PROTECTING THE POND
Big Pond group crowdfunding to save church and glebe
Big Pond group crowdfunding to save historic buildings.
A Cape Breton community is coming together to save its historic buildings.
Over the past number of years, Big Pond bid goodbye to its school, general store, grocery store and a church hall.
The small rural community is now seeking to shield two remaining cornerstones through a new campaign.
Members of the recently formed Big Pond Community Fundraising Committee launched a Gofundme (https:// www.gofundme.com / help-for-big-pond-cape-breton) page last week with a goal of raising $300,000.
The money will be used to replace the St. Mary’s Church roof before the building falls victim to water damage.
The replacement project is slated to cost $25,000.
Taking the lion’s share of the campaign is a proposal to purchase a nearby glebe house.
The Diocese of Antigonish, which owns the property, is seeking to sell the residence for $269,000.
Committee member and Big Pond summer resident Owen Carrigan said in addition to the online campaign, there will be a community mailout in the coming days.
“To lose that church and the glebe house would be just a major blow after what we have lost already,” said Carrigan.
“We’ve put together kind of a plan and it hinges on some of the fundraising end of it. We’ll just see how it plays out.”
St. Mary’s is well-known as the church attended by Big Pond songstress Rita MacNeil and the site where she filmed her nationally televised Christmas specials.
Carrigan said it continues to be a tourist attraction, a mainstay for community events and a place where couples from all over Canada are married.
Along with the campaign, Carrigan said the committee is looking to launch a number of enterprises that could possibly create ongoing revenue.
“If we had some way of getting control or ownership of the glebe we could possibly run an Airbnb out of it in the summertime, and that would really be a shot in the arm for tourists coming to the area,” he said.
“The glebe house actually is in pretty good shape, it’s just that there’s no full-time resident priest there anymore.”
Other possibilities include church concerts and promoting the building as a country museum, kayak rentals, guided bicycle tours, guided walking tours and Scottish concerts for cruise ship passengers.
Carrigan said these types of activities could bring an economic boost to the community through job creation, along with placing Big Pond back on the tourism map.
Carrigan said donors who contribute to the campaign will be provided with tax receipts.