ARTHUR – Bronze plaques honouring a century of service by the Arthur Agricultural Society have been stolen from the Arthur fairgrounds, a month after another went missing from a Mapleton park.
“It’s extremely disappointing,” society president Alaina Lennox told the Advertiser.
The plaques were presented by the province in 1956, recognizing 100 years of volunteer service between 1856 and 1956.
Society member Faye Craig noticed last Friday the empty spots on purpose-built stone posts where the plaques were mounted.
These plaques, commemorating 100 years of community service by the Arthur Agricultural Society, were noticed missing from their places on Aug. 15. Supplied photos
All that remained of them were the severed threads of rosette screws on stone posts fronting the parking lot between the Arthur Curling Club and the community centre at the fairgrounds.
Craig suggested the plaques had been stolen and traded in at a scrapyard for cash. The current market price for bronze in Ontario is around $3 per pound.
“They are of more value than that,” Craig said.
“They meant a great deal, they recognize the years of service that members have given of their time to the agricultural society and the community,” she added.
Society secretary Lianne Kaminski said she told local scrapyards to keep their eyes peeled for the stolen wares.
Last month, an Ontario Heritage Trust plaque commemorating the Queen’s Bush Settlement, and the Black pioneers who settled there in the 1800s, was noticed missing from Glen Allan Park in Mapleton.
Wellington County OPP Constable Kirk said there were no updates in that investigation.
Ontario Heritage Trust also had no updates to provide since it was notified of the missing Glen Allan Park plaque. Trust spokesperson David Leonard said next steps for that location may be discussed at a future board meeting.
A formal report about the suspected theft in Arthur hadn’t been received as of Aug. 18, according to MacDonald, but he said police are aware and looking into the missing metal.
The thefts come amid others in Norfolk County, where in recent weeks bronze headstones have been taken from area cemeteries. An Oxford County man was recently arrested in connection with those thefts, according to police.
Arthur Agricultural Society board director Janice Walsh said she was “heartbroken” when she heard the news.
“It points out the history of our fair,” Walsh said of the Arthur plaques.
“We’re proud that we’ve survived that long when other fairs, like Mount Forest, have disappeared,” she said.
That the Arthur Fall Fair, put on by the society, is two weeks away, adds insult to injury.
“The [posts] look sad without them,” Walsh said, adding, “I don’t think they’re ever going to find those plaques.”
Ontario Association of Agriculture Societies executive director Vince Brennan said it’s “devastating” to lose plaques marking the group’s 100-year milestone.
“It’s disheartening,” he said. “I’m hoping they can be replaced.”
Craig has taken up the cause to do just that, having reached out to Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae.
Rae’s office confirmed it’s “looking into the process for replacing the plaques.”
The province’s agriculture ministry has not provided responses to the Advertiser’s request for comment.
