Whisper

43

The next four months were basically a blur. Everyone in the village was busy.

.

Not only had it been decided to build a new town hall, but, further meetings were held and the entire village decided to do a facelift.

.

Maynard's Rock was a beautiful little village, but it was lost as far as tourists go. It was off the main highway and had never been much of an attraction, even though the people were amazing and the scenery breathtaking.

All it needed was some kind of boost, to make it more attractive.

.

So it was decided that there would be a new direction in town. A direction that would involve every single home in the community.

I worked privately with John and Cora and devised a plan that would make the little village more attractive.

I set up a community improvement fund. The fund would provide money for everyone to properly landscape, as well as build new fences and more importantly every house in the community got a fresh coat of paint and most got new shingles for their roofs.

Sheds were fixed up and painted to match the houses. Each house had its own distinctive colour scheme and soon the village glowed with every colour of the rainbow.

Gardens were created in most every yard and all the forested area that surrounded the village was cleaned up.

The tiny Salvation Army Church did get its new roof, as well as an extension, just in case visitors to the community wanted to use the church for their Sunday blessings.

.

Paths were created through the forest that would lead to the beautiful rugged beaches, that lined the western portion of the community.

The beaches offered amazing photo opportunities, as well as glimpses of the native birds of Newfoundland, that nested on a small island just off the shore.

At the northern end of the point, there was a small, but beautiful sandy beach. The provincial government allocated money for the community to turn it into a local provincial park, the native birds island being the attraction.

But more money was needed to complete the cleanup and such. I was more than happy to chip in.

There was talk of naming the park after me, but I declined the offer, stating that I was a new resident and that it should hold the name of the founding family.

So Maynard's Rock provincial park was created.

Within the boundaries of the village, only a day park could be allocated, but talks were ongoing, with the Provincial government to expand beyond the village boundary and offer serviced sites.

.

A brand new, colourful sign, was erected on the highway, reminding people to take a few minutes and visit the paradise called, Maynard's Rock.

With the park, the bird sanctuary and the uniquely colourful homes, the Rock finally had some attraction to the outside world.

.

Excitement was building as the new town hall was being erected.

Most of the ideas, I had in the beginning were used, but the village offered a few of their own. There was talk of dinner theatres and summer plays.

And even some kind of folk festival to attract tourists to the village.

.

Bobby and Jessie were in charge of building the new community centre and they were well ahead of schedule. Crews were brought in from Corner Brook and Deer Lake, to help with all the work that was to be done.