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S p o t lig h t Oakville's Jean-Louis Brenninkmeijer is the founder of Our Home & Miniature Land, that builds miniature cities. From left, the Rogers Centre and CN Tower. Above, Jean-Louis Brenninkmeijer with downtown Toronto skyscrapers and the Royal York Hotel in the background, with the rail lands and roundhouse in the foreground. Brenninkmeijer in front of the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings. | Graham Paine/Metroland Oakville man thinking big when it comes to miniatures continued from p.1 "Leading up to that trip this idea had start ed to form in my head about building some thing similar here. I always had doubts, but a couple of mentors I have said: ` J ust try it. If you don't try you are going to regret that you never did. Don't worry if it is successful or not, at least you tried,'" said Brenninkmeijer. "I went to Hamburg and when I came back I decided that I had to do this." Brenninkmeijer connected with various model clubs and ultimately assembled a team of 12 employees who now work for his new company, Our Home and Miniature Land. So far Brenninkmeijer has invested $ 4 mil lion of his own money into the project and he and his team have invested more than 75 ,0 0 0 hours in bringing several Canadian cities to life. The cities created so far include Toronto and the Greater Golden Horseshoe, with Ot tawa currently under construction. They are housed at the company's facility in Mississauga. The miniature Toronto, which is about 2 ,0 0 0 square metres in size, is impressive in its detail to say the least. Tiny EdgeWalkers can be seen on the out side of the CN Tower, which lights up with an array of colours every bit as dazzling as the real thing. A miniature Rogers Centre has a retractable roof and tiny spectators at the miniature Air Canada Centre get a better look at the game thanks to a functional mini-Jumbotron. The skyline is also familiar with Brookheld Place's TD Canada Trust Tower and the KPMG building among the many skyscrapers present. Brenninkmeijer says the various companies that appear in the recreations were contacted about having their names used. GO trains take passengers to and from Union Station while other computer-con PP* O n tario Press C o u n cil trolled vehicles help bring the little city alive. On the outskirts of the miniature Toronto, spectators can find familiar sites from Burl ington, namely a tiny Royal Botanical Gar dens, complete with a rock garden. Brenninkmeijer also couldn't resist making a miniature downtown Oakville, featuring Knox Presbyterian Church and a number of downtown businesses. "There' s Pink Rose Dry Cleaners. They've cleaned my shirts. There' s Stoney' s, a restau rant on Kerr Street where we go once or twice a month. And there's the Kukapelli Barber Shop, where my boys have gotten their hair cuts ever since they were born," said Brenninkmeijer. An Oakville Transit bus can also be seen making its way through the downtown. The cities also experience day and night with thousands of tiny lights winking as dark ness falls. Some features within the miniatures are in teractive. There is one part of the miniature Hwy. 401, which features a Highway of Heroes pro cession, complete with hearse, police vehicles and even supporters holding Canadian hags on a nearby overpass. Visitors can hit a button that turns on the hashing lights of the police vehicles escorting the procession. Brenninkmeijer discussed the possibility of making this feature coin-operated, so the money could be donated to a veterans' charity. A closer inspection of the hgures inhabiting this tiny world further reveals the effort that has gone into its creation. The people are multicultural with different races and cultures represented. Brenninkmeijer says you can't buy them like that. "You can buy them painted, but they are all Caucasian, or you can buy them unpainted see Community on p.7 e Beaver. Volume 55 | Number 76 LLE ' metrolandmedia JL Defending principles lo inspirepublic trust O a kville B eaver is a m e m be r o f the Ontario P ress Co u ncil. The co u ncil is lo cated a t 8 0 G ould S t., S u ite 2 0 6 , Toronto, Ont., M 5 B 2M 7. P ho ne (4 1 6 ) 3 4 0 - 1 9 8 1 . A dvertising is a cce p te d on the co ndition that, in the event o f a ty po graph ical error, th a t portion of advertisin g s p a c e o ccu p ie d by th e erro n eou s item , together with a re a so n a b le allow a n c e for sign atu re, will not b e ch a rged for, but th e b a la n ce o f th e a dvertisem en t will b e p aid for a t th e a p p lic a b le rate. The p u b lish e r re serves th e right to categorize adver tisem e n ts or d eclin e . Editorial a n d advertisin g co n tent o f th e O akville B e a ve r is pro tected by copyright. Unauthorized u se is prohibited. 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