As published at Mississauga.COM, January 28, 2011
Chris Clay
In the photo:. Back in the day. Sherway Gardens presents an exhibit on the history of the shopping centre at its Gallery in the Garden until Feb. 26. Included are photos and newspaper clippings. Pictured here is the original food court, called Gourmet Fair. Supplied photo
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Sherway Gardens is presenting a retrospective exhibit that covers the history of the shopping mall.
The exhibit, which continues until Feb. 26 in the mall's Gallery in the Garden, uses photos and newspaper clippings to show how Sherway has changed since opening in 1971. For example, in 1987 the Holt Renfrew wing was added, with the Bretton's wing (now the Sporting Life wing) added two years later.
At the time of the Bretton's wing addition, the original food court, called Gourmet Fair, was moved to its current location on the second level. Its distinctive Teflon-coated fibreglass tented roof earned a Canadian Consulting Engineering award of merit for design.
The exhibit also features samples of the mall's advertising campaigns and fashion ads from the last four decades.
Also covered is the charitable aspect of the mall. Organizations it has partnered with include The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, Trillium Health Centre, the Canadian Cancer Society and Sleeping Children Around the World.
And, stars/celebrities have been a big part of the mall's history. A few big names to grace Sherway include Tom Jones, Michael Bolton, Tony Bennett, Jessica Simpson and Kim Kardashian.
Burton Cummings, Ricky Martin and Canadian Idol's Kalan Porter have performed in Sherway Square while Jann Arden, Matt Dusk and Shay have appeared at charity fundraisers at the mall. As well, the mall has hosted movie shoots for films such as Mean Girls and the Michael Douglas and Keifer Sutherland action flick, The Sentinel.
cclay@mississauga.net
