Aurora Sports Hall of Fame moves to a bigger home
Aurora, ON, November 5, 2015 – The Town of Aurora and the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) were pleased to announce last night at ASHOF’s 2015 Induction Dinner Celebration at St. Andrew’s College Gala that the town has approved the hall of fame move from Aurora Town Hall to the more publicly accessible and larger venue at the Stronach Aurora Recreation Complex (SARC).
After a number of months of discussion and a specific request to the town by the ASHOF Board of Governors, town council approved the move from its temporary site on the third floor of Town Hall to the more publicly accessible and larger SARC location (at 1400 Wellington Street East, just west of Leslie Street). The actual timing for the move has yet to be finalized, but when the Hall reopens, the exhibit space should almost triple in its new home.
The Board of Governors made the request as the Sports Hall of Fame grew in its first year in 2013 from six Honoured Members to the 2015 complement of 17 Members and the original space was just not large enough for the collection.
According to Aurora Sports Hall of Fame Chair Ron Weese, the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame had simply outgrown its current venue. “The original Sports Hall of Fame location in the Town Hall was a welcomed start,” he said, “and our Collections Committee and Curator did a fine job of displaying the plaques and stories as well as Honoured Member artefacts,” he continued. “But we were constantly taking down displays and replacing them with newer displays because we didn’t have the room to accumulate and display everything provided to us,” he lamented. “We also were not able to get the collection viewed by sports visitors and tourists because it wasn’t located in a high-traffic sports facility, nor was it available during times when sports tourists were interested in visiting (the exhibit area at town hall closed at 4:30 pm on weekdays and was not open on weekends),” he continued. “The move to SARC will solve those problems of size and accessibility and we are very thankful to the town for approving and assisting with some of the costs of this move,” he concluded.
The determined efforts of Bob McRoberts and his Collection Committee have been realized according to Mr. Weese. “Mr. McRoberts has worked diligently for the past six months with the Curator, Laura Beaton and with the Hall’s Project Manager Nancy Black, to ensure this move was to the right place and at the right time,” he said. “As we just Inducted three new Honoured Members and a Special Media Award recipient, this news couldn’t come at a better time.”
