Fairview Historical Society encourages commuity to join in

People in Fairview looking to learn about the history of their hometown have the ideal chance to do so later this month.

On March 16 at the Fairview Legion, the Friends of Fairview are hosting an event for people to share old pictures and stories about the community with the ultimate goal of creating a Fairview Historical Society.

“I grew up in Fairview and every other place seems to have (a historical society),” said Devonna Edwards, one of the authors of The Little Dutch Village, a 2003 historical novel about Halifax West.

“Fairview is so full of history that it’s a shame to let it be lost.”

The idea for the event came Devonna and her husband, Don, met up with two other people with a passion for local history: Gerry MacLeod, a genealogy specialist and Wayne Kelly, a Fairview historian.

“I think there’s a lot of new families that moved in here who probably don’t have a clue about some of the stuff that took place in Fairview over the years,” said MacLeod.

Together they have compiled hundreds of photos, maps and stories to for anyone coming to the event to show. MacLeod has been involved with local baseball for more than 30 years and has a collection of team photos from the years.

“We have a lot of stuff that people have never seen before,” said Edwards.

The group hopes to share some of the countless interesting historical stories from the community, including anything from ghostly encounters to house-sized sinkholes to even the local firemen.

“The firemen built their own trucks,” said Edwards. “They didn’t have water so they made their own pond.”

“It’s just remarkable the stuff I’ve dug up over the years.”

MacLeod said at this point it’s hard to say how many people will show up to the event, because there hasn’t been a lot of buzz surrounding it on their Facebook page.

“We might turn this into a yearly event, we don’t really know yet,” he said. “It’ll all be based on how many people turn out.”

The event is at the Fairview Legion on March 16, starting at 7 p.m. For more information, visit “Friends Of Fairview” of Facebook.