Amber McGarvey-Moreland – Family Connections

Your family has many connections in Orillia going back a generation or two, maybe more. Could you tell us a bit about your family and their contributions to Orillia?

I’m very proud to be a McGarvey in Orillia because I follow the footsteps of my grandfather, and I should say my grandmother as well, because she was really his biggest supporter. His name is Pete McGarvey, he was a radio journalist broadcaster, but more importantly he was a humanitarian.

Every element of his life he gave to the community, he gave back in some way. He was the co-founder of Mariposa Folk Festival and when he was on Orillia Council he was instrumental in having the land of Stephen Leacock’s home at Old Brewery Bay, from it being sold off and developed. I think it was around forty thousand dollars and that came with all the contents of the museum, now which is a National Historic Site.

It’s very important to me to be able to leave something behind, and so I feel like that’s happened with my parents and my father as well. They own a business downtown, my mom has The Shadowbox on the Main Street of the Arts District, so really watching how that could develop into a real community around the Arts on Peter Street.

My father, Will McGarvey is a local artist. He would love to be a full-time artist, but he’s worked on some really amazing commission pieces for Lakehead University, the Mariposa Folk Festival, Leacock Heritage Festival, the Blues Festivals. He was on the board for bringing Lakehead University to Orillia. It’s kind of why I’ve been wanting to be involved in Orillia my whole life, because I’ve seen generations of what it feels like to give back and be part of the community.