100 Years Of Port Hope Rotary

Latest Project: Rotary Centennial Riverview Park at the fish ladder

Article by Bill Hornbostel

The Rotary Club of Port Hope is celebrating its hundredth year in 2022. “The motto of rotary is ‘Service before Self,’ so that’s one hundred years of service to the community of Port Hope,” says Bree Nixon, who runs the Rotary’s public relations.

One part of that celebration is the gala dinner on June 30 at the Port Hope Golf and Country Club. “We’re actually having it just outside the Penryn mansion,” says Nixon, “because the Penryn mansion is also a long-standing pillar of the community, much like our Rotary Club.”

The gala will have dinner, dancing and live music by Casual Friday featuring songs from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Between the dinner and the dancing will be acknowledgements and tributes. “We’re going to pay tribute to our Rotary contributions in the community over the last hundred years, and also some of our long-standing Rotarians,” says Nixon.

Among the projects of the Rotary Club around Port Hope are the foot bridge across the Ganaraska River near town hall, the Avenue of Heroes banners commemorating veterans from Port Hope, and youth services such as EarlyAct and Interact.

The second part of the Rotary centennial is the refurbishment of the park near the fish ladder on Cavan Street between Molson and McKibbon. Ron Tuttle, who runs the Rotary’s special projects, says, “We want something that would be a benefit for the community, something that would be long-lasting and be there for a long time for people to enjoy.”

Working with the Municipality, the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, and landscape architect Brian Basterfield, the Rotary has come up with a redesign of the park. “The plan is to improve the trail a bit,” says Tuttle, “and then provide some seating areas along different spots and open it up a bit to the river so that people can see the river.”

“The other big part of it,” Tuttle adds, “is to, in the grassy area, put a path from the parking lot, and some gardens and some plantings and, and more trees and so on, and then we want to add a shade structure.” The refurbished park will be renamed the Rotary Centennial Riverview Park.

The Rotary so far has raised $60,000 of an expected $120,000 needed for the park, with a new fundraiser starting in July. “It’d be nice if we could have most of [the funds] raised by the end of the fall, when the town has actually started some of the preparatory work in terms of clearing some of the brush and some of the tree work, and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to possibly put the shade structure in late in the fall.”

The Rotary’s Centennial Gala Event will be on Thursday, June 30; tickets are $100, and are on sale until Friday. To purchase tickets, visit crsadmin.com/EventPortal/Registrations/PublicFill/EventPublicFill.aspx?evtid=f90031d5-63ab-449a-a738-52b0316565b8.

For more information on the Rotary Centennial Riverview Park and how to contribute, visit porthoperotary.com/page/centennial-park-project.