Richmond Hill’s Rose Industry Sunday May 28 at 1 pm
An aerial view of the greenhouses in Richmond Hill (Photo courtesy Richmond Hill Public Library)
The rose industry was Richmond Hill’s major employer during the early half of the last century. In fact, the greenhouses played a key role in Richmond Hill’s ability to survive the Great Depression. Come walk through an area of the City’s early economic and demographic growth as you discover why Richmond Hill was once called the “Rose Capital of Canada.” A registered adult must accompany all registered participants under the age of 16.
We are very excited to welcome back Scott Kennedy who will be sharing stories from his latest book Tales from the Hollow: The Story of Hogg’s Hollow and York Mills.
Join us at 7:30 pm on Monday, May 23, 2023 in Wallace Hall at the Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church, 10066 Yonge Street in Richmond Hill. Guests are welcome for only $5, so bring all your friends to hear fascinating stories from this area rich in history!
In the year we celebrate the 150th anniversary in Richmond Hill, the “Spring Fair,” an annual tradition in the Richmond Hill community for 147 years will be back at Town Park on Saturday, May 20, 2023; the same location where the historic annual celebration of spring was held until 1985. The Fair moved to Richmond Green before ending in 1996. Deputy Mayor Godwin Chan invites you to join him from noon to 3 pm on May 20th at Town Park, 43 Church Street South.
Complimentary BBQ food (burgers and hot dogs) and ice cream cones will be served while quantities last. Richmond Hill’s antique 1924 fire truck will be on display. The family-oriented community event includes children’s activities, public and community services booths, and a live band performance. While Spring Fair in the earlier days listed prizes for horses and other livestock, the 2023 event has a door prize of a free weekend use of 2023 Lexus RX350.
Peter Wilson, Local History Librarian at Richmond Hill Public Library, will showcase their historic Spring Fair collections. In addition, the Ukrainian community will participate in the 2023 Spring Fair to perform and share their culture and welcome support to help newcomers who are in need. As well, St. John Ambulance will have their Community Food Truck to collect donations for the Richmond Hill Community Food Bank.
Bring along your family and friends along with non-perishable food items for donation to our local food bank and enjoy the community celebration of Spring 2023.
We are very excited to welcome John Jefkins from Home Children Canada to our next meeting on April 17, 2023 at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held in Wallace Hall at the Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church, 10066 Yonge Street.
John Jefkins is a Director at Home Children Canada. John Jefkins is a first-generation descendant of a British Home Child. His father came to Canada through the Barnardo organization. In 2015, John through the assistance of the British Home Children Advocacy & Research Association found his father’s descendants in England.
Be sure to join us and bring a friend or two. Guests can attend for $5.00 or even better, join the Society for $25 for individual and $40 for families.
Maple Syrup from Carrick Bros. for sale at the Richmond Hill Historical Society booth (photograph courtesy Chris Robart)
by Andrea Kulesh
The Society joined in with Mayor West for his very first maple syrup festival as the Mayor on April 1, 2023. We have previously been involved for 3 years running pre-pandemic. Maple syrup was ordered from Carrick Bros. who generously donated all of the syrup for the pancake breakfast. Numbers were estimated for the event but no one really knew how many would come.
Estimations were made at 1,500 – 3,000 attendees. There were free pancakes and syrup and self serve coffee on hand. The tables were set up in front of the RHHS so we were in a great position to sell maple syrup to those who had just sampled the Carrick Bros. delicious maple syrup.
The doors opened at 10:00 a.m. and there were people literally running to get their pancakes! There were a lot of families and the plan had been for a lot of the children’s activities to be outside but unfortunately the weather didn’t fully cooperate. Although it was a sunny day, the wind prevented some of the activities planned to go ahead. Our member Marj Andre was “Ma Maple” demonstrating the old method of reducing the sap collected to make maple syrup. Unfortunately, the wind did stop some of the activities and they were brought inside. There was music ongoing, speeches for the official opening, lots and lots of vendors and a general and noisy hubbub with a very well attended and successful event.
Richmond Hill Historical Society booth highlighting our 50th Anniversary in 2023 (photo courtesy of Vera Tachtaul)
The RHHS was busy for the entire 4 hours. Fortunately, we were very organized to begin with. Member volunteers set up on Friday night with a very nice display of the syrup, our pamphlets and a table display about the Maple Leaf. Vera Tachtaul, immediately posted photos to our FB page with the latest images of our booth. Volunteers were on hand very early on site, to look after everything before the doors opened. We priced everything and waited until our first customer. The maple syrup started to be sold almost right away and it was evident people were interested in buying but also to learn a little about maple syrup. We had “Quik Facts” on hand and were able to answer knowledgeably about the products we were selling. Some people made the mistake of saying they would come back later to pick something up, but for those people who hesitated, they were sadly disappointed when we sold out around 1:30 p.m. We did receive a few more bottles of syrup from city staff and we sold some just before the event closed.
