A familiar sound has returned to the City of Portage la Prairie.
After being decommissioned for safety reasons in 2010, the bell on top of Portage City Hall — which had rung faithfully every day for nearly 120 years — is back in the swing of things.
The problem was the bell,which weighed over 1000 lbs, would shake the city hall as it swung, risking the structural integrity of the building.
The solution put in place is a "Stationary Bell ringer" which moves just the striker of the bell via electromagnets.
The new bell-ringer can be programmed to ding the bell three times a day, and even knows to reset itself for daylight savings time.
Portage mayor Irvine Ferris said the bell, which was specially built for the city in 1891 and originally hung at Portage's old fire hall, rang for years at 9 a.m., noon, 6 p.m., and again one last time at 9 p.m. every day.
The ringing returned to Portage about a month ago after the city received a Canada 150 grant from the federal government that covered half of the device's $15,000 price tag.
