Cromer revitalizes community one project at a time

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This article was published 09/03/2022 (1548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CROMER — The old proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” rings true in the hearts and minds of the people of Cromer.

It’s a village surrounded by the Manitoba oil sands, with several families that are determined to keep the community on the map by maintaining its facilities for years to come.

Tracy Landels, the treasurer of the Cromer Rec Centre, has been a resident of the community for her entire life. Over the past year, she has overseen major renovations completed at the Cromer Community Hall, a staple meeting place in that town.

Originally a two-room schoolhouse that was built in 1910, the school closed in 1978 and made room for a hall that stands in its place today. After receiving a sustainable communities grant through the province and funding through the RM of Pipestone and Kingston Midstream — a Saskatchewan-based oil company with ties to Cromer — work was started on the facility to completely redo the kitchen, entrance and bathrooms.

Over the next few weeks, the interior work will be completed as electrical, flooring and lighting installations wrap up, according to Landels. The project is one of several that have been recently completed in Cromer over the last five years, and residents are excited to see the next generation make use of these buildings.

“It’ll be great to see my children grow up in them like how I grew up [here],” Landels said.

The hall has served as a continuous meeting place for spring and fall suppers, curling bonspiels, Christmas brunches and training space for some of the nearby oil companies. Landels said she hopes the space will bring people back together again after time apart in the pandemic.

“Even though your neighbour lives two minutes down the road, you might not see them multiple times a year,” Landels said.

A stone’s throw away, people gather at the Cromer rink to sharpen their skating skills and enjoy a pickup game of hockey. Landels said the rink continues to draw interest from the community and will bring in people from Virden for birthday parties, family functions and hockey teams.

“It’s been an integral part of the community for my entire life and long before that,” Landels said.

“They [the townspeople] built it with community volunteers back in the 1970s, and it’s stood the test of time with a few renovations.”

Work on the rink’s kitchen took place in 2017, creating a space for people to gather a couple of times in the week to meet for coffee, which still happens on a regular basis. Landels’ husband maintains the indoor rink with a self-made flooding contraption of a barrel tied to a wagon and hose.

In 2019, a playground was constructed next to the rink, all in favour of village revitalization, according to Landels.

“It [Cromer] was almost dying out there. People didn’t necessarily want to use the facilities.

“It’s to keep bringing the community together and not lose that small-town feel.”

Cromer’s history dates back to 1884, when a post office was built in the area then known as Elm Valley. In 1907, the village was named Cromer after the Canadian Northern Railway passed through the settlement.

Several years ago, the community lost its nine-hole golf course around the time work began to discuss the rink and hall renovations.

Landels said most of the money funded toward Cromer has come from outsourced grants and some smaller local fundraising through pancake breakfasts and barbecues.

She figures roughly 20 people live in the community, but they are determined to keep it going, including Lorne Heslip, chairman of the board for the Cromer United Church and a local resident.

The 111-year-old church is the third major facility in the village to receive support for building renovations. Over the last two years, the building has featured new steps and an accessibility ramp built thanks to the generosity of a former church-goer who left money in his will specifically for the Cromer United Church.

“Without the renovations, the church would not be usable anymore,” Heslip said.

“The renovations have made it so we’ve been able to enjoy the Lord’s word for years and years and still can do.”

In 2017, the church — which earned provincial heritage status in 1992 — had to have major work completed in the basement after a significant flood caused damage to the structure. Heslip said at one time, the church had more than 10 children attending Sunday school and a congregation of 30 to 35 people. In 2022, he figures that number is down to 11 or 12 on a good Sunday.

Heslip said the church will have four major services each year, a candlelight Christmas Eve mass and a service a week forthcoming to Easter. Despite the church’s low attendance, Heslip said he believes the viability of Cromer is in better shape thanks to the work of Landels and other village residents.

“If it weren’t for these three facilities, Cromer probably wouldn’t be here anymore,” Heslip said.

“A lot of the small communities have dissipated into the bigger towns. It has kept Cromer vivid and alive. It all comes down to we care about each other.”

Landels acknowledged there were times when they questioned keeping the doors open to the rink and the hall. As she has grown up, she told the Sun, she has enjoyed raising her kids in the community, in a place where everybody knows your name.

“These venues within our community, whether it be the church or the skating rink, those annual functions bring everybody back together and remind them where they started, where they are and to keep your friends and family close.”

» jbernacki@brandonsun.com

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