{"id":94167,"date":"2025-06-26T08:40:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T12:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=94167"},"modified":"2025-06-26T08:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T12:40:16","slug":"twenty-years-after-conception-wiidookdaadiwin-lookout-officially-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/26\/twenty-years-after-conception-wiidookdaadiwin-lookout-officially-opens\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty years after conception, Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout officially opens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BarrieToday.com Originally conceived by a group known as the Huronia Lookout Committee two decades ago, the Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout took its first official breath Wednesday afternoon under a beautiful blue sky and a scorching sun. With more than 100 onlookers gathered to celebrate the opening of the lookout, built on top of former Vespra Landfill No. 14 on George Johnston Road, just south of Snow Valley Road, the site features a huge observation area, hundreds of native plantings, signs explaining the history and importance of the site and the icon \u2014 a life-size bronze sculpture of two figures: one, an Indigenous scout, and the other, a canoe-carrying European, and their luggage. The sculpture, created by Hillsdale artist Marlene Hilton Moore, was based on the&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F26%2Ftwenty-years-after-conception-wiidookdaadiwin-lookout-officially-opens%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BarrieToday.com Originally conceived by a group known as the Huronia Lookout Committee two decades ago, the Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout took its first official breath Wednesday afternoon under a beautiful blue sky and a scorching sun. With more than 100 onlookers gathered to celebrate the opening of the lookout, built on top of former Vespra Landfill No. 14 on George Johnston Road, just south of Snow Valley Road, the site features a huge observation area, hundreds of native plantings, signs explaining the history and importance of the site and the icon \u2014 a life-size bronze sculpture of two figures: one, an Indigenous scout, and the other, a canoe-carrying European, and their luggage. The sculpture, created by Hillsdale artist Marlene Hilton Moore, was based on the... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F26%2Ftwenty-years-after-conception-wiidookdaadiwin-lookout-officially-opens%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Twenty years after conception, Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout officially opens - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/26\/twenty-years-after-conception-wiidookdaadiwin-lookout-officially-opens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twenty years after conception, Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout officially opens - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BarrieToday.com Originally conceived by a group known as the Huronia Lookout Committee two decades ago, the Wiidookdaadiwin Lookout took its first official breath Wednesday afternoon under a beautiful blue sky and a scorching sun. With more than 100 onlookers gathered to celebrate the opening of the lookout, built on top of former Vespra Landfill No. 14 on George Johnston Road, just south of Snow Valley Road, the site features a huge observation area, hundreds of native plantings, signs explaining the history and importance of the site and the icon \u2014 a life-size bronze sculpture of two figures: one, an Indigenous scout, and the other, a canoe-carrying European, and their luggage. 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