LANTZ: If you’re driving into Lantz from either Milford or Elmsdale on Highway 2 and it appears brighter and more beautiful—it is, thanks to a group of community volunteers and students at Maple Ridge Elementary.
On Oct. 30, a dozen or so volunteers from the community—including three of the four Lantz/Milford council candidates—all gave their time to hang sign posts and art work from students on banners along power poles on the East Hants Sportsplex side of the road.
Carrie MacDougall, one of the council candidates, led the charge to see the banners and sign posts get installed. The idea was done in partnership with Enfield in Bloom and sprang from a conversation she had with a friend some nine months back. Glen Paul and Walter Tingley were the other two council candidates assisting.
“We moved here a little over 14 years ago. We’ve seen them in Enfield and have admired them, especially when you get to see the kids artwork come out every year,” said MacDougall as she supervised some of the banners being hung by Lantz volunteer firefighter members. “Our daughters used to always say, ‘Mom, how come we don’t have that in Lantz?’ I said, ‘Actually, it’s a great question, girls, I’m not sure.’”
MacDougall told her friend she was interested in continuing the sign posts and banners into Lantz up through to the Milford border.
But it wasn’t easy. MacDougall had to seek out thousands of dollars in sponsorship to make the idea become reality. The community stepped up to make it happen.
“We had to go out and I had to find $18,000 in donations to get it going,” said MacDougall. So, we’re fortunate that the Shaw Group came on as our banner sponsor. We’ve had some other local businesses like e-Commerce Solution step up.
“We also were fortunate that we got a beautification grant from the municipality and then really, we had 34 sponsorships. Within 18 hours, all of those were spoken for. That was phenomenal.”
That all left MacDougall feeling giddy.
“To say that I was excited was an understatement because then it showed how much everybody else was excited,” she said.
As the idea began to grow, MacDougall said her first call was to the Lantz Volunteer Fire Department.
“They are on ladders all the time and they got all that stuff,” she said with a smile. “Kirby (Myers) was really responsive and was able to gather up some crews for me, and then you grab some of your fellow residents and reach out.
“We’ve got some residents that were more than willing to come help today and really just broke off into pairs. Plus, our MLA John MacDonald, even after a busy week in the Legislature, he came out to give us a hand.”
She said she’s heard nothing but positive feedback from community neighbours about seeing the poles beautified by the banners and their colourful artwork.
“One gentleman ran out of his home to come and ask what was going on, and then when we explained it, they were so excited to see it because as we all know, everybody loves to see those things,” said MacDougall. “I think everyone’s going to enjoy it.”
