Duane Hicks
Love it or hate it, it’s got people talking.
The design for the future Rainy Lake Market Square was unveiled on site last Thursday afternoon—eliciting a wide spectrum of responses from the public.
“I think the plans look fantastic,” said Ben Morelli, owner of From the Grind Up on Scott Street.
“I’m real excited to get a space for community gatherings.
“I think bringing a sense of community to the downtown area is something that had been lost in the past, and started coming back over the last five-10 years,” he noted.
“And this is going to be the icing on the cake as far as having a sense of community downtown again.”
Morelli’s favourite feature is the canopied stage.
“Being able to stage events will go a long way as far as general entertainment for the town,” he remarked.
“I think its going to be a lot of fun.”
Morelli said there’s currently community events that sometimes have a hard time finding spaces, or are held in spaces that are less than ideal.
The market square could help provide those events with the perfect location.
“What I do hope to see from the town is ease of access for the facilities as far as red tape and being able to set up an event,” Morelli added.
“Obviously, you don’t want to cut any corners but make it as easy as possible for not only community groups but community members to use the space.”
“I love the design,” echoed Charleen Mallory, who was a citizen rep on the Rainy Lake Market Square Advisory Committee.
“Basically what they’ve done here is built us a house and we, the residents of Fort Frances, need to furnish it with our good ideas,” she explained.
“And by furnishing it, I mean we need to use it.
“This is going to be a wonderful open space for any use people can think of,” she added.
Mallory noted she’ll be participating in “Market Thursdays” there, and hopes to see the young professionals hold a street dance.
“I’d love to see Friday night teen dances here,” she said. “I’d love to [see] Carole Mackintosh and her Tai Chi group here at 6:30 in the morning.
“The design is giving us what we need,” Mallory concluded.
“We now need to make it Fort Frances.”
Jane Gillon agreed the design is “fantastic” and much more than she imagined.
“I think they’ve done a lot with a small space,” she noted, saying she likes the “bump out” (the section of the market that encroaches onto Scott Street).
“I like the stage because I think that’s something critical that will draw people here,” Gillon added.
“The first thing I think we should do is get one of the old pianos everybody’s trying to get rid of, put it on the stage, and put something about Lady Frances Simpson and the piano and just let everybody play it. Seriously,” she stressed.
“I think you could do a big event about it.”
“I think it’s definitely a big improvement to the overall area,” said Gary Rogozinski, who chairs the town’s Economic Development Advisory Committee.
“To me, it’s much better than what was here,” he remarked, referring both to the decrepit Rainy Lake Hotel, which was demolished last fall, and the empty lot sitting there now.
“I think it definitely will add to the ambience of the overall downtown.
“It will encourage people to stop,” Rogozinski added. “If you’re travelling through as a tourist and if there’s some place you can buy a coffee close by, sit down and have a coffee and enjoy downtown.”
Rogozinski said the market square should draw both local residents and tourists.
Retirees such as himself, for instance, love going out for coffee—and the market square is the perfect spot to do so, he reasoned, adding “it’s very nice-looking on paper.”
“And it might encourage me to come shop downtown more if I can have a rest here—that’s what older people like to do,” he chuckled.
“As for tourists—if you’re driving through and you see someplace and you’re tired, you think, ‘Maybe we’ll just stop here and rest here for a while and have sandwich,’” added Rogozinski.
“It will encourage them to walk around and enjoy the downtown.”
Having community events—or even just some music—will encourage residents and tourists alike to stop and sit for a while, he reasoned.
“I know if you’re in downtown Toronto in the summertime, there’s always something going on, and it encourages you to stop and see what’s going on,” Rogozinski said.
Resident Sheri De Gagné said she liked quite a lot about the market square—from the alignment of the stage, the colours, and even the fact that not too much space was set aside for parking.
Her husband, Michael, said he’d love to see fewer rocks and more grass.
“The nicest park I’ve ever been in is in Gananoque, Ont., and they have the park in the middle of the town,” he recalled.
“It’s probably 100 years old.
“There were people in that park. It was gorgeous. It had greenspace, there were kids playing,” added De Gagné.
“This isn’t really family-friendly.”
Improvements needed
Others felt the design is a start but that it needs more.
“It doesn’t meet the needs of Fort Frances,” charged Ink Spotz Apparel+ owner Scott Krienke-Turvey, a BIA rep on the Rainy Lake Market Square Advisory Committee.
“It’s very pretty,” he conceded. But according to what many people who attended the open house here in February said they wanted in a market square, “it just does not meet the needs,” he added.
Krienke-Turvey cited public washrooms, as well as the ability to hold events in different weather conditions, as just two things people wanted and are not included in the design.
Nathalie Donaldson, a resource person on the Rainy Lake Market Square Advisory Committee, said the design “does not do enough for families,” and needs more of a “‘wow’ factor”—a place where visitors will stop for photo ops.
Donaldson said the design “although aesthetically pleasing, does not inspire people to stop.”
“It does not speak to the history or culture of our area, and nothing in this design differentiates it from any other market square in any other small town,” she reasoned.
“We need to aim higher.
“It is a good first draft, a basis for an interesting and useful space, but it needs elements added that will transform the space into something exceptional,” Donaldson noted.
“We need simple changes to be made to the existing design, with more consideration to tourism, local culture, market vendors, and families.”
Donaldson has drafted several “vision boards,” indicating a slew of ideas for the market square, which have received enthusiastic support from The Shops on Scott (BIA).
A lakeside theme, for example, could include a canoe for kids to play in and get their photo taken in, paddles painted by individuals or organizations, furniture and archways made of driftwood, art installations with beach glass, and vendor booths that fit that theme.
The ground could be made to look like a lake with blue tiles, or painted concrete or bricks.
Another possible idea is a woodland theme, with carved “wood spirits” by local artisans, whimsical signage, rock art and statues, garden paths, furniture that looks like overgrowth, and all-natural materials.
Mythical and folkloric elements would “transform the space into an experience,” Donaldson said.
She also suggested an emphasis on community art and culture, including murals, wood carvings, Ojibwe artwork, and school projects—all of which would “foster a sense of ownership and inclusiveness” among residents.
Still others were dead set against the market square design.
A long-time local resident, who did not want to be named, said the design is “not Fort Frances.”
He noted he’s seen Donaldson’s ideas, including an earlier fort design, and felt they would be much more appropriate.
“That’s what we should have in the Rainy River District—we’re not Toronto, New York, Minneapolis, Winnipeg,” he remarked.
“We’re not that sort of people.
“We’re all rustic people that live here,” he noted. “We like hunting, fishing, and stuff like that—nothing like this.”
He added the public submitted good ideas, such as a fort, but these were ignored.
“Ninety percent of people coming into Fort Frances ask, ‘Where’s the fort?’” he said.
“If they had it here, they’ve got plastic logs you can put up.”
