Mary's Harbour burns mortgage

The fine folks of Mary's Harbour aren't the sort to have debt hanging over their heads, no sir.

During the 18th Annual Crab Festival earlier this month, Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones announced that the mortgage for the Raymond C. Rumbolt Memorial Recreation Centre had been paid in full five years early.

Town clerk/manager Glenys Rumbolt and Byron Rumbolt, who was mayor in 1999 when the mortgage documents were signed, were called to the stage to make the feat official - by burning the papers, above a garbage can, to the roar of the crowd.

The Town of Mary's Harbour had applied for funding through Municipal Affairs and received money cost-shared with the provincial and federal governments.

To start, the town was responsible for $107,000. That's for a community of roughly 400 people.

The recreation committee and the town council agreed to pay off the building together, 50/50.

The rec. committee, through the crab festival committee, raised money during the annual event, while the town council included the monthly sum into its budget.

Money was raised by renting out the building for special events (graduations, weddings, sports events, etc...).

The bulk of the money, however, was raised by the ever-popular festival.

"The crab festival has been very successful over the years, not only with residents of Mary's Harbour but people coming to visit, so they've been able to raise more than their required contribution," said Ms. Rumbolt, who has been town clerk/manager for the past 19 years.

The town had borrowed money for the mortgage for 15 years, but were able to pay it off in 10.

In 1997, the community hall was in dire need of repairs; plans had been made to renovate the hall, but the town found the cost-estimate for repairs would be too expensive, agreeing the community would be better off building a new complex which would include space for recreation.

They asked, they worked, they received.

Now that the future of the building is more certain, there's some wiggle room, Ms. Rumbolt said.

"Right now, the money that the crab festival committee raises will go to equipment for the gym, or repairs to the gym, upkeep and maintenance, and they do have long-term plans to build a piece on as an equipment room," Ms. Rumbolt said.

"Eventually, there may be a long-term plan to, who knows, build a swimming pool or something similar, but right now they're just looking at the maintenance and upkeep and the addition they're planning on building on."

To illustrate the role and importance of the building, she used the Rumbolt's recent family reunion - which attracted some 150 guests - as an example.

"That's what they were saying, if this building wasn't here, they would have nowhere to hold the number of people that were invited," she said, adding that the whole process could only have been done with the entire community's support.

"We'd just like to extend a big thank you to the residents of Mary's Harbour and surrounding areas that have helped contribute to the success of the building."