Romandale expresses hope that Markham Council will leave statue in Charity Crescent
TORONTO, Oct. 17, 2017 /CNW/ - Romandale Farms Limited expressed its "profound hope" that Markham City Council will, at its meeting today, reject a recommendation to remove the statue of A Brookview Tony Charity, a world champion dairy cow, from its current location in Cathedraltown's Charity Crescent. Charity Crescent was always to be the permanent home for Charity.
On September 25, Council's Development Services Committee approved a motion recommending that Council find a new location for the statue, despite an Artwork Donation Agreement between the City and Romandale, which donated the statue.
City Council had unanimously approved the agreement, more than a year ago, to place the statue in Charity Crescent, following review of positive engineering and safety studies and a detailed presentation that described the statue's appearance, height and location.
The statue was created and installed entirely at the expense of the donor.
Helen Roman-Barber, Romandale's CEO, said that "I have expressed my profound hope to Mayor Frank Scarpitti, who opposed the Development Services Committee's recommendation to remove Charity, that City Council follow his lead and abide by established Markham policy, to support the creation and installation of public art."
She also called on all members of City Council "to demonstrate leadership and vision regarding the importance of public art and the merits of the City's initial decision to install the statue in Charity Crescent."
And she predicted that "the opposition to the statue, which was fomented by a few individuals and councillors, will give way over time to widespread public support as reflection and familiarity will inspire affection for Charity."
The eight-metre tall statue of Charity, constructed of highest-quality stainless steel and facing the awe-inspiring Cathedral of the Transfiguration in the heart of Cathedraltown, carries significant symbolic, historical and artistic value.
The statue was created by world-renowned sculptor Ron Baird, who has completed more than 150 public commissions, including works commissioned by the City of Markham.
Joan Murray, an art critic and author who served as Curator of Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Director of The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, and Interim Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, has praised Mr. Baird for developing "a new aesthetic form in Canada, sculpture in the context of architecture."
Charity was born in Ohio on August 6, 1978, and was owned jointly by Hanover Hill Farms, near Port Perry, where she resided, and Romandale Farms, an enterprise founded by Stephen B. Roman, Canada's leading breeder and exhibitor of Holsteins.
The statue's placement in Cathedraltown, on land once part of Romandale Farms, commemorates the enormous contribution that Charity made to the success of the dairy farmers of Ontario, to Romandale Farms, to the development of Cathedraltown and, by extension, to the prosperity enjoyed today by the residents of Markham.
Charity is not the only cow artistically depicted in Cathedraltown. An image of a cow is included in the Pendentives supporting the dome of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, after which Cathedraltown was named.
Markham council agreed to place the statue of Charity in Cathedraltown, because it exemplifies city policies that support public art as "a key component to the uniqueness and identify of a municipality."
Charity is the third Romandale bovine to be honoured with a statue, though she is the first female.
In 1961, Fidel Castro bought a bull named Rosafe Signet to improve the quality of dairy cattle in Cuba. When these efforts exceeded expectations, a grateful Cuba erected a statue to Rosafe Signet in old Havana. Signet's sire was Romandale's then-prized bull, A.B.C. Reflection Sovereign, after whom the first road in Cathedraltown was named.
Another Romandale bull, Count Crystan, also with a street named for him in Cathedraltown, was bought by Japan to help Japanese dairy farmers improve their herds, a successful endeavour that prompted the Japanese to erect a statue of Count Crystan in Japan.
SOURCE Romandale Farms Limited
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