A gazebo now graces the centre of Water Tower Park in Lone Butte.
It stands as a memorial to Al Jones, past president of the Lone Butte Historical Association for 20 years. Al, who passed away in 2021 was passionate about preserving the history of the area and was a driving force behind the creation of the park and the restoration of the Alice Singleton House and Willowford School, as well as the relocation of the caboose from 100 Mile House.
Shirley Canning, president of the LBHA, said the idea of building the gazebo came about after the association received some generous donations. She did not want them to simply be put in a general revenue pool and “frittered away.”
“We decided we would build something concrete and lasting for Al,” she said.
In addition to the donations, the association did fundraising and applied for a $1000 grant of assistance from the Cariboo Regional District to help cover the cost of hiring a carpenter.
Total cost to build the gazebo was $6,063.04
READ MORE: Al Jones passionate about history, Lone Butte
The project was a community undertaking, taking just under a month to complete. It was built almost entirely with volunteer labour with the exception of the carpenter they hired.
“We needed a good guy who knew how to put everything together,” said Al’s widow, Gayle Jones.
The question of how they were going to lift five heavy beams into place arose. The problem was solved by Al Vincent of Lone Butte Towing bringing his tow truck down and lifting them up.
“He was fabulous,” said Gayle. “He really saved us.”
Rona Interlakes was also very generous said Canning.
“They donated quite a few of the materials and they also hauled all the materials to the park for us,” she said.
The park is open to the public until October.
fiona.grisswell@100milefreepress.net
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