Moose Jaw could have its name etched into the Guinness Book of World Records as part of its efforts to celebrate the centennial of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
April 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the air force as a distinct military branch of the Canadian Forces, and to honour this occasion, the City of Moose Jaw will be teaming up with other municipalities across Canada on that day to hold a special event — which will last about 10 minutes.
For the past several months, the city’s heritage advisory committee has been discussing ways to celebrate this centennial, and recently struck a sub-committee to handle that work, Coun. Crystal Froese explained during the March 25 regular council meeting.
The sub-committee has been in contact with 20 to 25 community organizations about celebrating together with either one large event or several smaller separate ones — likely sometime in September, she continued.
Furthermore, a Facebook page has been created that features a collaboration of businesses and organizations in Moose Jaw that want to host events, promotions or information about celebrations for the RCAF’s 100th birthday.
Froese added that more information about the subcommittee’s work would be presented during a future council meeting.
Meanwhile, on April 1, Moose Jaw will light up its clock tower in blue to recognize this historic anniversary and will participate with other major national landmarks like the CN Tower in Toronto and Niagara Falls, the city councillor said.
“The other part of this is we are also participating in a Guinness Book of World Records (attempt), so the RCAF 100 official crew out of Ottawa has invited us to participate in that,” she continued.
This attempt will see Moose Jaw create a 10-minute time-lapse video of the city hall clock tower turning from white to blue, with staff from parks and recreation and contractors who restored the tower glass setting up the camera and recording the video. The municipality — along with other Canadian communities — will submit the film to the Guinness Book of World Records for verification and hopefully break the existing record.
“Because it’s time-sensitive, anybody across the city is welcome to light up their own front step with a blue lightbulb or anybody downtown can turn their lights blue to show their pride for RCAF 100,” Froese added.
Public art committee
The public art committee is also looking for ways to celebrate the RCAF’s 100th birthday, including compiling a list of spaces and businesses where the city could install a public art piece or mural, according to the group’s most recent meeting minutes.
Administration informed the committee that there are several businesses interested in possibly having the municipality install a mural on their building.
Meanwhile, Jacki L’Heureux-Mason, executive director of Tourism Moose Jaw, offered to contact the public through social media for input about possible art locations. Furthermore, Tourism Moose Jaw expects to hire a part-time muralist this year who could assist with a public art project.
The committee later decided to table this issue until its next meeting in April.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, April 8.
