson, R.H. Sharpe and Roland Thompson. The council went right to work and passed the following resolutions: that W.J. Park act as clerk for the meeting; that all declaration papers and other election correspondence be filed; that W. J. Park be appointed clerk to the municipality at a salary of $50 per month; that the finance committee be empowered to borrow from the
Pitt Meadows’ second municipal/ community hall photographed shortly after construction in 1930c. Built with pride during the early part of the depression, it still stands today as a community hall.
4 -- 100 Years of Community
Bank of Hamilton at Hammond, money to cover temporary expenses; that the clerk enquire as to the cost of incorporation and regarding revenue of the district; that the reeve and councillor Reid and Thompson, and the clerk be a delegation to Victoria regarding municipal matters; that the school account, $256.09, be arranged for at the bank; that the clerk be instructed to write to Ottawa regarding a wharf at the end of Harris Road … The council also gave notice of a number of bylaws including road tax, solicitor’s appointment, introduction of industries, licences, a temporary loan, a common seal, and more. The group also appointed the finance committee and the health committee - all councillors. When all was done, the meeting adjourned with the date to reconvene at 2 p.m., May 16. Short, pragmatic and quick, the reeve, councillors and clerk likely left their unpaid service in the infant municipality and returned to their farms and businesses to carry on with their livelihoods. Most of these first council members would sit for a number of years both off and on. John Blaney would take another turn as reeve in 1919 and again for four years between 1926 and 1929 and then again for a portion of 1930. Roland Thompson would serve on council for part of 1915 and then went off to war and never returned. Clerk W.J. Park became reeve in 1920 and remained in the position for four years. He would return to lead the community through most of the Depression and the years of the Second World War. It was he, along with Mrs. Meeker, who planted the royal oak, on the lawn of what is now the Heritage Hall in 1937. The oak is there today tall and proud, giving shade to those who wait at the bus stop.
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A lesson in Pitt Meadows history By Neil Corbett
Hymn board, about 1918, from the first community church built by boys manual training class at #1 school.
School desks, (not original), common to the period between 1910 to 1914.
The first school in Pitt Meadows opened in 1909, when the population had not yet reached triple digits. It was accurately named Number 1 School, showing the optimism early residents had about growth, and more schools to come. The civic minded W.R. McMyn donated a piece of land at the corner of Harris and Hammond roads. The Pitt pioneers built what was required – a one-room school house, which was common at the time. The new school was no doubt popular with the students, who were spared from walking a six-kilometre trail to Maple Ridge Primary on Third Avenue. There were no electric lights – they wouldn’t be available until
1928 - but large windows allowed students to read by natural light. The first school board was tasked with running the facility, and hired the first teacher, Maud Paton, who took the job for $50 a month and the use of a nearby house. She had about 25 pupils, of all ages, generally from five to 13 years old. There was also a handyman, who chopped wood for the stove. Paton had to keep it burning to keep the school warm on cold days, and the students who sat near the fire at the back complained of being too hot, while those farther away in the front rows were always cold. The handyman hand-pumped water from a well at the site, and brought in buckets for washing. There was a tin cup on the pump if students wanted a drink. continued on pg 7
Happy Birthday! Maple Ridge would like to wish our neighbours a very Happy 100th Birthday. Our two communities share a common history. We share this magnificent natural setting. And best of all we share a friendship and cooperation that reflects the common goals and aspirations of our citizens. We’re looking forward to the next century as neighbours!
mapleridge.ca 6 -- 100 Years of Community
A Message from Mayor Deb Walters On behalf of Council, I am thrilled to invite you to be a part of Pitt Meadows’ s 100th Anniversary. As we look forward to celebrating this milestone, it is time to take stock of where we have come from and where we are going and we have many exciting events to mark the occasion. I encourage you to take the time to look back and appreciate the amazing people who helped build this community into what it is today. From the early days of the Katzie First Nation to the arrival of immigrants who first began farming, there are amazing stories documenting our journey from 1914 until present day. Time and time again I hear residents share that the qualities they love the most about living here is the small town feel and the natural environment. We are truly blessed to enjoy urban living in the heart of this beautiful natural setting, surrounded by people who are committed to our community and volunteers who help make it a connected place to live, work and play. I look forward to celebrating this exciting time with all of you. continued from pg 6
In the first years after it was built, the school building was also used for church services, and a foot pump organ was kept there for Sunday morning hymn singing. Pioneer Hazel Anderson wrote memoirs about attending Number 1 School. She remembered walking to school with a simple lunch in an old lard pail. “Sometimes my sister and I walked up Harris Road in the early morning when it looked like a long lonesome road, and often we never met anyone,” she wrote. “There was lots of bush and very few homes. Our only fear was meeting a bear, but we never did see one.” A second one-room school came in 1914, on Harris Road North, opposite McNeil Road. It was named Number 2 School. The district grew fast. In 1922, the school board moved another building to the same site as Number 1 School, to house older grades. The third and fourth schools came on Advent Road, and on Harris near Dewdney Trunk Road. Another sprung up on the south shore of the bridge crossing Sturgeon Slough, but it was run by the province, and not the Pitt Meadows School Board. The Dirty Thirties brought population growth to Pitt Meadows. Grades 1-10 were taught in the community schools at that time, while the Grade 11 and 12 students went to Maple Ridge schools by bus. In 1943, the basement of Number 1 School was developed as a shop, teaching the use of manual
tools to boys and sewing to girls. In 1954, Pitt Meadows Elementary School opened, and within a few school years, all of the elementary students in the community began attending there. It was a “modern” five-room school with an activity room, built on the west side of Harris Road on what is now 119th Avenue. Additions soon followed – two rooms in 1955 and two more in 1958. The first principal was Mrs. E. M. McDermott, and she was there until 1961. With the new elementary school established, Number 1 School was demolished and burned. The Number 2 School was sold to the Dutch Christian Reformed Church, to educate students of that denomination. The three other school buildings are still standing, and are now used as private residences. Pitt Meadows Secondary School was the next big change in Pitt Meadows education. With 13 rooms, an activity room and a stage, it opened in 1961. It was built for $340,000, with 300 students. Far different than today’s schools, it was built in stages. Shops were added in 1964. A cinder track was laid down in 1967, and track star Harry Jerome attended the official opening – there is a bronze statue of Jerome in Stanley Park. Two science labs were added in 1969. There is a large Maple tree near the corner of Hammond and Harris roads. At one time the outhouse for Number 1 School stood underneath it.
