BRUNO — Three members of Bruno’s town council were put behind bars – all an effort to revitalize the town’s historic fire hall.
On Aug. 10, Mayor Dale Glessman and councillors Karen Tegenkamp and Michael Sorokoski were arrested voluntarily as part of a jail-n-bail fundraiser. For $5, the citizens of the community could choose whether to extend or reduce one of the trio’s jail sentences by 10 minutes.
Glessman served 10 hours in jail, Tegenkamp four hours and Sorokoski 14 hours and 10 minutes.
That, plus the sale of some smokies, raised $2,700. The town is aiming to raise around $18,000 to $20,000 for the restoration. In combination with cherry tart sales at the Cherry Sunday festival, around $4,000 has been raised so far.
Colette Radcliff, Bruno’s administrator, said the restoration project is primarily focused on the back wall, which is damaged from trees that grew up against the building. Once contractors are inside however, the scope and the associated cost might grow.
“The tree in the back has cracked the wall open and it’s quite a large crack. In order to repair that, because it’s a heritage building, it has to be the same brick and mortar that was used originally. Just trying to find that in itself is a challenge,” Radcliff said.
“It’s important to preserve the history of the town and what lies in those historic buildings.”
The walls are made using clay bricks from the former Bruno Brickyard and Clayworks plant, which operated a few kilometres outside of town. The plant was one of three major brick manufacturing facilities that operated in the province during the early 20th century.
“There’s only just ruins of the plant in farmers’ fields here,” she said. “[The bricks are] very scarce, there are some people that might have some – that’s where we’re looking.”
Located on 525 Main Street, the facility was built with a boom town façade that features decorative window and door openings as well as a bell tower.
There is no timeline set for the restoration.
