Heritage trust supporting band hall campaign

By Andrew Wagstaff
The Citizen – Oct. 27, 2007

PARRSBORO – The Parrsboro Band Hall just picked up a valuable new friend.
The Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia has come on board with support for the Save the Hall campaign, an effort by the Parrsboro Band Association to preserve the band hall in the form of a new cultural and wellness centre.

“I think they see this association with us being very positive for them because they want to be able to track our project and use it as a model of how one community has been able to salvage a heritage property and put it to functional community use,” said Michael Fuller, chairman of the Save the Hall campaign.

Formed in 1959, the heritage trust has fought to save several structures of architectural and historical significance in the province, including the stone warehouses on the Halifax waterfront which are now Historic Properties, the Lent House in Freeport and the Carleton Hotel in Halifax.

The relationship with the Parrsboro band hall group began last summer, when trust representative Michael Tavares was part of a group of people that came to town to look at its tourism resources. The two struck up a conversation, and Tavares became interested in the project, according to Fuller.

“He perked up his ears and said this is exactly the kind of project that we support as part of the Nova Scotia Heritage Trust, and we’d be very eager to become part of your development plan,” recalled Fuller. “So our conversations kept ongoing over the summer.”

Once the band hall committee completes its final business plan and architectural plan by Nov. 15, but prior to beginning the actual physical work on the building, Fuller said they will enter a crucial fund-raising phase in which the support of the heritage trust will be .

“There will be ongoing needs at the hall, and ways in which to incorporate the hall into the lives of our community to an ever-increasing level,” he said. “In that area they want to help, initially at least, being able to contribute to we don’t feel compromised in fund-raising for maintenance so that we can focus on the actual fund-raising for the main project.”

One area of support will include the development of graphic renderings and a video presentation of the vision of the building, e.g. new entrance, cutaways, sectionals, layout, etc., to help communicate to the general public and funding bodies what the building will represent when the project is done.

Another area will include the development of a local film society as a potential revenue stream for the project.

Members of the heritage trust will be in Parrsboro for the weekend of Oct. 26-28, when a videographer will be speaking with various people who have ties with the hall. They will attend the concert of the Chester Brass Band on Sunday afternoon.

A meet and greet will be held for the heritage trust members on Saturday evening at Gillespie House for invited guests, although members of the public who wish to attend can contact Lori Lynch at Gillespie House. Space is limited.