Oxford County Library’s Princeton branch hosted a community wreath-making event ahead of Remembrance Day, which will be on Tuesday, November 11, 2025.
Melissa Vaillancourt, branch supervisor for the Princeton Library, said that every year, different community groups or companies have the opportunity to lay a wreath at the Princeton Remembrance Day ceremony. This year, she added, the library will be joining them.
“This is my first year in the role so when I reached out to my manager asking if we had a wreath to lay, she suggested doing a program where the community creates one altogether,” she recalled. “I thought it was a fantastic idea, so the library provided the supplies, and we gave everyone an opportunity to put their personal touch on this wreath. It was just a way for everyone to kind of come together and share in remembrance, and to create something to honour those who served together.”
When it came to designing the wreath, the branch supervisor said that it was done as a team effort, everyone adding their own personal touches and symbols of remembrance.
“Poppies was a big one, so I had a lot of supplies to make poppies; we had a couple that were crocheted on there and then we actually made some poppies out of [artificial] flowers and some greenery,” said Vaillancourt. “There’s also the two purple bows, and the purple represents the animals who served in the wars. The two children who attended loved animals, and so they really wanted to make sure there was something on there honouring the animals who served.”
She added that the crocheted poppies included on the wreath are part of the wide-spread Poppy Project happening all over Blandford-Blenheim.
“The Poppy Project originated in Plattsville but if you drive through places like Princeton, Plattsville, or Drumbo, you’ll see these poppy banners all over,” said Vaillancourt. “In Princeton, our trees are just covered in these crochet poppies, and the entire community was crocheting poppies and dropping them off at a certain location to create these banners to hang up for Remembrance Day.”
Vaillancourt said that while only four residents may have come out to participate, it was a heartwarming evening and she was pleased with what they came up with together.
“It was nice to have the few people that we did have, creating a wreath so that we can lay something on behalf of the library. …It was just wonderful to have members of the community and the library coming together to create something and seeing everyone working together with all our different levels of experience and our different levels of creativity and our ideas,” she said. “ It wasn’t like everyone was making their own poppy and putting it on, we would have three people working on the poppies at the same time; one was at the gluing station, another was cutting petals… so it was nice to see because even with each individual thing added, there was teamwork to it. …I hope that we can have more events like this for other topics, whether it be just other topics that are important to the history or the community of Princeton.”
Vaillancourt said that for her personally, Remembrance Day is about honouring the people who put their life on the line for freedom.
“It’s a day to really remember and to honour the people who did fight, because I wouldn’t have any of the freedom or the privilege, or even just the life that I have today, if they hadn’t done what they did,” she said. “They risked their entire lives to give us life so to me, one day a year isn’t enough, but that day is my day to really make sure that I put aside and think about the fact that they laid it all on the line so that I could live this life, and to think of how can I make sure to honour them in my life going forward.”
For those looking to attend the Princeton Remembrance Day ceremony, it will be held at the Princeton Cenotaph on Tuesday, November 11, 2025 and start at 10:30 a.m.
Other Remembrance Day ceremonies taking place in the Township of Blandford-Blenheim include:
- Chesterfield Cenotaph – Sunday, November 9 at 11:30 a.m.
- Plattsville Park Gates – Tuesday, November 11 at 11 a.m.
- Drumbo Cenotaph – Tuesday, November 11 at 10:40 a.m.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
