Nov 25, 2010


Photo:Terry Kennedy, Sarah Hale, Dorothy Procter, Glen Matson and councilor Gary Smith

Long-time Arden resident Dorothy Procter was floored when over 70 Arden and area residents who turned out for the Arden Revitalization Forum that took place at the Kennebec Hall on Nov.18.

“I am absolutely overwhelmed,” said Dorothy, who heads the Friends of Arden group. At 90 years of age has seen Arden drastically change over the 86 years she has spent in the community.

A few weeks ago, she got together with a few other area residents at her home to discuss the declining state of Arden and they together decided to initiate what will likely be the first of a series meetings designed to turn that around.

“We felt badly that Arden was declining and when we lost our last store recently - that was the last straw..”

The meeting, chaired by township councilor Gary Smith and facilitated by Terry Kennedy, President of the Kennebec Lake Association, began with Dorothy reminiscing about Arden’s past, when it was a thriving hamlet that once boasted eight stores, a hotel, a bank, a dentist and doctor. It was, in her words “a place that residents were extremely proud of…I know we can't go back to those days, but we have here and now enough people with smarts that we should be able to do something.”

Fifth-generation Ardenite Glen Matson agreed with Dorothy, citing other small Ontario towns that bounced back from decline and are now thriving: towns like Westport, St. Jacobs and Sparta. He also recalled the Arden of his youth and talked about the milk and cheese cooperative Arden farmers formed to benefit the entire community.

“The point I'm trying to make here is that if our aim is revitalization, we all have to come together,” he said.

And come together they did that night, sharing their ideas for a new vision for Arden. This vision included looking into the property standards act as a possible means of cleaning up some of the properties around town, erecting public washroom facilities, a community bulletin board, and historic plaques. Suggestions were also made about increasing and highlighting public parking, walking, hiking, biking and canoe routes as well as looking at ways of encouraging new businesses to the area perhaps by offering a tax break in the hopes of attracting a new store, restaurant, or coffee shop.

The second part of the forum involved looking at Arden’s existing assets. Again the list was long and included existing facilities like Kennebec hall, the Legion and recreation committee, the old church, the Glee Club, Arden's artisans and other area groups. Arden's natural features ranked high on the list, including: the Mill Pond, Kennebec Recreation Park, the natural gorge, and the 700 acre piece of land that abuts crown land at Pitt Road.

Other environmental assets that were mentioned include Arden's “dark skies”, High Falls, the railway trail, and of course the area’s abundance of wild blueberries, which Gary Smith suggested might inspire a giant blueberry sign along Highway 7.

Revitalizing existing assets was also discussed and suggestions were made to focus on the park, playground, tennis courts, and the public beach.

Ken Hook, head of the Land O'Lakes Tourist Association, also attended the meeting and made his own suggestions about how to attract tourists to the area. His ideas included winter ice hockey in the winter, cross country ski trails, and constructing a covered bridge.

The meeting then dealt with a consideration of where this whole process should begin. Suggestions were made to begin looking into available grants, organizing a community clean up day and revitalizing the park and rink.

Guests were then invited to commit themselves to one particular area of interest and were invited to leave their contact information with organizers, who planned to arrange a second meeting in the near future. Judging by the enthusiasm of the group, Dorothy’s vision of revitalizing Arden is by no means an unrealistic one. She hopes that Arden is in the initial stages of a committed, cooperative, community revitalization process and it will be interesting to see how the plan develops in the future.

 

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