Enthusiastic residents of Inwood have been getting out in the sun and working hard with a big goal: to create a memorial garden that will honour Inwood and its history of the present and past.
On June 19, community volunteers were out in the heat, picking rocks from the plot of soil that will become the garden. The plot is marked out with spray paint and stakes in accordance with the plan put together by Fred West, a landscape designer who started working with the City of Winnipeg in 1971.
West’s passion for both landscape design and his home of Inwood makes this a very special project. His detailed plan not only includes the layout of the garden but its contents: an arbour and bench, a quarry clock, a memory walkway, a bed of annual plants, a bed of perennials, and a rose bed. Plants in these beds will feature plenty of locally-valued species like prairie dropseed glass, dwarf cranberry bush, and golden dogwood. Overall, it will contain approximately 136 plants, making the landscape as vibrant as the memories it honours.
The Armstrong municipality gifted the land to the Hamlet of Inwood in 2022 after Michelle Hazelton went to the council to propose the idea and get the ball rolling. West then created a sketch for the 56,000-square-foot plot in 2023. Since then, the project has been solely volunteer-run and will continue to be maintained by volunteers.
According to West, this memorial garden will be “for all of the old folks who have struggled as pioneers and farmers. A lot of them were volunteers and community leaders. They were vital in this community. It’s also for folks that grew up here, went to school here, and are going to live here.”
The plot of land where the garden will be is just west of Inwood’s prized garter snake monument next to the Interlake Pioneer Trail. This area of the town is quite an attraction to tourists.
“There are so many folks coming to look at the snake in the spring and fall; it’s unbelievable,” said West. “It will be a showpiece and a gathering place.”
The name for the Hillside Memorial Garden comes from that of the Hillside Hotel, which tragically burned down years ago where the garden will be made.
“When it burned down, it seemed like the community went in reverse,” shared West. “We had no meeting place, other than the golf course, for everybody that passed through and lived here.”
West is incredibly enthusiastic about this garden and the people he is working with.
“I’m working with two trusted friends on this project: Trevor Barnes and Sunny Rohne. We’re going to get right at it. We’re all connected in one way or another, and we’re all trusted.”
West will be 73 this year, and his greatest memory is from 2016, when he designed and landscaped the garden at the entrance sign at Winnipeg’s James Armstrong Richardson Airport.
“I did that with my daughter, Meghan Morin-West and my good friend at T&T Seeds, Kevin Twomey. He used to invite me to the CJOB garden show on the radio. Everyone who goes to the airport sees it, which brings me so much pride.”
So far, getting the land ready for Hillside Memorial Garden has included Sunny Rohne and Steve Strick tilling it, West spraying herbicides, Joy Ogilvie and Michelle Hazelton organizing a fundraiser, and people getting together to pick rocks from the soil.
“I enjoy every day, and these folks, we get together. I didn’t ask anyone to come. We had 30 or 40 people picking stones,” said West. “You can see the energy and kindness in these folks coming out to help. We’ve got to stay on the positive side, even if things don’t work out.”
The following steps will involve Trevor Barnes bringing a walk-behind bobcat, putting in the gravel and soil, and soon enough, putting in benches and plants. If everything goes well, the grand opening will be this coming fall.
“Inwood has been good to me. We had hockey, sports, teachers, track and field, curling. We had everything here. The community was alive with kids, and we should all look at the world through the eyes of a child. I’m still smiling and standing,” said West, who shared an old proverb.
“As society grows, old men plant trees for shade they will never sit in, and that’s how these communities are built.”
Anyone interested in donating can transfer the wealth to the Hillside Memorial Garden account set up through the Access Credit Union.
West’s passion for both landscape design and his home of Inwood makes this a very special project. His detailed plan not only includes the layout of the garden but its contents: an arbour and bench, a quarry clock, a memory walkway, a bed of annual plants, a bed of perennials, and a rose bed. Plants in these beds will feature plenty of locally-valued species like prairie dropseed glass, dwarf cranberry bush, and golden dogwood. Overall, it will contain about 136 plants, making the landscape as vibrant as the memories it honours.
Tribune Photos by Emma McGill