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Growth of Harris Road since pioneer days not like other main streets By Tyler Orton
Walking down Harris Road on their way to school office until 1944 and a store until 1931. Although it was granted heritage status in the in the early 1920s, Hazel Anderson and her sister didn’t concern themselves with things like keeping late 1980s, it had fallen into disrepair over the their eyes peeled for motorists speeding down Pitt ensuing decades. The City of Pitt Meadows finally purchased the property in 1997 and it has served Meadows’ main street. as the home for the Pitt Meadows Museum follow“It looked a long lonesome road and often [we] ing eight months’ of renovations. never met anyone. There was lots of bush and very Otherwise, the school house at the end of the few homes. Our only fear was meeting a bear but [we] never did see one,” road that Anderson and her sister would walk to Anderson recalled in “I don’t think we’ll ever lose (Harris each morning was one of historical records posted Road) as the heart of the city.” the only other buildings on VirtualMuseum.ca. - Pitt Meadows Mayor Deb Walters built in the historic town The pioneer resident centre during the city’s was born in 1914, the formative years. same year Pitt Meadows The population of Pitt Meadows sat at merely was incorporated, when Harris Road was little 595 in 1921, according to the Canadian census more than an unpaved drag with a few buildings and farms scattered across what is now the historic conducted that year. The road, named after Maple Ridge’s first reeve, town centre. Wellington Jeffers Harris, would have to wait until The only commercial building was the general the 1940s before the population would exceed store and post office next to the Canadian Pacific Railway track. The building, which was constructed 1,000 and the street was fully paved. Harris Road took the next big leap in the 1970s, in 1886 before moving to its present location on Harris Road in 1908, continued to serve as a post continued on pg 9
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continued from pg 8
when it was widened to four lanes and a sidewalk was added. Despite the fact the Lougheed Highway’s construction cut through the north end of Harris Road in the 1930s, Pitt Meadows Mayor Deb Walters noted the busy highway has never been able to supplant Harris Road as the heart of the city. “It’s one of the things that we did by design. We have our Spirit Square right behind city hall, we have our cenotaph, we have our family rec centre and library all in the urban area on Harris Road. And I don’t see that changing,” she said. But Walters said it’s obvious how much things have changed since Pitt Meadows was incorporated and the area slowly developed into a bustling town centre. “When I drive onto Harris Road, I always get this ‘Ah’ feeling... It’s just a hub of activity on a nice day,” she said. “You have your commercial, residential, restaurant services, parks – you don’t get a lot of that with main streets.” Many other buildings from the city’s pioneer days remain standing along the main street decades – and in some cases, a century – later. Hoffman & Son Ltd., just across the street from the old general store and post office, was built in 1936. It was initially a machine shop, but the family-owned business later expanded into a drainage and ditching company. The site also served as the
Harris Road, 1955c. Harris House is a two-storey building just north of the tracks and just east of Harris Road.
city’s first fire hall under the command of Hans Hoffman – son of the business’s founder, Ladislaus Hoffman. The McMyn Masson heritage house was a prefabricated building constructed in 1909 and was once a dairy farm operating out of Bonson Road and Park Road. The house’s final owners, Joe and Rose Masson, donated the building to the City of Pitt Meadows before it was moved a few blocks west to its current location at Hoffman Park, where it’s now home to Akasaka Japanese restaurant. As for Walters, she said 50 years from now it will be easy for residents to pinpoint the significance of the area going back to the pioneer days. “Our legacy will be, this is the line we built our city around.”
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Pitt Meadows: Homeland of the Katzie
Congratulations Pitt Meadows on your Centennial!
By Val Patenaude, Director, Maple Ridge Museum
100 News Publisher Jim Coulter
www.mapleridgenews.com
At the turn of the last millennium, the territories we now know as Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows were the homeland of the Katzie people and their friends and relatives. They had already occupied this land for thousands of years. Signs of human activity would have been everywhere, but in a much more subtle manner than we see today. The Katzie did most of their travel by water, which makes no mark except in places where the canoes were pulled out and the trails began. Another sign might be a row of poles pounded into the bed of the Alouette River or Kanaka Creek, where fencing would be installed during salmon runs. Only the most perceptive eyes would spot the semi-agricultural practices conducted in the cranberry bogs and wapato beds (a fleshy root crop somewhat like a potato), where competing weeds were removed to encourage the more valuable plants. continued on pg 11
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continued from pg 10
The largest sign of human habitation, then as now, would be in the village and camp sites that would dot the landscape. Their locations fit a basic human logic, which we, for the most part, still pursue today. Katzie Nation had their primary villages on the Fraser River, from the present location of their reserve and extending east to include the land under Hammond Mill, where many prehistoric artifacts have been recovered, and at Sturgeon slough and the area around the confluence of the North and South Alouette Rivers. While Katzie people were too sensible to consider the middle of winter to be the beginning of anything, they did consider mid-winter to be a time for celebration and family gathering. People would choose their winter home before freezeup and be prepared to stay there until there was enough open water to permit travel. The winter dance season was probably the most eagerly anticipated time of the year - like a Christmas holiday that lasted for two months. More a cross between opera and ballet, the dances are a dramatic form of storytelling that teach while they entertain. Children would be spellbound by the drama of the scene while their elders thrilled with their own memories of when they had first seen these stories.
