When the municipality of Ilmajoki turned 150 years old, the Peurala village association came up with the idea of a picture board route opening up the history of the village. Leader project funding was applied for the history board route and the project was completed in the summer of 2019. Heikki Koskimies, chairman of the Peurala village club, is happy that it is possible to get support for the implementation of the development project as well.
The history board route of Peurala consists of 15 picture boards, which are placed at the events places relevant to the subjects of the boards.
- The boards open up local recent history and bring nostalgia, says Heikki Koskimies, chairman of Peurala village society.
Various objects from different decades were selected for the boards. Interesting selections include, for example, the Antila loom, which operated in the 1930s–1960s, and Alcenius's mamselli, which was an important home industry operator in Iljajoki at the end of the 19th century.
- The flower pot factory in Haapolahti between 1940 and 1950 and the good pictures found there were also interesting.
Koskimies has received feedback on the history board route when meeting sober people in the village. Feedback has included how it was nice to notice that even in a small country village there are surprisingly many places with interesting stories to tell.
- At the same time, I have been able to hear more information and stories from behind the history boards, Koskimies says.
The picture board route model can be copied
The implementation of the project was a multi-stage process, because despite the initial enthusiasm and an active action group, the implementation of the history boards turned out to be surprisingly challenging. Focusing on historical sources, interviews and writing require a lot of time and concentration.
-It is easy to get people to build a pier, if compared to this project, Koskimies says.
Now that the project has been completed and the history boards are in place, it is easy to copy the same concept if desired. According to Koskimie, it's worth looking for tips from projects that have already been implemented, if you're going to do something like this.
- It's good that there is an opportunity to apply for support for the implementation of such projects!
The chairman of the village association's own personal favorite is the "village water supply" board, because its content is interesting and surprising. The boards are waiting for passers-by and anyone interested in them can read the stories independently.
- The history boards have particularly interested cyclists, and during the run you can read interesting recent history from the history boards of your choice, Koskimies says.