The Bryson Municipal Council has been busy with a variety of community projects in preparation for their summer festival to celebrate 150 years of Bryson history. Scheduled to take place August 4 to 13 in Bryson, there will be live music, special performances, a tea party and much more.

“Kicking off the celebrations will be the time capsule opening ceremony,” Joanne Ralston, Bryson Municipal Councillor and member of the Bryson 150 planning committee told THE EQUITY . The capsule was sealed during the Bryson 125 celebrations in 1998 and has been kept in the municipal councils office since. The opening will take place on August 4 at 6:30 pm. After the ceremony, items from the capsule will be placed on public display at the municipal office.

In the months leading up to the festival, the council and a number of community volunteers have been working hard to improve the experience in the available leisure spaces around town. They have now installed new benches, drinking fountains, bike racks, dog waste receptacles, a gazebo, and new trees with more additions to come in the following weeks. In addition, through collaboration with community partners, the Bryson beach now has a new water accessibility mat.

The council did a call out inviting the residents and businesses of Bryson to suggest names for the park on chemin du Vieux-Moulin, to be officially named as part of the celebration of Bryson’s history. The final decision was for the park to be renamed Grist Mill Park, as it used to be the site of a grist mill long ago. The land where the park is located was donated to the town of Bryson during the construction of the Portage Mill. The foreman who signed off on the donation had the last name MacMillan, so locals just always referred to the space as “MacMillan Park”. The space has been a bit of a town “hidden gem”, with locals using it as a campsite and hiking trail for years.

The council has now installed gardens at the park and plans to install benches and a commemorative plaque to honour the late Mr. Jim Stewart, former mayor of Bryson and community volunteer.

The most notable new installation in town is the rock climbing wall in Havelock Park on rue Principale. The project was carried out by the municipality of Bryson with financial support from the Bryson Recreation Association and a grant from the Ministry of Education, Ralston told THE EQUITY . In the coming weeks, they will be adding a shelter, a drinking fountain, a toilet, picnic tables, benches, high-quality basketball nets and more to the park.

“We are very lucky in a small town to have one in 10 people who volunteer with at least one thing, and we couldn’t do it without them” said Ralston.

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