The Bruce Grey Music Hall of Fame will make a new home in the Owen Sound Legion after a fire destroyed its previous location and all of its memorabilia.
Sue Murdoch, who is a hall of fame director says the legion’s membership voted unanimously this month to welcome the hall to its new location.
The original hall of fame was created at the Hepworth Shallow Lake legion in 2015 by former MPP and Tombstones lead Bill Murdoch, and long-time friend and musician Arnie Clark. The fire destroyed the whole building including the hall of fame and its contents worth about $100,000 in January of 2022.
Sue Murdoch says thankfully, Arnie Clark, who is a hall of fame director archived all of the hall inductee information on his computer.
“We can re-create a lot of what was burned, but it’s going to be a lot of work to do that,” says Murdoch.
Murdoch says the hall will be located in the legion’s North Atlantic room.
She notes, they have a carpenter who will do the work, “He already has plans for building it. It’s just going to be wall surface that we use, but there will be cabinets and wood that we can hang memorabilia on,” says Murdoch.
She adds, “In the spring, I hope that Arnie and I and the other directors will get working on restoring all of the memorabilia.”
Murdoch says her late husband Bill raised money for a new hall of fame, noting, “Last summer when he was in hospice, he told everybody to donate to the hall of fame. A couple of high profile people in the community came right to his bedside and donated money. Then of course, when he passed away that was his wish.”
Murdoch says a tribute concert for Bill raised quite a bit of money as well, and she estimates they now have about $30,000 to create a new hall of fame.
Despite the fire, and a three-year intermission, the hall of fame continued to induct members this past summer, and welcomed Jim Merriam, Jim Beech, the original Tombstones, Lloyd Williamson, the Rainbow Country Band & Arnie Clark into the Hall during a ceremony at the Owen Sound legion branch.
Anyone who would like to donate to the Bruce Grey Music Hall of Fame can contact Sue Murdoch at 519-371-3918.