Cake and balloons marked the start of BMO’s bicentennial at the Oak Bay Avenue branch, but festivities finished with a special gift.
“We are 200 years old, (and) we are the first bank of Canada as well,” said Oak Bay branch manager Mary Ellen Echle in welcoming customers, staff and special guests to the celebration Jan. 31. “One thing BMO is doing for its 200th anniversary is a ‘wish it forward,’ so anybody around the world can hop onto BMO.com and make a wish in our virtual fountain ... and BMO will honour wishes across the countries we operate in and give back to the communities that have made us what we are today.”
Throughout 2017, BMO will grant wishes across various categories, such as Green, Togetherness, Legacy and Community. Individuals and organizations can “wish it forward” by visiting BMO200.com or the interactive BMO200 fountain in Toronto, Montreal and Chicago.
Smaller, mobile versions of the fountain will visit other locations through the year. Visitors choose their category, write their wish, and toss their digital coin on the screen toward the fountain. Both the fountain and the digital experience are interactive and come to life when the wish is made.
Participants can also share their wish with friends. Joining the Oak Bay celebration was Michael Symons, whose grandfather Kyrle Symons founded St. Michaels School, which later became St. Michaels University School. Family members have been clients of Bank of Montreal’s Oak Bay branch since 1910 when they moved to Oak Bay, where BMO has served the community for 104 years, Echle said.
When Michael was going through some family boxes, he came across a special half-penny Bank of Montreal token from 1844, which he gifted to the branch. The tokens emerged from a shortage of small coins in Lower Canada during the first half of the 19th century when some of the banks issued their own. The community connections continued as Mayor Nils Jensen noted that an early reeve of Oak Bay – Francis Rattenbury – was an architect for the Bank of Montreal who designed several of its buildings in the West. Coincidentally, Rattenbury’s children were also students at Kyrle Symons’ St. Michaels School.
“I wish you all the best on your birthday and may there be 200 more,” Jensen said, adding with a laugh, “and in case you’re feeling old, 200 is the new 150.”