Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Lockport dam celebrates 100th anniversary
MIKE.DEAL@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image
Craig Oliphant re-enacts Sir Wilfrid Laurier's 1910 opening of the Lockport dam Saturday.
The 100th anniversary of Lockport's St. Andrews Lock and Dam was so significant, former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier rose from the dead to commemorate it.
Okay, not exactly.
Laurier -- actually his look-alike stand-in J. Craig Oliphant -- returned to celebrate the dam's centennial, 100 years after he originally opened the structure in 1910.
"I want to congratulate you all and commend you on this engineering marvel," said Laurier. "This place was created by the hands of visionaries."
Construction on the dam began in 1900, and it officially opened in July of 1910.
The dam is a National Historic Site and a Canadian Civil Engineering Historic Site.
On hand to celebrate the event along with Sir Laurier, MP Steven Fletcher (the real one), a host of other government folk, and a band of pirates.
Gord Loutit and his merry band of pirate-costumed musicians were set to perform their song Salute to Lockport, 1910 to 2010, a song they had performed 20 years earlier at the dam's 80th anniversary.
Loutit grew up on Breezy Point Road in St. Andrews, and said his father Stan worked on the dam all of his life.
Loutit said when he was initially approached to write a song about the dam, he couldn't figure out how he could make it work. "How do you write a story about a dam?" he said with a laugh. "But then my wife suggested I write about local well-known people in the area and that kind of got me inspired."
The 100th anniversary festival will continue Sunday in Lockport, featuring performances by Chantal Kreviazuk, Sierra Noble, The Foster Aboriginal Hoop Dancers, Fred Penner, among others. Other activities include the Heritage Village, and Bounceroo City, pony rides, face-painting and train rides for the kids.
For more information visit www.lockportmanitoba.ca.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 22, 2010 A14
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