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Fun Scaffold stretching to the top of buildings in the downtown has been a common site this past summer. payne om + pea te Ee one brick at a time! Over this past summer, a familiar sight in the downtown has been a tower of metal scaffolding, often found in front of one of the town’s historic commercial buildings. Most of these red and yellow brick structures are more than 125 years old, having been built following the disastrous fire of 1884, which wiped out the entire commercial core of the town. Maintenance of these aging structures is an ongoing challenge and expense to their owners, but necessary for the safety of the public and to save them for future generations to enjoy. Port Perry is fortuntate that most of the Queen Street build- ings are owned by local residents. These are families who live and work here, are proud of their buildings and willing to spend the tens of thousands of dollars necessary to keep them in pristine condition. It's acostly burden for the the current crop of custodians, but obviously one that they take seriously. st summer we've watched as Guy Lattrielle and Brett Puckrin began a costly refurbishing of their building, the former Port Perry Pharmacy, located on the northeast corner of Queen and Perry Street. The project included removing heavy electrical wires stretched along the roofline of their building - wires which provided elec- trical service to their building and others, including the Scugog Township office. With this completed they commenced the arduous chore of removing loose and deteriorating bricks along the roofline and re- placing them (see photo above). This project, like many others in the town was contracted out to Hope Brothers Masonry, who have become familiar faces on the street as they repair and strengthen aging structures. Please turn to page 26 FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2013 25