People watch Women in Fish in the Katzie Longhouse.
The winter ceremonial season was also a time for other games and pastimes - contests of skill and endurance plus the great fun of slahal - a gambling game that requires sleight of hand and a good poker face for success. It was also an opportunity for family to have long visits with relatives who may have spent the previous winters in other villages far away. While we have no time machine to look back at what went on at what we would call New Year’s Eve of the year 1000, we can imagine a frozen landscape along the Fraser River with the only warm spot for miles being the largest Katzie longhouse. The people gathered snug inside would share a feast, live theatre, games of chance and the loving presence of extended families who had shared these times for thousands of years. To gather and celebrate against the cold is a human tradition that transcends time and culture.
Congratulations Pitt Meadows on your Cenntenial! Join us April 25 at Spirit Square and the Pitt Meadows Family Recreation Centre from 11:00 am - 8:00 pm to help us celebrate Pitt Meadows birthday!
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100 Years of Community -- 11
CONGRATULATIONS
City of PITT MEADOWS 100 YEARS!
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For centuries, the Katzie Slough has meandered through Pitt Meadows, draining the floodplain and serving as a First Nations refuge and transportation system between the fast-flowing Fraser and Pitt rivers. But time and human settlement took its toll and the stream became choked with weeds and came to resemble more of a ditch. That is, until last summer. Following last year’s Katzie Slough Fish Habitat Inventory Assessment, the City of Pitt Meadows developed a plan to allow it to clean out the canary grass and other weeds from the stream and restore the slough. “About 50 per cent of the Katzie Slough was cleaned out last year,” said Randy Evans, Pitt Meadows’s operations superintendent. “We’re going to clean the other 50 per cent this year.” Before and after that occurs, however, environmental monitoring must take place. And so far, results from the first section of seven kilometres that was cleaned have been positive. Water is flowing better and farmers report their fields are better drained than they’ve ever been, Evans said. While the slough may seem neglected and an eyesore, Evans said it’s crucial to the City of Pitt Meadows. “It’s our artery that carries all our drainage from south of the Alouette River to the Pitt River.” According to the assessment, the stream bed is so choked with canary grass and weeds that the water doesn’t move, raising temperatures and lowering the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, especially in the summer. continued on pg 19
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Looking Back...
A collection of historical photos Clock from the first community church, could be as early as 1910 to 1912.
A sewing machine from the Sharpe family. First Miss Pitt Meadows with original crown.
Historic pedal organ.
A wooden cheese box.
Pitt Meadows’ first school bus.
Historic Fire Extinguishers
Congratulations to the City of Pitt Meadows on its 100 Year Centennial!
For 73 years the Pitt Meadows Fire & Rescue Service has existed as a volunteer-based fire service. Our paid on call volunteer firefighters are dedicated to providing outstanding service delivery and continuous involvement in our great community. Many celebrated residents of the City were at one time firefighters with the department. Every year we look for a few special women and men who embrace the challenge, excitement, community spirit and camaraderie of the fire service.
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Pitt Meadows Regional Airport almost never happened By Phil Melnychuk There were at least two times in its past when the Pitt Meadows Regional Airport almost never came to be. The first was during the transition from a federally operated airport to one run by the local Pitt Meadows Airport Society in 1999. Ottawa was getting out of the business of running airports and was looking for local groups to take them over. There wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm in Pitt Meadows at the time, recalls former MLA Ken Stewart. So it fell to Maple Ridge, both its council and staff, to get the ball rolling. “The District of Maple Ridge was the real big push,” Stewart recalled recently during a meeting of oldtimers, otherwise known as the YPK Pioneer Group, at the airport. “We dragged Pitt Meadows as an unwilling participant,” said Stewart, a two-term veteran of Maple Ridge council. “If it wasn’t for [former Maple Ridge chief administrator] Bob Robertson, there wouldn’t be an airport here, really.” “He got all the information we needed and we dragged Pitt Meadows kicking and screaming to the party.” Earlier in the airport’s history, its fate also hung in the balance. A paved runway had been built in 1964, but it was only 2,500 feet long. To land larger aircraft, it had to be extended to 4,700 ft. So in the early 1980s, airport volunteers decided to use the approaching Expo ‘86 World’s Fair in Vancouver as an inspiration to build that longer runway. But Transport Canada wasn’t interested, and it wasn’t until then MP Gerry St. Germain got involved, along with lawyer Tom Spraggs, that progress was made. By May 1986, a $2.7-million extension was completed and the runway grew to 4,700 ft. But if the Pitt Meadows airport were to take passenger jets, a 6,000-ft. runway would be needed. However that’s not in the
18 -- 100 Years of Community
airport’s future. “We never want to go there,” said Arne Odenbach, marketing coordinator with the airport. “We’re never going to compete with Vancouver.” Instead, YPK will remain a regional, satellite airport. For Reg Moen, who runs Dyn Nav Systems at the airport, the longer runway assured its future. “That happening there was really the saviour of the airport.” Without extending the runway, and with larger planes not being able to land, the airport would have slipped in the aviation world, says Moen. “It would have been broken up and sold,” added Odenbach. Moen fondly recalls the booming 1960s at the airport. A host of aircraft owners, doctors, dentists, lawyers and local drunks kept life interesting. “It was really a fantastic time at this airport, seeing all this growth happening.” The reminiscences from the YPK group come just more than 50 years after the first flight at the airport, following opening day on July 20, 1963, complete with one gravel runway and one turf runway. Dave Mussallem points out he beat the opening day. “As soon as the gravel got down on the runway, I landed an airplane, long before it opened.” During the 1960s, the federal government knew Vancouver International Airport was becoming increasingly busy and wanted a satellite airport that could serve as a training facility and serve smaller personal aircraft. However, the impetus for building an airport came from a small group of pilots and the local chamber of commerce rather than a widespread community effort. The Aero Club of B.C., a group of private aircraft owners, brought 37 members with them after relocating from Vancouver, built a hangar and spurred growth. “It was a community effort with all of the local pilots who are long
