A group of passionate Gordon Lightfoot fans from Orillia and around North America hope to commemorate the late balladeer in a big way – by renaming Highway 400 the Gordon Lightfoot Memorial Highway in his honour.
Douglas Walkinshaw, who grew up in Orillia around the same time Lightfoot did, recently spent time sharing memories with friends from Orillia and beyond about the folk singer after his passing in May. The group hopes to see his legacy shared with generations to come.
“One of them said that balladeers like Gordon are few and far between, and we're just lucky to have been alive when he was,” Walkinshaw told OrilliaMatters.
“The way I think about (his music), conveying messages which are timeless, younger generations would benefit from hearing them – not only benefit in learning and understanding their own feelings a little better, but it also might encourage them to work a little harder and a little more successfully, and aim for the top like Gordon did," said Walkinshaw.
After a discussion with his cousin in Quebec, Walkinshaw came up with the idea for the memorial highway.
“He reminded me that Quebec has just named a highway after a great hockey player, Guy Lafleur,” he said. “They have a technique for doing it (in Quebec, and) I thought, wow, a highway would be great.”
Highway 400 was selected for its connection to the singer’s hometown of Orillia and Toronto, where Lightfoot spent much of his career. The idea behind the memorial is it might encourage new people to look the singer up and then, ideally, begin listening to some of his music.
“If you're on the Guy Lafleur autoroute, you're going to Google Guy Lafleur … (and) you're gonna get his statistics, but that's it,” he said.
“But if you Google Gordon Lightfoot ... you're not only going to learn about where he grew up and … the names of songs, you're going to start playing them, and they have a lot of meaning," said Walkinshaw.
“You can't watch TV … while you're driving down the highway, but you can listen to and enjoy music and learn from it, and that's why the highway just grabbed me and my friends.”
With more than 40 people now advocating for the name change, Walkinshaw and his friends – from around Canada and the U.S. – sent a joint letter to the premier, and have since sent letters to the prime minister and other elected officials pushing for the Highway 400 name change.
However, Walkinshaw said the group has been redirected to Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, who informed them they would need to gain the permission of each municipality along the highway, First Nations, and that they would need to foot the bill for the signage changes, as well.
“I was hopeful that the (Ministry) has a process to really make this happen, but they don't, so that's where I’m at,” he said, noting the group is still pushing to make the name change happen.
At the heart of his idea, Walkinshaw said he has a deep appreciation for Lightfoot’s music, including his way with language and storytelling, which is a legacy he hopes to see passed on to others.
Speaking about Lightfoot's hit Sundown, Walkinshaw noted a “timeless” quality to Lightfoot’s music.
“What is it that he's saying about creeping down my back stairs? Is it sunlight fading, or is it his lover sneaking out?” he said. “His use of metaphors is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. He does so much that his songs are timeless.”
