Just a few days before the centennial of the Rossland branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, the local membership has unanimously accepted an offer to buy their building.
Branch 14 president Richard Horney said many factors led them put the building up for sale, including demographics and the cost of running the facility.
“It’s a very big building,” he said. “It’s very expensive to operate and it’s time to downsize and become a service club. So we’ll be a Legion without a building but still service the veterans and community.”
The building, at 2081 Washington Street, was built in 1935 and subsequently added onto. It has been home to the Legion since the 1970s.
The local branch has 72 members, of whom about 10 are new members recently signed up as part of a centennial membership drive, Horney said. Thirty-two members attended a special meeting this week to approve the sale of the building, which is expected to be turned into a Mexican-style restaurant.
The sale still needs approval from the Legion’s BC/Yukon Command and is subject to some conditions on both sides. If all of those things are satisfied, the deal will close on Aug. 28.
“We’ll still be able to organize our Remembrance Day services. We’ll just have a rent another venue to do that,” Horney said. “We will probably hold fundraisers at other venues around town. And we would hopefully gain a rental agreement with the new owner to use the basement a few times a year for meetings.”
Horney said he’s hopeful the building will be more viable as a restaurant. He added that while it is sad to say goodbye to the Legion’s longtime home, it is also a relief not to have to look after it anymore. “It’s bittersweet,” he said. “It’s happy and sad at the same time.”
With the money from the sale, the Legion plans to provide financial support to youth groups and others.
Branch 14 was incorporated on July 17, 1926, and marked its centennial with an event last month.