gone,” recalls Dave Mussellem, son of former MLA George Mussallem. As time passed, the airport developed aviation essentials, with a temporary airport control tower brought on site in 1967. One year, during the late 1970s, Pitt Meadows saw 297,000 takeoffs and landings, making it the busiest in Canada when that statistic is considered. Stewart pointed out other milestones, such as runway paving, an actual passenger terminal that opened in 2004, and the dike underpass completion in 2004. “It was a big day for the airport,” when the terminal opened in 2004, said Stewart. Former Canadian Forces instructor pilot and Port Moody mayor John Northey said the airport allowed the birth of the Canadian Swiftbirds, an aerobatics flying club that delighted crowds at small airshows around B.C. for 20 years. At one point, 13 of the Swifts at once were stored at Pitt Meadows, the largest number outside California. But age started taking its toll and numbers dwindled and the Canadian Swiftbirds did their last show in 2000. “It feels good to say after 20 years and over 200 shows and a lot more practice sessions, we never had an incident.”
An almost finished control tower at the airport, approximately 1969c.
continued from pg 14 - Katzie Slough
There are also few trees along the banks to shade the watercourse. The report, prepared by ISL Engineering of Burnaby, noted that during the summer, the slough does not meet Ministry of Environment guidelines for salmonid habitation. Still, subcontractor Scott Resources of Mission set 699 minnow traps, each for a 24hour period, during all four seasons. It managed to catch 23 coho salmon and five cutthroat trout – another salmonid. For one resident of Pitt Meadows, the slough brings only fond memories. The slough was a sanctuary for Scott Magri, who grew up as a kid from Pitt Meadows. Magri, now 45, wants the natural beauty of the waterway restored, along with the fish. Such a project is something around which Pitt Meadows could rally in its centennial year,
said Greta Borick-Cunningham, with the Alouette River Management Society. Just as her group has the goal of a building a fishway connecting Alouette Lake to the South Alouette River, restoring the Katzie Slough could be Pitt Meadows’s project. “It’s something that everybody could get behind.” Such projects are huge and take time, maybe a decade, Borick-Cunningham added, but you just have to be determined. “There’s no reason why we couldn’t have adopt-a-slough.” The 2013 Fish and Habitat Inventory done by the city shows salmonids always inhabited the slough. A 1978 survey found “a
The Katzie Slough is an artery that chains the city, south of the Alouette to the Pitt River.
healthy population of cutthroat and good habitat,” and one in 1999 that showed, “catches of cutthroat, coho and chinook salmon.” Modest fish habitat improvements, removing sediment and replacing problem vegetation with native plants, have the potential to improve conditions for salmon, while allowing the city to improve infrastructures, the report said. That means over time a cleaner stream with less maintenance cost for taxpayers.
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Blaney the ‘most suitable choice’ for Pitt Meadows’ first reeve By Tyler Orton
When Pitt Meadows was incorporated as a municipality in April 1914, unpaved roads and farms still dotted most of the community. Its population barely numbered in the hundreds at that point and the imperative was on finding a person capable of leading the new town through its formative years. One resident – a Scottish immigrant by way of Pittsburgh – appeared to have the acumen to fulfill those duties after devoting himself to public
John Blaney outside his home 1920c.
service in Maple Ridge, where he served for more than three decades on-and-off as a school board member, a councillor and a reeve. “John Blaney was a most suitable choice as the first reeve of Pitt Meadows municipality,” wrote Edith M. McDermott in her 1967 book, Pitt Meadows: Through a Century of Progress. Born in 1855, Blaney originally immigrated to the United States in his 20s and married his wife in Pennsylvania. He served as a gardener for famed industrialist – and fellow Scotsman – Andrew Carnegie before moving to California. It was upon hearing of opportunities for good fishing that he eventually made his way to the Lower Mainland. Blaney settled in Maple Ridge by 1885 and mostly worked as a farmer, although minutes from council meetings show he also took on odd jobs such as road clearance and ditch digging. “He was a Presbyterian and a man of abstemious, hard-working habits,” according to historical documents from the Pitt Meadows Museum and Archive. But it was tragedy that eventually brought continued on pg 21
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continued from pg 20
Blaney to what would become Pitt Meadows. His wife passed away in 1905, while he was serving as reeve of Maple Ridge. Her untimely death left him a single father charged with the care of three children: David, Jessie and Margaret. Although Blaney served out his term as reeve, he left Eighth Avenue – or 224th Street, as it’s now known – and moved to Harris Road in 1908. The two-storey home he built just north of what is today Lougheed Highway, near Old Dewdney Trunk Road, is one of the oldest houses still standing in Pitt Meadows. Blaney’s Harris Road property was 25 to 30 acres of land that he farmed each year. He had established his family there for just six years before the municipality became incorporated and the fledgling town looked to him for leadership. While Blaney’s initial term as reeve was quite brief – only lasting until the end of 1914 – he saw to it that a municipal hall was constructed within six months of the new community’s first council meeting. This was to ensure town business would not overrun the school where meetings were being held. He would later return to lead the community as reeve once again from 1926 to 1929 before passing away in his early 90s in 1948. “Through many years he served Pitt Meadows faithfully and well,” McDermott concluded in her book.
