Celebration Memories
For more than one hundred and twenty-five years, summer residents of the Village of Sturgeon Point have gathered for Sunday worship in this striking place. The site has been the heart of our village community since the original structure was erected in 1888. That building was replaced in 1915 with the church we enjoy today.
On July 12, 2015, we held a celebration service, followed by a church picnic. This date marked one hundred years (plus one day) after Mrs J.W. Flavelle (Clara Ellsworth, and later, Lady Flavelle) donated the octagonal church to our village.
The day was warm and sunny, the pews were packed and the community came out to celebrate the centennial of the Sturgeon Point Union Church in great numbers.
A photo book capturing this great event is now available.
Contact Anne DesBrisay to order your copy today!
Celebration Success!
July 13, 2015
The 100th Anniversary picnic was a huge success.
Photos will be available soon!
A few words from Anne DesBrisay…
Many many thanks to all of you for all you did to honour our Sturgeon Point Union Church on the occasion of her 100th birthday.
To Lynne and Tim for the beautiful music
To Rob for his incredibly thoughtful service.
To Carol and Biz for snagging Rob, and for all the careful thinking that went into the planning of that really lovely service.
To the three young people who spoke so well…
To Storey Holt for the fabulous photographs of the church taken last summer, which now grace this special summer’s bulletin, designed by Ryan Brown.
To Jacqui and all the work with getting out the word that there was to be a party! The numbers of backsides in pews is proof of how great a job she did.
To Maureen for her vision of how gorgeous the church could look for the centenary, inside and outside, and then for executing it so stunningly well.
To Cacky and Butchy for the fantastic job they did of tracking down documents, photographs, old brides, new babies… and making such a thoughtful display of them.
To Larry (ably supporting by Owen Thomas) for the hours and hours of music through the ages they collected and played during the picnic. And for the rocking tunes at the end that helped keep the clean up crew working at hip swinging speed.
To the Barr family for their perfect punch with all the trimmings.
To the boys of Dollarheads (and their long suffering lemon squeezing parents) for the finest lemonade on the planet.
To Elizabeth Barrett who – when asked if she might take on the pot luck potato salad – said nothing would give her greater pleasure (or something along those lines) and then found 8 willing victims who executed the recipe so deliciously well.
To Steve, Heather, Norah and Lewis for taking on ice cream duties like they were born with silver scoops in their hands.
To Clare P for the trays and trays of watermelon.
To Norm Howard who was my constant foodie friend, chasing down the finest butter tarts in Christendom, sharpening everyone’s knives, and boning hams like nobody’s business, and to my sisters – Jeanne, Cathy, Henrietta – for helping with absolutely everything.
To Leslie Thomas who’d send me daily emails with the increasingly promising weather reports, and who arranged for the most fantastic birthday cake – too beautiful to cut, and yet… once cut devoured.
To the queens of buns – Ellen and Claire Lourie – who sliced 24 dozen buns beneath the bell; and to Don Gilchrist who missed the opening moves at Wimbledon to run to Sobey’s to collect them all.
To Henrietta behind the lens, capturing the day, from the first tent erected to the first ham sliced, and all the way through to clean up. And who will be taking some of the shots of the 100th, along with Storey’s, and putting together a memory book. Stay tuned.
To Sara Gilchrist, her sisters, cousins and friends, who organized games for the children.
To Jeanne Crighton who ran home to get a guest book for everyone to sign and then pestered everyone to sign it. Thank you.
And to all those who spent Saturday schlepping tables and chairs and tents (hiphiphurrah to the ‘logistics’ crew led by Brien Gray and Ken Nyhuus) and who came back again at the crack of dawn on Sunday to set it all up (and special thanks to Brien who showed up with a thermos of coffee to fuel us all)
To the crew who showed up at 0 Henry at 7am to carve hams, slice tomatoes, tear lettuce, finish salads and transport platter after platter to the church and then who stayed to take it all down.
It took a little village to pull off this great event and our little village came through big time. Lady Flavelle would have been proud.
And I solemnly promise, unless something unforeseen comes up, to organize the 200th anniversary.
Cheers to the church!
Love
Anne
On July 12, 2015 the Sturgeon Point Union Church will be celebrating 100 years.
Join us on Sunday!
Rain or Shine, we are very much looking forward to celebrating the Sturgeon Point Union Church’s hundredth anniversary with you on Sunday, July 12th.
The service begins at 10:30am. Following the service, there will be a picnic lunch provided by the church. Rain or Shine! Bring a picnic blanket! And weather depending, maybe an umbrella…
Please note that parking will be limited to the side streets and Forest Road, though there will be accessible parking spots nearer the church.
Since 1915, the Sturgeon Point Union Church has been a cherished fixture in our Village – a place of worship, for glorious music, for celebrating life’s big moments, and for scores of community events. It is a building that brings people together. We’d like to see it continue its vibrant life of service to its summer worshipers and to the wider community for the next hundred years.
Come one, come all. Help us celebrate the one building that, more than any other, represents the heart of our community.
See you July 12.
If you have questions or would like to volunteer, please email [email protected]
Anyone with church photos, memorabilia or mementos are asked to contact the church’s planning committee. This includes old wedding invitations, church bulletins or information!
Sturgeon Point Union Church, 11 July 1915
See these other old photos of the Church courtesy of the Sturgeon Point History Project.