INNISFAIL – At the age of 89, Teejay Jonston is the oldest member of Loyal Orange Lodge #3287.
But on this day the Didsbury resident drove up to Innisfail to lend a helping hand at the lodge, which in 2022 also came to be known as the John Coburn Memorial Lodge #3287 after the late deputy master who passed away in 2020.
“Teejay is agile, and he's always here. He's always ready to roll his sleeves up and help out when we call for something to get done, whether it's painting doors or washing floors,” said Ron Murphy, past master of the 22-member local lodge.
And so were other members of the lodge, which began in 1898 and is the oldest service club in Innisfail.
For local members, the job on Aug. 24 was to do some long overdue exterior maintenance on their aging hall, which was moved from Penhold in 1960 to its current downtown address at 5204 - 49 Ave.
Most importantly, the loyal Orangemen for Innisfail were starting a special project to paint the hall orange.
“People were commenting, ‘why did it take them so long to figure out they should paint their building orange if they're the Orange Hall?,” said Murphy with a chuckle.
One of the first things members did was take down the badly weathered sign from the front of the building.
With the planned help of local artist Karen Scarlett, who has been approached to paint murals on the building, the club is hoping to have the work done in 2025.
“It's going to be a series of murals. They're going to be inclusive to the community,” said Murphy.
“It’s a fun project,” he added. “And if Karen can get the funding that she thinks she can get, and we can get some really cool murals on that building like what she did at the legion, it just becomes an improvement for the town as well.”
For now, just the south side has been painted orange but there may soon be more action, even before the full bloom of autumn when the leaves make their own turn into a spectacular orange.
“I've challenged the guys in the lodge with the idea that if everybody in the lodge was able to afford $40, or roughly one gallon of paint, we could continue the project until the snow flies,” said Murphy, noting lodge members were back at the lodge on Sept. 6 to put on a second coat of paint on the south wall. “I'm calling it the Paint the Hall Orange Fund.
“If all 22 of them came up with $40 we'll continue buying paint, and paint until it gets too cold to paint,” he added.
In the meantime, lodge members, which include two from Olds, one from Didsbury and the rest from Calgary, are also taking care of other business.
They are in the final stages of selling their 3,810 square foot green space behind the lodge; a piece of property that would provide needed revenue for the service club, which has had some limited success over the past few years renting the hall to community members.
“It’s unused property that's been a bit of a burden for us because it involves having to have the grass cut,” said Murphy. “It also has to have snow removal done along the sidewalk.”
For more information about the service group and the availability of the Orange Hall, citizens can contact Murphy at 403-585-9234.