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100 Years of Community -- 21
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Known for great golf courses By Neil Corbett
For many people in the Lower Mainland who make Pitt Meadows their destination, golf is the reason. There are four golf courses in the community. The original course was the Pitt Meadows Golf Club, and it has been part of the community since 1963. It is situated on the former Greybrook Farm Property, and is unique in that it is the only member-owned facility in the Fraser Valley. Meadow Gardens Golf Club, on the Lougheed Highway, near the foot of the Golden Ears Bridge, was established in 1968. The Golden Eagle Golf Club on Ladner Road at the foot of the scenic Thompson Mountains opened and offers 36 holes between its north and south courses. Established in the Pitt River valley in 1992, both courses at Swan-e-set Bay resort were designed by PGA legend Lee Trevino – the only courses in Canada he created. Swan-e-Set comes from a Katzie native legend. The golf course’s namesake was the leader of a group of original people, whom the creator placed on a high mountain. Swan-e-Set was the only one of his people to climb to heaven to see the creator. The duffers of Pitt Meadows observed a long controversy around their facilities. In 1992, the B.C. cabinet announced that two Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows companies would be allowed to build golf courses in the agricultural land reserve. Meadows Garden and Golden Eagles were allowed to begin construction of their new courses. There had been a moratorium on golf course development in ALR land, but local MLA Bill Hartley said the NDP government listened to local municipal councils in making its decision. Residential development at Swan-e-set Bay was another issue that grabbed headlines. Things are more tranquil now. These mature courses offer only the challenge of a good course, or a good walk spoiled.
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Banns family builds on legacy of South Asian pioneers By Tyler Orton
Kamilia Banns never had the chance to get to know her grandfather, Thakar Banns, before he passed away in 1957. “He [was] a really tall guy, six-foot-four. Everyone knew him,” said Kamilia, who began compiling a family history book in the mid-1990s. And because he was such a familiar figure in the Pitt Meadows farming community, she looked to neighbours at her family’s farm on Windsor Road to fill in many of the blanks surrounding one of the first South Asian immigrants to settle in the community. “They said he was a gentle giant … a joker, a very loving type of person, he [was] the type of person helping people.” Thakar left his family in India as a teenager and travelled with friends to Vancouver sometime between 1908 and 1911. As someone who towered over most other people, he took on labour-intensive jobs for about 20 years. This meant everything from setting rail on the Canadian Pacific Railway in the B.C. Interior to working at a North Vancouver saw mill. continued on pg 25
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Pitt Meadows better with the Bachmanns By Tyler Orton Joe Bachmann was far into elementary school the first time he recalls his family taking a break from their Pitt Meadows dairy farm to go travelling on holidays. “There were not a lot of presents under the tree in the early years,” said the long-time dairyman, who operates on more than 250 acres on McKechnie Road with his younger brother Andy. “I wouldn’t say we lived poor, but we were well …into our high school years before we went to a movie up in Maple Ridge.” The 52-year-old credits the unwavering work ethic of his Swiss immigrant parents, who “started with very little” when they bought the farm in 1960, for inspiring his decades-long involvement in community service. Joe joined the Pitt Meadows Farmer’s Institute in the 1980s, spent 20 years as a volunteer firefighter, before retiring in 2009, and is co-chairman of the city’s agricultural advisory committee. “Farming has been good to our family, so we’d like to give back,” he said. “Cities, municipalities, governments are going to make decisions about you whether you’re at the table or not. So you’re better off getting involved and at least being part of the process.” Pitt Meadows’ former fire chief Bill Park said a lot of prospective volunteers at the fire hall don’t research the required training or the ongoing time commitments. “Joe, it probably took him four or five months to
24 -- 100 Years of Community
Left: Brothers Joe and Andy Bachmann hold a photo of their family farm taken in the 1960’s. Right: The Bachmann family, from left, Joe, Anke, Sally, 14, Anna, Katie, 15, Robby, 11, and Andy. make up his mind,” Park said. And after joining the fire department in the early 1990s, Joe rose to captain within just a few years. Park came to trust Bachmann’s judgement so much he even changed standard procedures at the department. Usually, volunteers must report to the fire hall and gather the needed equipment before heading out to the scene when a call comes in. “As he rose in rank and responsibility, we made an exception to our protocols and allowed him to respond directly to calls,” Park recalled. Joe said this meant keeping certain equipment at home while relying more on his family. “You take off for a fire call, you went all hours. If I didn’t have my brother, dad and mom sort of covering, making sure the cows got milked and such, I couldn’t have given those years [to the fire department].” Park said there’s a simple way to sum up Joe. ”He’s one of those few people that you could honestly say if there were more Joe Bachmanns in the world, the world would be a better place.” While many other Pitt Meadows dairy farms expanded into growing blueberry or cranberry crops, the Bachmann property is one of the half-dozen still focused primarily on milk production. “Without my mom and dad’s start, certainly Andy and I wouldn’t be able to start [dairying] today. It would just not be viable,” Joe said, adding he hopes his nieces and nephews will be able to continue the family legacy. “So long as there’s a will to do it and a marketplace that can buy our milk, I see many years ahead.”
continued from pg 23
Thakar Singh Banns, second from left, with sons from left, Minter, Stoke, Rattan and Teja. Banns immigrated to Canada in 1910 from India.
