Lakewood creates docuseries to curb neighbourhood rumours

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Lakewood of Strathmore is aiming to make some clarifications and eliminate misconceptions about developments within the community through the publication of a new short docuseries. 

“Since our new group has taken over Lakewood, roughly the last five years, we have been able to work from the project ground up, but we did have to deal with existing circumstances of Lakewood,” said Scott Silva, director of sales and marketing for the community. “We redesigned the community, brought in new builders, new architectural controls, and really brought the community to the level where it is now … but some of those existing circumstances were the old rumours, or wives’ tales or urban legends.”

The new series will be titled Lakewood Mythbusters and is shot in a documentary-style format. The idea being to interview the engineers, builders, and homeowners, among others – people who have worked on and reside in the neighbourhood in order to set the record straight. 

Silva explained he hopes that the project will help to eliminate the rumours that the community of Lakewood was built over a swamp, being cause for foundations to be unstable, and basements to flood, requiring sump pumps to keep dry. 

“Both of those are not only myths, but we are going to provide the facts that further show that that is the complete opposite of Lakewood,” he said. “This project was first addressed back in 2020 when myself and part of the new group that was forming were addressing some of the issues with Lakewood. This was one of them.”

To date, none of the builders which were present during the initial construction of the community, and which lead to the deterioration of the community’s reputation and quality, remain participating in its development.

The docuseries will be posted in short form on each of the social media platforms which Lakewood of Strathmore participates on, as well as in long form on YouTube. 

Silva did not specify exactly how long each episode in their long forms would be.

“Most of the filming has been done, and now we are in the post film and editing process. Every two weeks, we will be launching a new video on Sunday evenings. It is going to be a five-part series, potentially six,” he said. “Episode 1 is going to be focusing on the history of the land and the engineering around it, looking at the history from 1950 onward, in 1979 to 1981, the start of what is officially known as the above ground reservoir for the Town of Strathmore.”

Episodes of Lakewood Mythbusters will also be permanently available through the organization’s website.