Paris Legion finishes Poppy Project assembly

County of Brant Councillor Lukas Oakley help volunteers attach poppies to netting for the Royal Canadian Legion, Paris Branch #29’s ongoing Poppy Project on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. 

Kimberly De Jong 

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Royal Canadian Legion, Paris Branch #29, announced that they finished assembling 11,500 handmade poppies into display blankets on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

The work is part of the Legion’s ongoing Poppy Project, launched as part of its 100th anniversary celebrations.

Cheryl Humphrey, who sits on the 100th anniversary committee, recently told County of Brant Councillors that the Paris Legion has been hosting various workshop events throughout the year, and had collected over 11,000 hand-crocheted and knitted poppies since last fall. 

“We went to the community, and this has become a very social and inclusive event,” she said. “Mary Maxim, Telfer Place, Queensview, Brant Seniors, the Women’s Institute, Probus, the Adelaide Hunter Hoodless, the Paris Agricultural Society and the general public, have come together to crochet or knit these poppies. Most of the people donated their time, effort and money to do that, and now we have collected 11,000 poppies.”

Humphrey went on to say that the aim was to create large blankets that can be draped and displayed across monuments and landmarks in Paris for Remembrance Day.

“We’re going to put them on netting and the goal is to get as many done as we can, but if not, we still have next year to work on that project,” she said. “We’d like to put them in places that really show the respect, remembrance and reverence that we would like to send out to our veterans. We’re going to try to get them at the cenotaph, and we’ll also put them on our Smokehouse, which is the name for our Legion building, and if there are other areas in the community then we’ll definitely do that. We will also share some of these with Telfer Place and Queensview because they were so helpful in getting this project going.”

Humphrey said that, when the time comes, the poppy displays can go up on the last Friday of October and remain in place through Remembrance Day.

The Legion will then need to secure a place to dry and store the poppies to be used for next year and into the future. 

“These poppies will be used year after year. It’s not a one-time deal just for our 100th anniversary,” said Humphrey. “We will put them out on display in the community, and I think that the people who have been very much a part of this will be very grateful to see them up there. We have a huge amount of veterans in our area, and this is just one way for us to help celebrate that and to remember them by.”

She then asked councillors and members of the public to join in on one of the Legion’s upcoming Netting Bee events, and help attach each of the many handmade poppies to netting.

While the Legion was due to host two more events on Wednesday, August 19, and Wednesday, August 26, it was announced that the events were cancelled after they managed to finish the blankets with the help of volunteers on August 12. 

The Legion is now inviting the community to an upcoming open house that will from September 28 to October 2, and will feature the exhibit "Stitches, Steel and Strength: Holding the Line at Home - Women and WWII."

Local schools, community organizations, members, families and the public are all welcome to attend and the open house will continue on Sunday, October 4.

Similar projects have either already been established or are being worked on in communities like Brantford, Burford, Blandford-Blenheim, Cambridge, Strathroy-Cardoc and many others.

Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County.