The Palling Hall is in danger of shutting down due to its old age. A donation account called Save the Palling Hall has been set up at the bottle depot in 亚洲天堂 Lake.

Shyla Siegner, the donation organizer and local resident, shared a piece of the community hall鈥檚 history. She revealed that the hall was originally built in 1941. 鈥淔rom what I understand, it was initially a school, and there was a different community hall up the hill, but it collapsed under a large snowfall,鈥� Siegner said.

She said that many older people attended school in this current community hall. 鈥淭he community hall has also had a yearly Christmas concert for over 100 years. Minus three years, one polio and two covid years,鈥� Siegner said.

The Palling Hall has been a hub of activity, hosting countless events that have brought the community together. 鈥淔rom social gatherings and Mother鈥檚 Day brunches to weddings, funerals, birthday parties, craft nights, holiday parties, garage sales, and card game nights, it has been a space for all of us,鈥� Siegner said.

The Lakes District Museum holds an unpublished archive called A History of Palling BC by the Palling Women鈥檚 Institute, 1951. The museum鈥檚 archive states that the hall was the community鈥檚 original second school and the Palling School Board was abolished in 1939.

The records in the archive showed that the old log school, located farther down Palling Road West toward Highway 16, burnt to the ground in the fall of 1940. The new school which is the current community hall was built on Palling Road West farther north so that it would more fairly serve the northern part of the settlement, which by now had a large percentage of the school population.

The museum鈥檚 record showed that the new school was completed in the summer of 1941. The ladies of the Palling Red Cross organized a chicken supper and opening dance which was attended by a huge crowd. The school later closed in June 1948, and rumoured to be reopened in 1952.

鈥淚 can find no references to the building being used as a school after that,鈥� Michael Riis-Christianson, Lakes District Museum curator said.

From the editions of The Review newspaper - the museum archive pointed that the first Palling Community Hall, located at the junction of Palling Roads East and West, collapsed under heavy snow in March 1949. The community immediately started raising funds to rebuild the hall, and by June 1951, the building fund had $400.

In the interim, the community used the Palling School for events. After the school closed, the community was able to use the facility for events, though the facility was still owned by the school district.

Around 1960, the community started looking at the possibility of purchasing the school. Sometime in the early 1960s, the hall association purchased the school for use as a community hall.

Siegner stated that community halls are important parts of all communities, bringing people together during happy times and especially hard times.

鈥淲e need a new foundation and floor joists. Currently, we are working to raise around $10,000 to start the engineering for the project. From there, we can get quotes on the project and then apply for grants,鈥� Siegner said.

She added that once the initial engineering is complete, the community needs to raise more funds for the project.

鈥淲e are also planning a Facebook auction to raise money,鈥� Siegner said. She added the auction would be held near the end of April.