Doors Open offers glimpse into city’s history

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This article was published 18/07/2022 (1384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More city landmarks opened up over the weekend to welcome visitors and residents alike to take a walk into the past.

The 20th edition of Doors Open Brandon offered a wider array of free and pre-registered activities this year, giving people more ways to explore parts of the city’s history.

Events kicked off on Friday evening with a bus tour of city landmarks. Saturday included a variety of tours and talks aimed at highlighting the people, politics and architecture of Brandon.

That included a nature walk at the Assiniboine Food Forest, tours of the downtown, visits to the Observatory, garden tours, self-guided tours of the former Brandon Mental Health Centre’s nurses’ residence, an Indigenous-themed talk and nature walk, as well as landmarks like The Daly House and Royal Canadian Artillery Museum welcoming visitors.

There were many new events, like the tour of the former BMHC nurses’ residence and an Indigenous-themed talk and nature walk, giving people a deeper understanding of the heritage of the city and region.

Opening more venues to the public was much appreciated by Renee Cronley, who spent part of Saturday afternoon roaming the halls of the former nurses’ residence — now the Manitoba Institute of Culinary Arts on Assiniboine Community College’s North Hill campus — with her sons Nicholas Jack and Nathaniel Jack, and husband Stuart Jack.

She said she was in awe of the architecture, Greek-themed murals in the lounge and, of course, the history of the hospital.

“I’m glad they opened up this building for the tour because it is part of the city’s history, no matter what people think about what happened here,” she said. “It’s good to see how things have changed in how they practise, but I’m so glad they preserved this beautiful building and reusing it for something else.”

As a writer, Cronley said she is always looking for more inspiration and there are aspects of Brandon’s history she is still exploring. She said she wanted to come into the old nurses’ residence for a while, and Doors Open Brandon provided the perfect opportunity.

Cronley said she also had a small personal connection to the hospital. She went to high school with a girl who was sent there for treatment. She also worked as a health-care aide in geriatrics, caring for a few former employees of the hospital, so she had heard some stories about goings-on.

Tour volunteer Carol Grant said she was happy to participate because it offered a chance to learn about the city’s history. There are many buildings in the city that even residents are unaware have been designated heritage buildings.

Brandon’s heritage goes further than buildings — its natural heritage and Indigenous history is also part of its story. Highlighting that was the Land, Peoples and Culture event at the Riverbank Discovery Centre. The free event welcomed anyone to hear from local knowledge keepers about the Indigenous history of the land before colonization. People participated in smudging, took a short nature walk and watched a short documentary, “Before Brandon — The Grand Rapids of the Assiniboine.”

The Brandon Indian Residential School Mobile Centre provided photos and other materials for people to read about the history of colonization in the area.

People were also invited to try their luck at a free raffle and sample Indigenous cuisine.

Brandon’s Indigenous culture must be highlighted because history has to be looked at on all levels, said Caitlyn Post, heritage marketing co-ordinator for the City of Brandon.

There was a lot of collaboration between businesses, Indigenous groups and others to make Doors Open Brandon happen.

“Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, and it has been a bit of a process to get here, but at this point we hope everyone has a great time,” she said. “A lot of people helped out for this whole event, and it was great to work together.”

» kmckinley@brandonsun.com

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