Denise Hughes, Andrea Kulesh, Agnes Parr, Alison Hughes and Linda Clark at the Richmond Hill Historical Society table. (photograph courtesy Chris Robart)
A special thank you to all of the volunteers who helped to make this the success it was! Vera Tachtaul, Chuck Fraser, Elinor Charters, Agnes Parr, Joan Lund, Barbara Di Mambro, Alison Hughes, Denise Hughes and Linda Clark. We could not have done it without you!
What a great success for the Society! Selling out the entire order! Of course we do have to pay for the maple syrup once we receive the invoice but this will be our main fundraiser for this year after three years of no activity….. We have to thank Mayor West for including us once again in this event. The city event staff were wonderful and worked so hard to put this event on. It was Mayor West’s first Mayor’s event and it was a wonderful day!
The Richmond Hill Historical Society is pleased to be participating in Mayor David West’s Maple Syrup Festival on Saturday, April 1, 2023 from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm at the Richmond Green Sports Complex. We will be on hand, selling maple syrup, so be sure to stop buy to get some syrup and chat with us about the Society.
The Richmond Hill Historical Society is pleased to welcome Doreen Coyne from the Richmond Hill Garden & Horticultural Society as the guest speaker at our upcoming meeting on March 20, 2023 at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held in Wallace Hall at the Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church at 10066 Yonge Street in Richmond Hill. All are welcome to attend.
During this presentation, Doreen will give you a bit of the history of the Society and an overview of the volunteer effort that the members accomplish each year. All of which aim to educate and encourage the beautification of our community and neighbourhoods with plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees.
Bring a friend or two! The guest fee is only $5.00.
Thanks to the generosity of Richmond Hill’s Curtain Club Theatre, the Society is participating in a fundraising night with the play Innocence Lost, an historic drama about Steven Truscott, on the evening of Thursday, March 23rd; doors open at 7:15 pm, show begins at 8:00 pm [showtime, including intermission is 2.5 hours].
Tickets are only $20, with all proceeds going to the Richmond Hill Historical Society. To reserve your ticket, please contact Andrea Kulesh by phone at 905.884.2789 or by email at andrea-kulesh @ hotmail.com.
About the Play
In 1959, 12 year old Lynne Harper was found dead in a farm woodlot near Clinton, Ontario. A few months later her classmate, 14 year old Steven Truscott, was convicted of the murder in a case that was later considered one of Canada’s most notorious wrongful convictions.
Directed by Sergio Calderon
Produced by Sharon Dykstra and Joan Burrows
Starring: Coral Benzie, Tamika Poetzsch, Peter Shipston, Kirsty Campbell, David Henderson, Ruby Jang, Brian Fukuzawa, Eshan Mathur, Sydney Bartlett, Devika Mathur
Frank Robson (driving), Bruce Murchison (Lion member) and Matt Smith (youth) in a parade in Richmond Hill.
This year the Maple Lions Club celebrates their 75th anniversary. March 11th, 1948 was their first official meeting, with the Club being sponsored by the Richmond Hill Lions Club.
The first major event that was held was a “Homecoming” that saw residents come back to visit their former town. This year on April 15th there will be a second “Homecoming”. If you remember Maple when there were three mills, one stoplight and no high school – then you will enjoy this event.
The reunion takes place from 3-7 pm in the Maple Lions Memorial Arena. Tickets are $25 and are available through Eventbrite or contacting David Cook at cookca @ sympatico.ca.
Russ Horner as Toronto Argonauts mascot Scully with former Argos quarterback Doug Flutie in the 1990s
The Richmond Hill Historical Society is pleased to welcome Russ Horner to our next meeting, scheduled for Monday, February 20, 2023 at 7:30 pm. Our regularly scheduled meeting will be held in Wallace Hall at the Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church at 10166 Yonge Street.
After starting his character career at Canada’s Wonderland, Russ went on to make over 8,000 costume character appearances over 35 years. Russ shares the inside scoop on what it is really like in the unique “world” of costume character performing, training and managing, Although physically and emotionally rewarding and of course extremely fun, there is also a serious side to the business with great responsibilities, safety concerns and even dangers.
While we hope that you consider joining the Society as a member, guests are welcome to attend our meetings for $5, payable at the door.
We are very excited to welcome John Jefkins from Home Children Canada to our next meeting on April 17, 2023 at 7:30 pm. The meeting will be held in Wallace Hall at the Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church, 10066 Yonge Street.
Richmond Hill Historical Society 