But the local dairy industry had been waning by the 1970s. That’s when Thakar’s two surviving sons, Teja and Stoke, decided to use the farmland to move into the turf industry. “My dad was a very deep thinker, always trying to figure out what to do business-wise,” Kamilia said of Teja, adding this meant diversifying the farm further in the 1990s and opening up Highland Redi-Green Turf Farm to cranberry production. “He had to change with the times and he was a man who was always out there helping.” Teja would frequently let new immigrants from India stay at the farm for extended periods as they got settled into Canada. In 2009, the Ridge-Meadows South Asian Cultural Society honoured Teja with an award recognizing his contribution to the community. IRT-1194C-C JUN 2010
IRT-1194C-C JUN 2010
And because Thakar grew up on a plot of land that included a family hobby farm, he soon put his farming experience to work in Canada. He kept cows at the Dollarton saw mill and provided workers living in the bunkhouses with milk. Thakar finally settled in Pitt Meadows in 1929 after saving up $7,000 to buy 40 acres of land for dairy farming on Ford Road. That parcel was sold in the 1940s and is now home to the Pitt Meadows airport. But the Banns family acquired more than 100 acres along Windsor Road in the intervening years to continue in the dairy business. “They didn’t have it easy in those days, you know. It was pretty tough,” Kamilia said, adding her grandparents, father and uncles had to clear all the land, haul fresh water from town and use outdoor toilets. Although Kamilia never experienced racism growing up in Pitt Meadows since everyone knew her family, earlier generations weren’t always so fortunate. But Thakar gained the respect of everyone he encountered and was the first South Asian supervisor at Maple Ridge’s Hammond Mill And by the time her father, aunts and uncles started marrying, neighbours would come to the farm and tend to the land while the rest of the family attended the ceremonies.
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100 Years of Community -- 25
Police badge a gem of a find By Leslie Norman, Curator, Pitt Meadows Museum
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One of the wonderful things about working in a museum is that occasionally a gem of an object is brought in for donation and suddenly it feels like Christmas. One such donation came through our door in the spring of 2009, when a Sunday visitor handed our volunteer on duty his ‘gem,’ thinking it was too Key Stone Cop to be real. But it is. Many years before, this gentleman visited a Surrey secondhand store in search of a prop for a school play his son was in. The prop he needed was a police badge and he actually found one in the store emblazoned with “Pitt Meadows Police.” After the play, the badge spent many years in a closet in the visitor’s house and was found again during a clean out. It was news to us at the museum as we had always thought policing in Pitt Meadows had its earliest roots with the British Columbia Provincial Police, as we had no objects or images that would indicate otherwise and the references to constables in the history book never indicated they were part of a small municipal force. continued on pg 27
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continued from pg 26
1914 COME CELEBRATE
with us
But the badge, professionally done, clearly indicated different. Four years have passed and part of the process of preparing for the city’s 100th anniversary has included reading minutes from the first year of our municipal council’s work and contained therein is one of the more curious items of business – the establishment of a pound keeper/constable position. In September 1914, this position was established on motion from councillors Reid and McMyn and was followed closely by another motion to “procure [a] suitable badge for [the] Police Constable”. Also recorded in the minutes is the name of the candidate selected for the job, Lindsay Hutchison. A few months later the constable would also be given the duty of collecting delinquent taxes. A little later, W.H. Robinson would take on the job, as would E.A. Hellier. In 1936, the Pitt Meadows constables were replaced with the B.C. Provincial Police force, Y ! WL ED NE VAT NO RE
THE CITY OF PITT MEAD
te ennia C en t
l Community Party & HeritBirthday age Fair Frid 50%ay April 25th SOLD! your
Get Event Time s ets tick
11am - 8pm Tours, exhibits, carnival games with chances to win Centennial merchand ise and learn about our City 4pm - 5pm Re-enactment of the first Council Meeting at City Hall
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5pm - 5:30pm Official opening renovated Fitnessof newly at Pitt Meadow Centre s Family Rec Centre
al Gala ws Centenni
do 4 Pitt Mea April 26, 201 Saturday, rdens Golf
Meadow Ga
Club
6pm -7pm Charlotte Diamond - free concert at PM Family Rec Centre
7pm - 8pm DaniElle - free concert at PM Family Rec Centre
4pm - 8pm Food vendors with variety of choices a for purchase
6 - 7pm - 1am Cocktailscing Free concert 7pm with h Hare, ’s entertainer , Marc Dinner & Danchildren Top Party Band
The badge for a Pitt Meadows constable, in 1914.
Lots of educatio nal and interacti ve displays featurin g: • A Sopwith Biplane of the Canadian F-1, courtesy Museum of Flight and Pitt Meadows Airport (weather permittin g) • Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Country Fest exhibit including baby animals • A Model A Ford, courtesy of the Pacific Model A Ford Club • Chief of the River canoe ready ambassador voyage for its to Alaska • And much more Performance by local music artist
da’s Charlotte s the decades sounds of Cana c from acros Diamo nd Dance to the ty of musi with a varie available)
h (only kets $100 eac
250
DaniElle
1
00pmYEARS am to 4:30 Friday, 8:30 Tic Monday to cheques to: please visit the ts at City HallFor more history , send Pitt 2B5 Museum and Heritage Purchase ticke For tickets by mail Meadows V3YMeadows Society or go online at www.pittmeadowsmu tickets) is Road, Pitt seum.com ve your www.p ittmeadows.bc.ca 12007 Harr ess to recie addr n retur include ed & Len (Be sure to me encouragDeb Walters s; period costu Formal dres
whose office was in Haney, with constables Hooker and Kelly Irving responsible for policing in this community. In 1941, Lindsay Hutchison passed away in Port Coquitlam, and in 1950, when the B.C. Provincial Police force ceased to exist, the RCMP took over policing in the area. The “Pitt Meadows Police” badge is a coup for our small facility, back home almost 100 years after it was first issued, and is proudly displayed alongside a B.C. Police armband and various ARP and Coast Militia Rangers items from our collection.
