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Harold “Happy” Rolph was a fruit farmer who founded a bird sanctuary on his property — now the public nature park on Lake Ontario.
His efforts began with a simple need to supply water to his orchards that led to a place where thousands of birds flocked every year.
Rolph settled in St. Catharines in the early 1930s when he was a partner in a construction firm working on the Welland Canal, according to Standard article in January 1981.
He left the construction business soon after, in 1935, to go into fruit farming and bought a parcel of land on Read Road north of Lakeshore Road.
He needed water to irrigate the orchards and around 1950 built several natural looking ponds in a valley on the property.
Several pairs of mallard ducks were purchased to attract other birds to the area. He and wife Jean built feeding stations for the birds over the next two decades, spending $1,500 a year on bird feed.
The couple attracted thousands of ducks, geese and songbirds to the property annually and many of the birds stayed to nest.
The federal government eventually designated the property as a bird sanctuary.
Rolph retired from farming in 1970 and he and Jean decided to downsize four years later and move to a St. Catharines apartment.
Their beautiful property caught the attention of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, the city and province. The Standard reported in May 1974 that the three partners purchased the land for $125,000 through a partnership. The city then leased the land for $1 a year.
In October 1974, the property was named the Happy Rolph Bird Sanctuary in Rolph’s honour. Later, a children’s petting zoo was added to the attraction.
Rolph died in January 1981 at age 84.
In 1997, the city bought the park from the conservation authority for $2.
Today, visitors can see a variety of animals like donkeys, alpacas, bun-
Fact finder
Happy Rolph’s traditionally opens on the May long weekend and stays open until Thanksgiving. This year’s opening day is Saturday May 21. That’s also the opening date for the Lakeside Carousel in Port Dalhousie. nies and birds on the 1.06 hectare park that includes a playground, picnic area and forested trails.
Painted stripes and diamonds on the QEW through Beamsville has made for a colourful Niagarabound lane over the last couple of years.
The Ministry of Transportation’s “test deck” was painted in the right lane near the Ontario Street exit to try out new pavement marking products, which often contain reflective materials.
Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Michelle Mendonca said ministry technical staff evaluated the markings on the test deck for visibility, colour and durability.
As a result, some new products which performed well have been added to the ministry’s list of acceptable materials for construction and maintenance contracts.
The ministry has been testing paint on highways for 25 years to see how it performs through different seasons and traffic volumes.
Markings are typically evaluated for an initial one-year period but long-term data may be collected in some cases. The information gathering has been completed on the