St. Pierre-Jolys, MB — There was only standing room at St. Pierre-Jolys Remembrance Day ceremony at the local hall. Residents honoured veterans but also thanked the Bigway Grocery store for refusing to put up Christmas items until after Remembrance Day.
RELATED: IN PHOTOS: Remembrance Day services and ceremonies in Winnipeg
“You put us on the map,” said one of the veterans, “you allowed people to come share their stories and we thank you for that.”
READ MORE: How one Manitoba store is putting Remembrance Day before Christmas
Two weeks ago, Global News shared a story about the small grocery store not filling its shelves with Christmas decorations until after Remembrance Day, instead posting a sign on empty shelves that read, ‘Lest we Forget’.
“People are so busy that you have to stop sometimes,” said resident Jackie Dotremont, “by doing this it got people’s attention ‘oh maybe they’re right, maybe we should stop and just remember’.”
After the story aired, locals showed up posting photos and stories of family members who fought in the war.
RELATED: Outpouring of support for Manitoba store after its Christmas holiday hold off goes viral
Residents say this Remembrance Day ceremony saw the highest attendance ever. They believe it’s because the store helped people realize the importance of the day.
“I think today’s showing of how many people showed up to the ceremony was a good display of how important, how serious that really was to display,” said Sgt. Ryan Lagace, who served a eight month tour in Afghanistan in 2008.
Ginette Maynard works at Bigway.
“I was shocked when I saw how many people were there,” said Maynard, “we did something good here.”
Maynard says they’ve had other Manitoba stores tell them they too want to do the same thing.
The Bigway plans to do this every year.
Comments