Keep an eye out around town for official Centennial Posters for the Community Birthday Party & Heritage Fair on April 25th! Tickets are still available for the Centennial Gala. For more information on upcoming events visit www.pittmeadows.bc.ca or check out page 31 of our Centennial publication.
/pittmeadows @citypittmeadows
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www.nuconceptkitchen.com 100 Years of Community -- 27
Bob Hopcott stands outside the old family barn.
Diversification keeps Hopcott farming legacy alive By Tyler Orton
“I purchased my farm in 1934,” Fred Hopcott recalled in a letter written in 1999, four years before his passing. “It was an anxious time to start farming. The beginning of the so-called Dirty Thirties. I started with 12 cows, selling milk for one dollar for a 10-gallon can.” The Pitt Meadows dairyman and former city councillor would spend 25 years tending to his farm near Dewdney Trunk Road before economic circumstances put him at a crossroads. The dairy industry was rapidly modernizing in the late 1950s. He could either invest in new equipment to keep up with production demands or put that money into realizing his dream of cattle farming. Bob Hopcott said it wasn’t that tough for his father to switch career paths late in life. “He always loved cattle,” Bob recalled. “Dairying is good and still is, but … beef is a little more free enterprise and exciting.” What started as a 12-cow venture eventually
developed into as many as 4,500 heads of cattle passing through the farm annually. But by the mid-1990s, most of Vancouver’s meat-packing plants had closed and moved to Alberta. Meanwhile, Bob had taken over operations of the family farm from Fred, who was in his 80s at the time. When Bob found out Ocean Spray Cranberries was looking for land to plant in, he created cranberry bogs from 70 acres of cornfield that was previously used to feed cattle. Today, the Hopcott’s acreage is also home to a corn maze and an organic meat shop the City of Pitt Meadows honoured last year with a Going Green award. Fred never objected to modifications to the farm. The tremendous changes to the land over the past 80 years have always been about rolling with the punches of the economy and doing what was right for the family, according to Bob. “It’s rare for the young generation to get involved in agriculture because they see the work, the not-great income at times. But that’s why we diversified,” said the 65-year-old, who has one daughter and two sons working on the same 105-acre land their grandfather purchased for $9,000. “The businesses at this point are making enough money [and] the meat shop is doing very well. They can support three families. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t continue.” Bob said the fact three generations have worked on the same plot of land is “awesome” and he hopes his grandchildren will keep the legacy alive. “That’s what I’m proud about. We’ve kept it going with the original homestead with our kids still involved. It’s sometimes tough to do nowadays.”
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We 28 -- 100 Years of Community
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Highlights of History
We’re proud to be a qualified
Environmentally Friendly
Courtesy the Pitt Meadows Museum The Pitt Meadows Museum’s Memory Band is a museum society project created by staff and volunteers to mark the municipality’s 100th birthday and was made possible with funding from the B.C. Creative Communities program and funded by the province of B.C., the Pitt Meadows Heritage and Museum Society, the City of Pitt Meadows and the District of Maple Ridge. http://pittmeadowsmuseum.com/wp/
1896 – The year Pitt Meadows broke away from the District of Maple Ridge. The official date, March 2. Pitt Meadows then reverted to unorganized territory, later to be incorporated in 1914. 4H – 4H has been around since 1913 and in the Pitt Meadows area since 1914. It is one of Canada’s longest-running youth organizations for young people between the ages of eight and 21. April 25, 1914 – The date the District of Pitt Meadows was incorporated. Bonson’s Landing – At the end of Bonson Road at Katzie were the sternwheelers that plied the Fraser River docked at Pitt Meadows. People, mail, goods, etc. came and went by these boats. CPR –The Canadian Pacific Railroad opened through Pitt Meadows in 1885. Dewdney Trunk Road –DTR, named for Edgar Dewdney, was part of the first west-to-east route through Pitt Meadows. General Store – Now home of the Pitt Meadows Museum, the general store opened on Harris Road in 1908 and was also the location of the first post office. Hoffmann Building – In 1936 the Hoffmann family grew their company to include a machine shop and ditching business. The building is now part of the museum and is a designated heritage structure. West Coast Express – This rail commuter service to Vancouver was established through Pitt Meadows late in 1995.
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Serving our community for over 25 years. At Pitt Meadows Travel, we are committed to ensuring that your travel experience is memorable, for all the right reasons! Let our friendly and professional team put together a holiday or business travel package designed to meet your unique needs.
Pitt Meadows Travel 101 - 12069 Harris Rd Pitt Meadows • (604)465-8944
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Congratulations on 100 years! FVRL is proud to serve the Pitt Meadows community.
