Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
When Jim Vena arrived in Jasper with his parents, brother and “two suitcases” in 1962, he could hardly have imagined a ceremony in his honour.
Nov. 22 brought just that as the retired CN Rail vice-president was joined by a local who’s who to reveal that the new $800,000 outdoor stage to be built in Commemoration Park will be called the Jim Vena Stage, and will be in what will be referred to as CN Place.
“I’ve lived all over North America from Chicago to Montreal to Vancouver and this is home,” he said. “This is a great place. And it’s a great honour. Usually what happens when you retire from the railroad is they pick a spot in the middle of Northern Ontario, a siding, a place where you can meet and pass trains, and they put your name on there. The only people who would see it is someone who woke up in the middle of the night as the Canadian was going across. This is very special.”
Tourism Jasper quarterbacked the project. Their board chair, Doug Goss, said a “centre stage” for important events has been a gem missing from Jasper’s crown.
“I can assure you it’s going to be a first-class facility,” he said. “It’ll be everything you would want in an outdoor concert venue. We’re very proud of it. It would not have happened without the financial support from CN.”
Mike Cory and Sean Finn, CN executive vice-presidents, travelled from Montreal for the ceremony.
“This is something that is going to be here no matter where you are travelling around the world,” Cory said. “A long time from now when we’re doing other things, we’ll all know this is Jim Vena’s home and heart.”
Mayor Richard Ireland said the stage would give shape to the spirit of Commemoration Park, which was intended to be a gathering place for the entire community when it was acquired in the exchange with the school board. An open field points minds more toward sports and recreation.
“It transforms this particular space as something recognizable as a cultural space, a community space and that in itself is worth celebrating,” he said. “So today we get the opportunity to demonstrate in a real way that this space is an important part of our cultural and festival offering in this community.”
Construction is expected to take place next year. Finn said a celebration of CN’s 100th birthday in 2019 centred around June 6, the day it was created by an act of Parliament in 1919, would bring a special train that’ll be touring Canada through Jasper, possibly during the busy season.
“Jim came here at a very young age and grew up here,” he said. “ He’s never forgotten his roots here. To be able to build something that gives legacy, besides our yard, to have CN Place, but more importantly to have the Jim Vena Stage within CN Place is also a great recognition of Jim’s contribution to CN. He was a great team player. And I’m sure all 26,000 employees are going to be very happy to come to Jasper over the next 10 years.”
Vena said the focus on community is what warmed him to having his name on something other than a siding somewhere outside Kapuskasing.
“I’ve seen stages in a number of communities,” he said. “Some bigger, some small, and it truly is a gathering place for the community. If you use it properly, it brings another avenue for the community to get together, whether it’s arts, or schoolkids putting on plays at various times in the year, it really is a hub. Otherwise I would have said ‘thanks but no thanks.’ Put that sign up just outside Jasper and I’d be a happy guy.”
