Smithville Legion reopens with major facelift

By Tristan Marks
NewsNow

As of last July 16, the Smithville Branch 393 Legion is open, and now it’s bigger and better than ever before.

Thanks to the Province moving to stage 3 of COVID re-opening, the Legion is now able to serve patrons in-doors. The bar’s seating area has been largely redone with new paint, new flooring and several new tables and chairs perfectly sized for safe distancing.

However, when the weather’s good, visitors may well want to sit on the hall’s newly expanded and renovated patio, which is now four times larger than before. The work was completed by Legion member Lloyd Bos and his concrete company and beautified with flower boxes donated by the Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary.

Ironically, all these renovations were possible thanks to the COVID pandemic, said Smithville Legion executive Kathey Putman.

“This pandemic was a blessing in disguise for us,” she said. “We took full advantage of the government grants we had available to us and we used every penny we could.”

Putman lauded the Legion’s executive board and especially Gillian Han for being a regular sleuth in tracking down grants for the renovations.

“She [Gillian] really enabled us to get all of our grants,” said Putman. “We have a great executive board.”

Other features include a new sound system and projector in the upstairs hall, a future bbq shelter to protect cooks from inclement weather during outdoor events, and a number of new programs for seniors.

Putman explained that one of the grants the Legion accessed was for senior-oriented programming. This allowed the legionnaires to build a new space for senior tai chi lessons and acquire 12 laptops for lessons on how to use a computer. These lessons will begin in the near future, and seniors from the neighbouring Villa have already began to sign up, said Putman.

For more information on Branch 393’s re-opening and its upcoming events and classes, call 905-957-3935.