Pitt Meadows Public Library Monday – Thursday Friday – Saturday Sunday
10 am – 9 pm 10 am – 5 pm 1 pm – 5 pm
Read. Learn. Play. www.fvrl.ca 100 Years of Community -- 29
Spirit of the fire department By Monisha Martins The most lasting reminder of the early days of Pitt Meadows fire department is a little red fire truck, a work horse still rolled out for parades. Pitt Meadows fire department was created shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbour with Hans Hoffmann as its first fire chief and Ted Ming, as assistant. With no building available for use, the fire department set up in a space provided by the Hoffmann family in their machine shop on Harris Road using civil defence fire pumps supplied by the government. The brigade purchased their first fire truck at the Mussallem Motors lot in Maple Ridge. The volunteers then spent endless hours at the Hoffmann Shop rebuilding the old vehicle to turn it into the community’s first fire truck. In a time before 911, Gerri Willms’ family was one of several households that had an emergency phone, with the ability to push a red button and set off a siren to alert firefighters. “My mom would take down the information, stay on the line until the responders came to the hall, would write the info on a chalk board and off they would go,” she recalls. The fire department continued to operate out of the Hoffmann’s building until the early 1950s when a new fire hall was built on the west side of Harris Road across from what was then city hall. Former fire chief Bill Park’s father Gordon was one of the founding members of the fire department. In two decades he spent on the fire department Park saw significant change in the municipality, which grew from a sleepy agricultural district to a city complete with industry, big malls and busy thoroughfares. “When I first started, you showed up one day and they gave you a pager and you were a firefighter,” said Park, who retired in 2008 after 27 years of service – the last 10 as chief. “Now, the fellows go through one year of training
30 -- 100 Years of Community
Pitt Meadows fire fighter Scott Kyle takes the first Pitt Meadows fire truck, a 1929 Model A, out for a spin.
Pitt Meadows Firefighters Henry Savage, Walter Laseur, Jack Sharpe, Tim Van de Klok, Lloyd Soch and John Ouewehand with the “double clutching nightmare” outside the first fire hall. Circa late 1950s. before they are allowed to join the department.” Pitt Meadows fire department also has the distinction of being pioneering. The city was the first to make sprinklers mandatory in homes, way back in 1990. Park credits the department’s volunteers for innovation. A single crew could be comprised of a dairy farmer, a doctor, a realtor, a police officer or teacher. “We’ve been lucky to have some progressive people. That’s one of the strengths of a volunteer department, everyone has their own careers, and own expertise.” Seventy three years after its birth, Pitt Meadows has no plans on changing the fire department. There are volunteers who’ve served for more than 30 years. It’s much larger, with 32 paid-on-call firefighters who respond to many more calls but the essence that made the department special way back in 1941 still burns. “We always worked as a team,” said Park. “And that spirit is still there.”
Thank you
TO ALL OF OUR SUPPORTERS
Join the Celebration! CENTENNIAL EVENTS
February 2014 Centennial Newsletter -- February February 2014 Community Centennial Gala2014 Volunteer Information Night Newsletter April 26 at 6 pm, Meadow Gardens April 10, 7 - 8:30 pm, Library Centennial Events Go to pittmeadows.bc.ca
Volunteer Information Night April 10, 7 - 8:30pm, Library Week: National Volunteer
Catch up on all the Centennial news by
National Volunteer Week: Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast April 12 at 9 am, Boston Pizza April 12 at 9am, Boston Pizza Pitt Meadows Museum’s Heritage Tea Meadows Museum’s AprilPitt 12 from 1 - 4pm, Heritage Hall
Heritage Tea Food Drive Guinness World Records: 12 1 - 4 pm, Heritage April 12April from
Hall
Guinness World Records:
Canada Day and AIK Run
The Wesbrooke Centennial Gala April 26 at 6pm, Meadow Gardens Cheers to the Planetand Eco-Gala Spring Fling Easter April 27, S. Bonson Community Centre
Parade April 20 at 11 am, Osprey Village
Come andJuly visit Harris and Square me at City Hall. You 1, Spirit are welcome to take a picture with us. If you do, be sure to email it to news@pittmeadows.bc.ca Airport Day and we will post it in our blog. We hope to see 20, Pitt Meadows Airport you at theJuly Centennial events throughout 2014!
Ridge Meadows Home Show May 2-4, Planet Ice, Maple Ridge
Earth Day Day Pitt Meadows June 7, multiple locations/times April 22 from 10 am – 2 pm, Spirit Square Canada Day & AIK Run July 1, Spirit Square
meadows.bc.ca Full Centennial event details, block Ridge Meadowsparty Home grantShow information, contest May 2-4, Planetdetails, Ice, Maple Ridge and Harris and Hazel’s blog are updated regularly, so check back often.
Pitt Meadows Day June 7, multiple locations/times
Spring Fling and Easter Parade April 20 at 11am, Osprey Village
Community Birthday Party & FoodHeritage DriveFair April 25 from12 11am - 8pm, Civic–Centre April from 9 am 1 pm,
Cheers to the Planet Eco-Gala clicking on the Centennial logo at pittApril 27, S. Bonson Community Centre
Remembrance Day Ceremonies November 11Celebrations1 at 10:30 am, Spirit Square Join in the
Community Banner Program—You could have your Centennial artwork A Pitt Meadows Christmas showcased Party and on streetlight banners. The winners will be chosen by online Centennial Wind-Up voting, so vote for and your favourite artwork! Artwork will be accepted until February 19; onlineDecember voting from 5 February 24—28. from 6-8 pm, Spirit Square
Community Birthday AirportFair Day Heritage July 20, Pitt Meadows Airport April 25 from 11am - 8 pm, Spirit Square
Citizens of the Century— Do you know of an outstanding Pitt Meadows resident that has contributed to the success of Pitt Meadows? Go Nominations to pittmeadows.bc.ca are being accepted until February 28.
Remembrance Day Ceremonies November 11 at 10:30am, Spirit Square A Pitt Meadows Christmas &
Catch up on all the Centennial news by clicking on the Centennial logo at pitt-meadows.bc.ca Centennial Wind-Up December 5 from 6-8pm, Civic Centre
Volunteer— Please register at: myvolunteerpage.com
Centennial Project Funding Provided by:
Centennial Project Funding Provided by:
Canadian Heritage
Patrimoine canadien
www.pittmeadows.bc.ca
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