The Town of the Blue Mountains spreading kindness with renamed bridge

BARRIE, ONT. -

As the world marks World Kindness Day, a unique project is hoping to make today's message a permanent fixture in the area of the Blue Mountains.

On Saturday morning, the trestle bridge on the Georgian Trail, found right behind the town hall in Thornbury, was renamed 'The Bridge of Kindness.' The idea is to spread the importance of goodwill after a challenging time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I really wanted to bring something that united people," says Elizabeth Kennedy, the president of the Thornbury-Clarksburg Rotary Club. "I also think that uniting people but also understanding that what you're going through might not be the same thing as what the person next to you is going through."

The project is a partnership between the Rotary Club and the town of the Blue Mountains. Having only recently moved into the position of president of the local club, Kennedy was looking for an initiative that would make an impact.

On October 4, the town council agreed to change the bridge's name for one year temporarily.

"I think this symbolizes what our community is all about," Al Soever, mayor of the town of the Blue Mountains, tells CTV News. "We've had a few tough years, and we have an amazing community that pitched in in all kinds of different ways and opening the Bridge of Kindness is just another way of showing kindness and reminding people to be kind to each other as we move forward as a community and recover from this pandemic."

The town hopes that the bridge, officially renamed during a ceremony Saturday morning, helps instill a permanent message of kindness in the area.