S.J.C. alumni organise fair to fix up gym
The S.J.C. gymnasium … the very words may invoke memories of school graduations, weddings, the Expo fair, and even a few trips up and down the basketball court. But since the gym was built in 1958, improvement to the building has been limited to the construction of ventilated walls. With that reality in mind, the Saint John’s College Alumni Association has taken on the institution as a pet project and despite the odds, are determined to preserve the history of the gym while making it cooler, cleaner, and little easier on the eyes. Fundraising for the initiative kicks off this weekend with the resurrection of the Landivar Fair, an event that has been off the social calendar for the past thirty years. This afternoon organiser Allan Sharp outlined some of his committee’s plans and what visitors can expect at the fair.
Allan Sharp, Organiser, 2006 Landivar Fair
?Instead of going out to the community and saying, give me so much money; decided that we can help the community so to speak. A two-way street where they help us an in fair and we can also in that we don?t have to go out there to get that much money. The project, just the ventilation alone, just the equipment for the ventilation is fifty thousand U.S. dollars. We had some engineers come down from Florida, look at the gym, and they came up with a nice system that could work and they came up with pricing as well. That?s the first project. We have full project to do the whole gym including roof, flooring, the whole works, but that?s a long term deal. Right now we?re just working towards the ventilation aspect.?
?The games, we have what we have the dunk, whereby somebody sits on a pedestal, you throw the ball, and if you hit the ring the person falls into the water. So that?s a lot of fun watching people fall into the water … pity we couldn?t get some of the politicians involved. Then we have what we call a drop hammer, where you take a mall, you hit a ring and you see how high you can get the marker up to see how high you can get the marker up to see how strong you are. We have the bouncy slide for the children; the children always love the bouncy slide. That large bouncy slide; that will be here.?
One of the highlights of the Landivar Fair is expected to be a teen dance scheduled to start at seven and run until midnight. For more information on how you can help the S.J.C. Alumni Association renovate the gym, please contact Allan Sharp at Bowen and Bowen.
