This year’s Dry Stone Festival made its way to the historic village of Barriefield in Kingston for a unique project.
Dozens of wallers and volunteers from across North America came out to St. Mark’s Anglican Church over the weekend to help restore the old dry stone wall, in front of the church entrance.
“The wall suffered over time, and because it wasn’t put up correctly when it was moved. It was in need of repair,” said Gus Panageotopoulos, the Vice President of the Frontenac Heritage Association.
The entire project took three days, including a complete tear down of the original wall. Piece by piece it was put back together again.
“Thousands and thousands of stones will go into a wall like this. The beautiful thing about the dry stone wall is — every stone has a place. Every stone has a purpose,” said Jacob Murray, a Dry Stone Waller.
This is the third annual Dry Stone Fest. Last year it was held it Perth, Ontario and before that it was on Amherst Island.
A returning favourite at the event is world renowned stone builder John Shaw-Rimmington, originally from London, England.
His goal is to inspire young people to start building their own creations using rocks.
“We want to introduce them to something like LEGO but far more creative, far more challenging. So we bring tiny rocks that can be placed into walls and bridges and towers,” said Shaw-Rimmington.
Organizers believe the new wall should stay intact for centuries to come.