Why a woman in Thunder Bay created this 'poppy tree' as a way to honour veterans this Remembrance Day
Nov 11, 2022 09:55AM ● By Content Editor
By Gord Ellis - CBC News - November 11, 2022
If you walk near Thornloe Park on Thunder Bay's south side today, you will see a tree on the street that stands out from all the rest. The tree is covered with large red poppies — 300 to be exact — each one hand crocheted by Nancy McKercher.
McKercher said crocheting all the poppies wasn't her idea, and that it came from a project that began in southern Ontario.
"A friend of mine from Cambridge said she was crocheting poppies during COVID-19 for the Cambridge Poppy project," said McKercher. She was informed the Cambridge Poppy Project had a target of 10,000 poppies.
McKercher said she didn't know how many she could manage but agreed to do what she could. "So I started crocheting, but I didn't get very far," she said. "Last year I only made about 100, but I was able to cover the tree at the front of our yard."This year McKercher decided she would crochet enough to cover the whole tree trunk. The result is a striking array of blood red crocheted poppies stuck to the tree trunk with pins.
McKercher said on the Remembrance Day she will be thinking about her dad who passed away two years ago and what he did.
She said she would also be thinking about her friend Trudy McKinnon-Daniher.
"Her dad was always a big influence on me," she said. "So I have named the tree after Hector McKinnon."
McKercher hopes to expand the poppy tree next year and hopes other people in Thunder Bay will join in on the idea as well. She says she has already started crocheting extra poppies for Remembrance Day 2023.
"We can't forget," she said. "All the people, the military, the personnel and everybody who took part to fight for our freedom. We have to remember."
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