Barrhead Royal Canadian Legion building up for sale

BARRHEAD – Although the Barrhead Royal Canadian Legion is putting its building up for sale, it is not contemplating disbanding anytime soon.

Branch president Chuck Mortimer said the building does not generate enough revenue to cover its expenses, most notably its sizeable monthly utility bill.

Outside of the Legion's weekly Friday meat draw, which has brought in higher attendance in recent months, Mortimer said, the building remains predominately vacant, with only the occasional outside rental.

"So we made the difficult decision, at the start of the year, to put the building up for sale," Mortimer said.

If and when the building is sold, he said the Legion would look at potentially renting space, such as the Agrena's Charles Godberson Rotary Room or some other venue.

Mortimer also noted that Barrhead is not the only branch faced with making such decisions.

Legion branches across the country are reporting difficulties staying afloat due to an aging and declining membership and are facing difficult decisions on whether to sell assets or dissolve.

However, Mortimer said the Barrhead Legion was not in a position where they had to worry about their viability.

He added that while he did not know how many members the branch has, it is on a downward trend.

He believes part of the reason why the Barrhead branch and Royal Canadian Legions almost across the board are having difficulties recruiting new members is that, for some reason, current or recent Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and RCMP members are not joining in the same numbers as previous generations.

He also noted that there is a misconception that to be a Legion member, one has to be a current member or past member of the armed forces, coastguard, reservist and police or a direct relative thereof.

And while those membership categories still exist, Mortimer said the Legion has added categories so any Canadian or citizen of an Allied nation that is 18 or older can join.

Mortimer said in recent years, the Legion has investigated ways they might better utilize the building and generate additional revenue.

One option they looked into was the installation of Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) in its downstairs lounge just at the onset of COVID-19 and public health restrictions.

To prepare for the possibility, the Legion applied for and received a Class A liquor licence from the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC).

Under a Class A liquor licence, the VLT lounge would have been restricted to adults only. Mortimer said that could have proved to be problematic, as many regular attendees of the Legion bring their children or grandchildren.

Ultimately, the Legion decided against it for multiple reasons, the most important being they did not feel it would be financially viable.

Mortimer said installing the VLTs would have meant the Legion would have had to undertake costly renovations, including upgrading the lounge's electrical system.

"It would have been cost-prohibitive. It is not something where you can recover your costs with players only coming in once a week to play a few games and then leave," he said. "You need a lineup of people, so when one steps down, another person steps up. Then it is profitable."

As for the future, it is business as usual, Mortimer said, with the Legion continuing to host its weekly meat draw.

He also noted the Legion is hosting a community dance on April 21, with music by the Prairie Dogs, a high-energy country rock duo from Lloydminster. Tickets are $20.

Mortimer said while the community might be saddened to learn about the pending sale of the Legion's building, it is not necessarily bad news.

He likened it to the Barrhead Elk's, which in 2017 made a similar decision to sell their Elk’s Beach campground and put the proceeds in a trust to help continue their efforts to serve the community.

"The Legion's purpose is to honour those who have served in the Canadian Armed Forces in the protection of our country, and we encourage veterans and the community to become members to help us do that," Mortimer said. "(Selling our building) is an attempt to use more of our monies for remembrance, rather than just for a building."

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com