Restoration of New Sarepta's Tire & Girdle Co. Building continues

NEW SAREPTA -- The New Sarepta Historical Society continues its work to restore the Tire and Girdle Company Building.

The more than 40-year-old landmark was built in 1985 based on the fictitious musings of former Edmonton Journal cartoonist John Yardley-Jones. The renowned illustrator stumbled upon New Sarepta in the early 1960's when he lost his way while searching for Miquelon Lake. From then on, he began featuring New Sarepta in his work, and later came up with the idea for the Tire and Girdle Company Building.

The idea behind the fictional building was eventually brought to life as a way to honour Yardley-Jones and his local contributions. However, over the course of the early 2000's, the building began to fall into disrepair. Prior to 2024, when the building faced the threat of demolition, the New Sarepta Historical Society stepped in to preserve the piece of local history. They now manage it as their base of operations to this day.

In September 2024, the local organization completed much-needed roofing repairs and added new venting with funding support from Leduc County. Then, throughout this past year, fundraising has been undertaken with the goal of continuing the full restoration of the building. Norman Kellert of the New Sarepta Historical Society spoke to 93.1 The One about what will be next for this work.

"We've been fundraising to do siding, and we'll be relocating the building in the park over the next week or two to a different location to allow for the further expansion of the park in the future," said Kellert. "In 2027, we plan to re-side the building in the spring, and put in a new door for handicap access, upgrade the signage, and do some interior upgrades."

Through their fundraising efforts, the society hosted their inaugural golf tournament this past August and raised $3,300 towards the upgrades. Kellert says the hope is to keep their momentum going with additional events in the future, and that one of the challenges for their work is the need to balance labour costs. He adds that this work is imperative in preserving the local history of New Sarepta.

"It's important to us long-time residents for sure, because it's been a significant part of our history dating back to 1985," said Kellert. "The younger people don't understand that, so that's part of what we're doing too -- creating murals, booklets, sequels to various historical events of New Sarepta. That's part of the Historical Society's mandate also -- to document the history of the community, which of course involves Yardley-Jones."

The Yardley-Jones family made an appearance this past year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the hamlet's 50-mile walk.