Saugeen Shores Deputy Mayor Diane Huber has been honoured with a local Municipal Heritage Conservation Award.
Huber was nominated by the heritage committee which recognizes annually, a person or group who makes contributions to the promotion of heritage in the community.
Heritage Committee Council Representative and Chair Cheryl Grace presented the award to Huber at Monday’s council meeting.
Grace said, “Diane is passionate about the heritage of Saugeen shores and has demonstrated that passion through leadership as committee chair and member as well as spearheading numerous community engagement initiatives.”
She continued, “Throughout her tenure, Diane was an active member in the committee’s extensive research, creating the first three phases of the Town’s heritage register.”
Grace outlined some of Huber’s contributions including identifying significant trees, developing walking tours, expanding the interpretive plaque and property plaque programs and arranging for a public workshop at the Southampton Town Hall on Ontario heritage policy and programs.
She said, “Public promotion of local heritage is one of Diane’s most important contributions to our community. Over the years she has developed numerous materials to engage children in learning about heritage. Hundreds of children have delighted in button making and other fun activities at events such as Pumpkinfest and the marine heritage festival. Members of the public of all ages appreciate the displays Diane has researched, developed and organized.”
Huber also organized a 2023 doors open event among the churches of Southampton.
Grace said, “Diane has carried on those traditions in her own life through her involvement in the Marine Heritage Society as a Chantry Island Tour Guide and team member, a horticultural society member and as a member of the Chantry Island Chambettes, an organization dedicated to local charitable initiatives.”
Huber thanked the committee for the honour and said, “I truly believe that heritage is very personal and that it can be as simple as knowing that you’re named after your great grandmother or knowing where Poland is on a map and tracing it from Poland to Halifax to know how your family got to Canada.”
She added, “It’s also about community, and I wouldn’t be as interested in heritage or as, I guess, well versed in historical stuff without my involvement with the Bruce County Historical Society and also the Bruce County Genealogical Society.”
She thanked a number of community members and family for sharing their knowledge about how to research, knowledge about the community, and sharing stories about life in the the town.
“If you have somebody in your family who is still alive, who is of a much earlier generation, get them to tell you stories about people, about the place, about buildings,” said Huber.
She added, “Everything in our town can tell a story, whether it’s something from five minutes ago or fifty years ago.”