Wellington heritage benches

New benches to be installed on Wellington Main Street

The Wellington Community Association (WCA) has issued a call for entry to artists who would be interested in painting either of the two heritage-inspired benches that will be installed on Wellington Main Street in May, 2024. This project came about after a WCA workshop this past April that encouraged residents to propose ideas for their vision of the village of Wellington. “One of the requests was that there would be more benches along Main Street. We have a very long Main Street, and if you want to go for a walk from, say, Wellington on the Lake to the beach, there’s nowhere to sit for a rest,” said Peta Hall, who is a member of the Beautification Committee of the WCA. She and fellow committee member Lisa Reddick came up with the idea of installing heritage benches at several locations along Main Street. They approached Elspeth Domville, chair of the Friends of Wellington Museum, to use the historic design of the benches in the museum garden that were recreated from depictions shown in old photographs. She agreed to share the design with the WCA.

However, the design had to be modified to meet Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and the WCA engaged two woodworkers to make a mock-up of the new design, which they recently presented to the County’s Accessibility Committee, seeking Shire Hall’s permission to site the new benches along Main Street. “We can still use the iconic shape, but we had to make the back of the bench deeper and the seat of the bench wider,” said Ms. Hall. “We also wanted to bring more art to the village, so we decided to have a call for entry to all Prince Edward County artists to submit their design for painting the benches. We have two sponsors for the benches, Evan Nash from Wellington Home Hardware, and Adam Busscher from the Home Building Centre in Wellington. We have spoken to Adam about the longevity of the bench surface. The benches will be made of spruce, which will be shellacked and then painted with white primer. The selected artists will have one month to paint the bench. They are encouraged to paint every surface of the bench in the spirit of Wellington, whether it’s a heritage theme, or a landscape theme, whatever they feel.” The call for entry closes on December 15, and artists can contact the WCA at info@wellingtoncommunityassoc.com for more details.

One bench will be placed near the Scotiabank location in the centre of the village, and the other will be at the Wellington Legion. Ms. Hall said they hope to have an additional five benches in due course. There are several other initiatives planned for 2024. New street banners will be installed, as well as new street planters. Discussions have also begun about two wall murals, one at the east end of the village and the other centrally located. The latter will have a map of the village with points of interest highlighted. In addition, the WCA will be asking local businesses to repaint their front doors. The WCA has a professional painter lined up and will ask the businesses to supply their own paint. “We are so excited about this, It’s going to be great,” said Ms. Hall. “You just wait. We are really going to put Wellington on the map.”