Muddy gets a much-needed makeover thanks to local volunteers

By Valerie Posthumus

The Haldimand Press

DUNNVILLE—When a call was put out on a Facebook group in mid-August asking about repairing Muddy the Mudcat, Archie and Cheryl Merigold immediately put a plan into action. With a group of volunteers and the services of Impression Tool and Die (Port Colborne) and Ontario Stamping, Muddy now sports some very solid, safe, and last-a-lifetime whiskers.

Archie said of the whiskers, “They were in such disrepair from vandalism and people climbing on and around them that only some rebar was left. What I wanted to do was make sure that the whiskers were very structurally sound…. John Upshall and I created a committee. We were already on the original maintenance committee and working committee that did work on Muddy, so we just carried on and did the (previous) repairs last year. And this year we decided we’d best fix this thing properly or we’ll be back at it a number of times.”

DUNNVILLE—Muddy’s whiskers after his makeover. —Photos courtesy of Archie Merigold.