Sobie renamed Sobye in ’22 to correct error

By Mike Williscraft

NewsNow

Mae Annable is one happy lady.

Grimsby council
voted Monday night to fix a long-time error and adjust the name of Sobie Road to Sobye Road.

A presentation was formally made to council on Sept. 27 on behalf of Mae, 94.

Her family’s history in Grimsby and her family farm at Sobie and Thirty Road goes back to the 1925 purchase of 100 acres at that intersection.

While the Milk Board of Ontario gave the Sobyes a local territory and they sold milk from their farm, they formally moved into Sobye’s Dairy – which included Mae, her father, Joe; her mother, Stella, and; brother, Bill – in 1958. This business operated until it was sold to Christie’s Dairy in 1964.

The error came about in the early 1970s when Ontario was implementing postal codes.

It was noted as a matter of reviewing the request that the Town does not have a policy in place to deal with such matters so, that, too, became part of this process.

“Staff also took into consideration the upcoming postal code realignment that is currently being executed by Canada Post. Canada Post has indicated that this process will be complete in February 2022. Given the postal code changes are imminent, it would be prudent for the Town to align the street name change with the postal code changes,” states the report.

Council unanimously approved the correction to Sobye Road, which is expected to be in place to time with Canada Post’s adjustments in 2022.