INNISFAIL – There is a stunning new poppy display near the front of the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion Branch #104.
Twelve new, expertly-created metallic poppies now stand in a line, overlooking the majestic poppy mural created almost two years ago by local artist Karen Scarlett and her team of volunteers.
The metallic poppies are the creation by the design team at Bilton Welding and Manufacturing Ltd.
“The new metal poppies at the Innisfail legion were inspired by a conversation I had with Karen Scarlett about installing a bicycle rack at the legion,” said legion chair Danny Rieberger. “She suggested it would look great with poppies involved.
“She did up a couple of concept drawings for me. I used the drawings as the basis for approaching Bilton Welding and Manufacturing to see if they would take on this community project,” he added. “The resulting poppies are the Bilton team's artistic creations. This project is another example of Bilton's commitment to helping the community.”
Ashley Gorr, Bilton’s vice-president for organizational effectiveness, said it was last fall when the company was asked by the legion to get involved in the project.
“They had a specific space that they wanted to coincide with their theme of poppies around the building,” said Gorr. “Once this idea came to light, the executive team put their heads together, and we always evaluate whether we want to move forward with these types of things.
“This one seemed like something we wanted to do for our community and the legion. They have a theme of poppies surrounding their buildings, so they wanted to integrate some poppies to the front of the legion as well as install a bike rack.”
She said it was Brad Williams, Bilton’s vice-president of operations, that led this project.
“A few of our employees generously volunteered their time for this project; that's just in the compassionate spirit of our team and their alignment to our corporate values of making a positive impact in our community,” said Gorr.
She said Bilton’s design team created the new poppy design; metallic creations made from special metal ordered by the purchasing department.
When the metal was received it was sent out to the Bilton production team to cut, weld and then shape into poppies, said Gorr.
But they were not in any way shaped haphazardly. The team focused on authenticity for the poppy design.
“Every poppy in the world is slightly different, so we wanted to make sure we mimicked what a real poppy would look like,” said Gorr. “It was a real process to give those poppies the real look.
“We had to hammer them and bend them. We had to hammer the pedals so that they looked real, and then bend because the stems aren't straight. It would look weird if they were all straight.”
The next step was to take each of the 12 poppy creations to the Bilton paint shop.
The stems were painted green. Black was for the centre of the poppy, and then red for the petals.
The 12 creations were then ready for delivery. They arrived at the legion on Nov. 6, just in time for Remembrance Day.
The Bilton team also had a proposed bike rack in mind, which when completed will be installed this coming spring under the poppies.
“This will be a great addition to the legion, so members can have a place to safely secure their bikes. It's good use of that space there,” said Gorr.
At around the same time Bilton was asked if it could help out with another community project.
The request came from the new Innisfail Health Centre Fundraising Committee.
The idea was to create a metallic cash donation box, measuring just over two feet high by more than a foot wide, in the design of a classic country grain elevator.
Gorr said company executives once again discussed the idea and it was decided to move forward with it.
She said Bilton’s team designed the metal donation box with a lockable door and an envelope holder on the side.
Gorr and Williams delivered the donation box to the Innisfail Health Centre on Nov. 25. It was on display and ready for donations on Nov. 27 for the official launch of the new 13-member Innisfail Health Centre Fundraising Committee.
“We were really interested in this project because hit home for a lot of us, especially when it was mentioned that all donations will be going back into the health centre, like enhancing hospital beds, completing renovations and enhancing medical equipment,” said Gorr, adding the company was proud to support both institutions.
“The legion played such a vital role in serving the memory of our veterans and supporting our community, and we were proud to contribute to their efforts, and to the hospital as well,” she said.
“It worked in our schedule at this point in time, and we decided it was something we wanted to invest our time in.”
