Dear editor:

Living in Niagara-on the-Lake since 1971 and getting involved in various organizations and causes provides a perspective that those arriving later won’t usually be aware of.

History and culture come to mind, as does tourism, with agriculture and economic development comprising a third. Let me start with preserving history and enhancing culture.

When Tom Burroughs and the Shaw board opened the Festival Theatre in 1973, I was running the Niagara Institute as well as being Tom’s neighbour and friend. We spoke frequently of the town, its growing attractiveness as well as the meaning of “festival.”

We concluded that while Shaw was a centre-piece, there were other community assets that could be employed, expanding the extent of “festival” further. Performing arts would be one foundation, visual arts a second and music a third.

We also thought of locations and leaders to drive this vision forward. Randwood (which we had combined with the neighbouring Rand family property into a 13-acre parcel), operating as a leadership centre, had an important history and could also become a focus for the visual arts — we displayed, for openers, a collection of 23 paintings, several of them famous, owned by the Ontario Society of Artists.

Music could also be centered there as well as elsewhere, certain churches and schools representing strong possibilities. A gathering place on the Commons might also be cultivated for certain limited outdoor events.

Thus “the festival,” wrapped in a blanket of history and culture, could become a community-wide concept.

Since then, many such developments have occurred in the Old Town and beyond crafting what I like to refer as a “creative common.”

The NOTL Museum continues to grow, the Pumphouse was formed and thrives, the Public Library and Community Centre add enormous value, Music Niagara and other significant musical series have taken shape.

Shaw’s soon-to-be-opened Artists Centre will provide yet another venue. And several other notable initiatives have also been added to our performing, visual and musical mosaic. Niagara-on-the-Lake might now be considered a “festival.”

One missing element that’s obvious is the Randwood Estate, being pitched by its developer-owner as a gated community. An unwanted first, it would become off-limits to all except those who book at the related hotel or buy a neighbouring residence.

Like many others, there is much I oppose in such a development. If it is approved, my lament, in particular, will be the ignorance it represents of an important piece of the town’s history, of large estates and the founder-owners who helped shape our past, an amputation from our community’s legacy.

There are better (and still profitable) uses of that property that would also celebrate its historic placement among us. Randwood should be available to the public for reasonable access.

Hopefully such an outcome will ultimately emerge.

Terry Mactaggart
NOTL