Downtown Shelburne to feature local Hometown Heroes

Written By PAULA BROWN

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Banners featuring veterans will soon be seen hoisted above the streets of Shelburne, as part of the annual Hometown Heroes Remembrance Day initiative. 

In the lead up to Remembrance Day (Nov. 11) the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 220 will be flying the annual Hometown Heroes banners that feature the names, ranks, and photos of Canadian veterans. 

“It makes them a little more aware of how many people were actually there and sacrificed, because when they walk around the town, they're seeing family names that they've heard of for years,” said Lesa Peat, President of the local legion, on the banner's significance to the community. 

The Hometown Heroes banners started in 2015 and were inspired by a project done by a local teacher's mother in Leamington for the 2014 Remembrance Day. Using the same permission form, the local Legion created their own designs that have been around for the last five years. The Hometown Heroes banners were initially limited to veterans in Shelburne, but later opened up to other areas. 

“We opened it up to Dufferin County, Grey County, anyone that was in the area,” said Peat. “Then it got slow for a while without having banners, so we opened it up to anybody.” 

It was through the opening up to further communities that Peat was able to feature her own grandfather on one of the banners 

The local Legion this year will be putting up 49 banners around town, with two new banners being added. The banners themselves are paid for by the families wishing to feature a family hero, costing $200 plus tax said Peat, while the brackets are covered by the Town of Shelburne. 

The Hometown Heroes banners go up at the beginning of November and will stay up until Dec. 1, when they are removed and hung in the Warrior's Hall of Branch 220 until next year.