Cloyne Big Chair Project

Jeff Green | Apr 12, 2023

Tammy Whitelock moved to North Frontenac three years ago with her husband and grandson. Since then she has become settled in the community, made new friends, and joined the Lion's Club.

And when she first moved to the area, her grandson was taken with the Big Chair in Cloyne. Built and installed in 1989 by Richard (Dick) and Olive Hook, the Big Chair was originally installed in front of the store they operated, the Lazy Days Gift Shop, north of the village on Hwy. 41.

According to an account by Ken Hook, their intention was to create a tourist attraction.

It worked. Thousands of people stopped by each year, climbed up the chair and took pictures. The chair was maintained by the Hooks, and every year Olive Hook used a gallon of primer and a gallon of paint to carefully repaint the chair to keep it looking fresh and white.

When the gift shop closed, the chair was sold to Rose and Morris (Mo) Mcfadden who operated Cloyne Village Foods, and it was moved into Cloyne.

Cloyne Village Foods eventually closed and is now the Cloyne Shell Station and General Store. The years were not kind to the Big Chair, however, and while it was still in place it had lost much of its lustre in the 20 teens.

Then, last May, it was a casualty of the Derecho.

This is where Tammy Whitelock comes in.

“My grandson was really sad that the chair wasn't there any more, and I began thinking that maybe it can be rebuilt. I reached out the Mayor of North Frontenac at the time and he said the township was interested in anything that would promote tourism, so I kept talking to people to see what could be done,” said Tammy Whitelock.

Tammy then met John Todd, who lived in Tamworth but does a lot of wood working for local businesses on the Hwy. 41 corridor north or Hwy. 7, and found that he was as keen on bringing the chair back as she was, and was ready to design and build a new one.

She started up a Facebook group, Cloyne Big Chair Project, in early March, and many of the details that need to be worked out for a new chair to be built and installed, have been worked out in a very short.

The owners of the Cloyne Shell were willing to provide the space for the chair, but as the project gained community interest, the idea of placing it in a publicly owned spot cropped up, and while formal approval from North Frontenac Township is pending, locating the chair at the Pioneer Museum is the current working plan.

The Cloyne and District Historical Society, which operates the museum, has approved the idea, and a proposal is going to North Frontenac Council, who own the property where the museum is located, later this month.

Meanwhile, the final design has been done, and sourcing materials is already under way.

“John and I wanted the chair to be finished in a natural wood colour, but when we put the question out to the public, everyone wanted it to be white, like the original chair, so we are looking at a white stain. It will be built entirely of cedar, and will be much stronger than the original chair. John says it will last forever,” she said.

The cost of the project will likely be limited to the cost of sourcing and milling the cedar as the labour is being provided by John Todd and other community volunteers, and there are businesses and private donors in the local community who may be helping to cover some of the material costs.

“We are planning a fundraising BBQ to pay for the chair, and if we raise more than we need it will be donated to the museum and the food bank,” said Tammy.

While climbing into the 8' x 12' chair was always a challenge in the past, he new chair will have two small sets of stairs, on either side, to make it more accessible.

“We are looking at putting some planters in front of the stairs to decoration and to hide them a little bit,” said Tammy.

Her original hope was to get the chair built and installed by the May 24 weekend, the first anniversary of the Derecho which brought the old chair down and caused much devastation in North Frontenac and Addington Highlands, but an opening in late June when the museum has its traditional opening day, or for Canada Day, is now more likely.

“I'd say that one way or another, we will have it in place by the end of the summer,” she said, “provided the township is on board and everything goes well from there. Until now things have gone really well, and people are really behind it, so I'm really optimistic.”