An open house is being held Tuesday, December 6 to discuss the future of Fernie’s Knox United Church.
The church was recently purchased by the Fernie Heritage Trust Society to safeguard the heritage of the building and keep it as a public space.
This follows an announcement last September that the Knox United Church congregation would be putting the 112-year-old building up for sale, while its membership would keep meeting together in other settings.
Tonight’s Open House will discuss plans to turn the building into a performing arts venue in Fernie.
Residents will have an opportunity to give their say on the project and to sign up for potential volunteer opportunities.
The open house is happening at the church, starting at 5:00 pm.
More details can be found in the press release from the Fernie Heritage Trust Society below.
The Knox United Church was built in 1909 and served as the home of the Presbyterian and then the United Church. The congregation recognized that it needed to find a long-term stewardship solution for the building in 2019 and announced that it was for sale.
Working with the Fernie Heritage Trust Society, an arrangement was structured that allows the congregation to continue to use the building for the purposes of the congregation and allows the Fernie Heritage Trust Society to make the building available to the community for public performances, concerts, meetings, and events. The building is widely known for its wonderful acoustics, and it is a ready-made concert hall.
The purchase of the building by Fernie Heritage Trust was made possible by the generous underwriting of the financing by the Sombrowski family, which ensured a long-term interest-free loan was possible.
The Fernie Heritage Trust will be undertaking a capital campaign in order to raise funds for the retirement of the debt, as well as to make needed restorations and renovations, purchase professional performance space equipment, and create a capital fund to allow for independent programming.
Gordon Sombrowski, President of the Fernie Heritage Trust Society said, “It’s a great day for Fernie. We are saving an important heritage building and ensuring it will be a public cultural space for the community. Our vision is to make the building available to the community as a performance art space and a community hub. The Fernie Heritage Trust Society has been working with some wonderful key individuals at Knox who understood how important the building was for the community. Their foresight and hard work helped to make this happen.”
Ev Cutts, a representative of the Knox United Church Congregation, said many generations of Fernie and South Country families have used the Knox Building for worship, weddings, baptisms, and funerals.
“Knox has been an anchor on 2nd Avenue since 1909, and although the current members of Knox are sad to not own the building going forward, we are pleased to be able to leave such a great legacy to the citizens of the Elk Valley – we look forward to watching the space grow as a performing arts space. It has been a pleasure to work with the FHTS.”
There will be a community open house and consultation on December 6 at 5 p.m. at Knox United Church at 201-2nd Avenue, at which the Fernie Heritage Trust Society will engage the community as it further develops the vision for the building.
The Fernie Heritage Trust Society is a not-for-profit society dedicated to preserving the built and landscape heritage of Fernie for future generations by encouraging repurposing and restoration that honours the community and its needs.
The Knox United Church Congregation is a congregation of the United Church of Canada located in Fernie, British Columbia.”
The Fernie Heritage Trust Society members are looking forward to greeting the public and answering questions, as well as providing tours of the building at the open house.
All are invited to attend on December 6, with doors open from 5 to 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
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