Whelpton Park

The Department of Parks and Recreation joined forces with the Drouillard Road Business Improvement Association (BIA) in order to develop and maintain the new park. Essentially, the Drouillard Road BIA assumed total responsibility for maintaining the park, while the Parks Department provides planters, annuals, and monitoring of the site. I n 2000, a Human Resources Development Canada grant awarded funds for the revitalizing of Drouillard Road. The project included the unveiling of five new street murals and a six-foot sculpture. The sculpture, a three-piece creation entitled Generations , honours the families who worked in the auto industry. Sculptor Mark Williams, a Ford machine repairman from Essex Engine Plant, created a 200-pound clay figure for bronzing. Generations shows three men spot welding the drip rails to the roof of a 1950 Ford Business Coupe. The models for the workers are the sons of Ford employees. Eighteen murals have been painted connecting the industrial history of the area with its contemporary present. A Ford Model T, Prohibition, the 1945 blockade, and snapshots of community leaders are among the murals painted on various building walls.