INNISFAIL – For the past three years Calgarian Ron Murphy has been working tirelessly to resurrect the longstanding presence and service of the Orange Lodge in Innisfail.
The local chapter of The Loyal Orange Association in Canada is the oldest non-profit service group in town, with its origins and first hall in Innisfail dating back to 1895 on the downtown site of the current ATB branch.
The local Orange Hall, now located at 5204 - 49 Ave. was renamed the John Coburn Memorial Lodge #3287 after the late deputy master who passed away in 2020.
Murphy, the past master of the Innisfail lodge, led the charge to have the facility, which was moved from Penhold in 1960 to its current downtown address, renovated and available for public use.
The goal was to get the community involved and learn more about the service group, which now has 17 members – all residing in other communities, including Calgary, Olds, Didsbury and Springbrook.
The group created a Facebook page called Orange Hall – Innisfail to get its message out to the community.
During this year's Family Day weekend, the local Orangemen hosted an open house at the local Orange Hall, which is undergoing an impressive exterior renovation to have it completely painted orange with an additional plan to have murals created by celebrated local artist Karen Scarlett.
He said the last three Orange Hall exterior walls will be painted orange by the end of the summer.
“The lodge and the organization have been a piece of this history for over 100 years, and we believe, from looking at past rolls, there's a number of family names here that we know are still here in town,” said Murphy. “Some of their relatives, their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers were probably members here.
“We'd love to see them come in and say, ‘oh yes, I remember when I was a kid and came here with my dad or my grandpa.”
In the meantime, the local Orange lodge was in the final stages of selling their 3,810 square foot green space behind the hall; a piece of property that would provide needed revenue for the service club.
Along with its committed members, there was a special guest at the open house and that was Murray Penney, county master of Alberta, which is a middle-tier part of the organization that represents three Alberta lodges with a total of 54 members province-wide.
He said his task at the open house was to clear up any misconceptions of his organization and to educate citizens about his service group’s long and enviable history of contributing to the communities they served.
“There has been a really grand history for this organization across Canada and across different Commonwealth nations,” said Penney, whose primary lodge is in Calgary. “One thing I was really eager to learn about, having been in the military myself, was just how involved lodges as bodies of people were involved with recruitment with lodges themselves and joining militaries to go fight in the First World War,
“That was something that was fascinating to me.”
Most importantly, added Penney, was witnessing what members of the John Coburn Memorial Lodge #3287 have done to resurrect their profile in Innisfail.
“Every time I've come there's something new, and it's not just a new picture on the wall,” said Penney. “They've completely changed something new and freshened it up, or rearranged things, or made new accommodations to help potentially rent the hall for use by community members.
“It's great to see that energy to try to reinvigorate the entity of the hall here back into the community,” he added. “It’s just amazing to see from my perspective.”
