Memorial Hall stage renaming approved by North Huron Council
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
A recent donation from a generous patron brought Blyth Festival Artistic Director Gil Garratt before North Huron Council at a regular meeting last month.
Garratt sought approval for the Festival’s right to name the stage at Memorial Hall in honour of the donor and their family. North Huron Chief Administrative Officer Dwayne Evans prepared a report recommending that the proposal be approved, which was then discussed. While the actual name that the Blyth Festival hopes to bestow upon the stage was not yet revealed to council and the general public, staff was privy to that information, and found no reason to withhold naming rights from the Festival.
Councillor Mitch Wright requested more clarity in regards to the nebulous idea of “naming rights”. “I don’t have an issue with the report, and I don’t think I have any issues with the spirit behind it, but I can’t support this motion as it’s worded, because there’s absolutely no restrictions on what the stage could be named. So, I assume they are going to name it after the family - reading into it, it’s likely that that’s what they are going to do... I think we just need a little bit of a tweak in the motion, to resolve that concern, and then I’m fully willing to support it.”
Deputy-Reeve Kevin Falconer spoke up to advocate for council to trust staff’s recommendation that the naming rights not be withheld, as they were aware of the potential name and had no objection to it.
Garratt agreed that the naming of the stage is a matter to be taken seriously. “Our understanding from the lease is that we actually can’t change the name of any of the spaces without approval from the landlord, which would be all of you. So, if we were going to change it to something obscene, which obviously would be a huge detriment to our very public business, we would still have to bring that obscene name to all of you, or your future counterparts, to vote on whether we could use it or not.” He went on to suggest the rewording of the proposal to include more specific language.
Clerk Carson Lamb drafted a motion in which council would grant approval to the Blyth Festival to name the stage at Memorial Hall in honour of a family of long-time supporters of the Blyth Festival, in recognition of a significant financial donation. The motion was moved by Falconer, seconded by Councillor Anita van Hittersum, and passed unanimously, save for Councillor Ric McBurney, who abstained from voting due to a pecuniary interest that arose from his involvement with Branch 420 of the Royal Canadian Legion, one of the Blyth Festival’s closest partners.