Ontario Church Creates Community Poppy Display for Remembrance Day

Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Flamborough, Ont., created and hosted a display of handmade poppies to mark Remembrance Day 2025, with help from members of the church and the surrounding community.

The cascade of 1,700 crocheted or knitted poppies was assembled on the front of the church building two weeks before Nov. 11 to honor veterans and soldiers killed in the line of duty. After Remembrance Day, the poppy display, which had been soaked by snowfall, was laid out to dry and stored for possible future use.

The idea was inspired by a poppy display at St. John’s Anglican Church in nearby Ancaster, Ont., whose members helped Calvary CRC’s “poppy committee” with patterns to crochet or knit the poppies, and information about gaining permission for the project from the Royal Canadian Legion. From getting church council approval, finding materials, organizing poppy stitchers, and getting the word out to the community, to finally assembling the display, the project involved many, many hands and “took about one year from start to finish,” said participant Hilery Burlie.

The poppy committee contacted local branches of the Legion to let them know about the project and invite them to be present for the assembly of the display. “We wanted to honor our veterans and involve our community,” Burlie said.

News of the project spread by word of mouth, and poppies came from members of Calvary CRC as well as church and community volunteers from Flamborough, Woodstock, Brantford, Dundas, Stoney Creek, Grimsby, and Hamilton, who dropped off boxes at Calvary CRC and a local business. All ages, from school children to senior adults, participated. Some people stitching the poppies knew veterans or had family who lived through World War II.

Each Tuesday for weeks leading up to Oct. 28, volunteers from Calvary CRC and other local churches tied the latest collected poppies to a black mesh to be worked into the display.

“We surpassed our goal of 2,000 poppies,” said Burlie, and had enough to make a smaller installation at the entrance of the church and offer poppies to the public to add to the cascade on Remembrance Day. “We left out crocheted/knitted poppies for anyone from the community who knew a veteran or had a loved one who served in the war. They were welcome to take a poppy and tie it to the display in remembrance.”