Fleming Elevator

When I was looking for a location to build my gallery, I was certain I wanted to have some other structure(s) nearby that would tie me to the prairie. I wanted a spot where tourists could stop, learn a bit about the prairies and hopefully take a piece of prairie art home with them as they crossed our province.

When I found the land in Fleming, it was like a dream come true. Here was a piece of property located right across the highway from the oldest elevator in Canada. How amazing would that be. Our plans called for having a nice covered deck out front where people could relax with a coffee and see this amazing old elevator.

In fact, the town was in the process of restoring the elevator to its original state. I made several trips to Fleming last year and held off photographing the building because it was not quite restored. A small amount of tin needed to be installed on the upper part of the building. So I waited looking forward to the grand opening this coming summer.

I was anxious to see it finished. The towns people were anxious. They had invested many hours of sweat equity and actual dollars into preserving the edifice with hopes to open a gift shop and attract tourists to the tiny town. It was going to be a grand thing.

Well in early February, someone decided to rob the town and myself of this dream. Fleming's heritage structure was reduced to a pile of glowing coals by an arsonist. A crushing blow for a small town wanting to re-invent itself. A crushing blow to me since I truly looked forward myself to looking out upon the grand restoration.

The truly sad thing though was my reluctance to photograph the elevator before the restoration was complete, means I do not have a piece of art that celebrates my soon to be home town. BUT... I did indeed shoot one photograph last summer that showed the nearly complete building. It was so close in fact that with a little Photoshop help, I was able to clone some of the finished lower building onto the upper part in such a manner that the elvator looks as it would have if the arsonist had not dashed our hopes and dreams.

It's not the normal artsy shot I would have attempted with the finished building. It was just a snap for myself to remember how it looked before the restoration was complete. However with the Photoshop assistence, at least now there is one photo that shows what we might have had. So enjoy it, there will never be another image of the Fleming elevator.

Brent