Waking Up St. Thomas
Photo, L to R: Maria Fiallos, Petrusia Hontar, Serge Lavoie, Jessica Gransaull, Maddie King & Andrew Gunn
Maddie King and Andrew Gunn of young & free press are thrilled to announce that we will be assembling a collection of essays for a new book focusing on the ongoing transformation of our hometown of St. Thomas! This will be a contemporary history of the city.
Over the past fifteen years, St. Thomas has gradually rebounded from the devastation brought about by the 2007-08 global financial crisis. For decades, the community had been boosted by the presence of auto industry staples like the Ford Motor Company and Sterling Trucks, as well as scores of suppliers, but the decline of traditional manufacturing around this time led to the loss of thousands of high-paying jobs. Further, the cultural atmosphere suffered, as the downtown core continued to decline and funding for new initiatives was scarce. New opportunities have emerged, though, and the city is finding fresh paths forward by becoming a leading residential community, embracing large-scale public art installations, and reinventing the assets of the legacy railway industry. Now, we want to tell the story by sharing the perspectives of those who helped to spark the change! The book will be titled Waking Up St. Thomas.
Maddie & Andrew have been at the heart of the transformation of the community, utilizing social media, art, innovative ideas, events, and significant amounts of private-sector funding to draw the city in new directions, documenting all this consistently through young & free press. Our goal with this collection of essays is to highlight how a small city can evolve & grow in surprising ways. We have engaged a wonderful group of local leaders to contribute essays for the book. Recently we announced the first writers:
Maria Fiallos will chart her story as an entrepreneur building up both Las Chicas del Café and Streamliners Espresso Bar.
Jessica Gransaull, the original Executive Director of STEAM Education Centres, will concentrate on how new approaches to education can impact a community.
Serge Lavoie will share the remarkable story of the development of the St. Thomas Elevated Park.
Petrusia Hontar, Project Manager of the St. Thomas Elgin Local Immigration Partnership, will examine local demographic changes and the challenges and opportunities for newcomers.
Maddie will add a piece on how young people can spark change in a city, and Andrew will contribute an essay reflecting on how artists have helped to imagine the future of St. Thomas through the installation of large-scale murals & street art.
We will introduce the next group of essayists soon! Waking Up St. Thomas will be available in spring 2023.
