Markham Economist Sun
For the first time in a little more than a decade, Markham officials will make the trip to its sister city, Nördlingen.
City officials will travel to the small town in September to help celebrate its 1,115 anniversary, as well as to commemorate the cultural and historical ties between the two municipalities.
In 2001, Markham signed a twinning or sister agreement with Nördlingen — a town of about 24,000 people in Bavaria, Germany, and one of the few remaining walled towns in the world.
Unlike many North American cities that are positioned on a grid pattern — Markham included — Nördlingen sits in a circular pattern. The town is about six kilometres from the centre of an meteor impact, estimated to have struck more than 14 million years ago. Every three years, the town hosts a Stadtmauerfest — a wall festival.
Former Markham resident Heinz Nitschke and the city’s historian Lorne Smith have represented Markham at the wall festival for several years and have hosted a Nördlingen delegation to Markham.
This year, they are going to the German town to celebrate the wall festival with Markham city officials, followed by a tour of Germany for Markham residents.
Markham has a unique relationship with Nördlingen, Mr. Smith said. Markham’s founder, William Berczy, was born just outside the walls of the German town in Wallerstein.
The last time Mr. Smith and Mr. Nitschke went to Germany, they planted a friendship tree near the birthplace of Mr. Berczy.
One of the pillars of the agreement with Nördlingen is to promote world peace through cultural and social exchanges, Mr. Smith said.
“That’s why people travel, to understand someone else’s culture,” he said. “That’s done through experiencing food, art and sharing history.”
While the city’s economic development strategy, Markham 2020, includes a focus on attracting global investments to Markham, the connection to Germany is more historical.
“Yes, the city learns about business while on a delegation to China or India,” Mr. Nitschke said. “But this is a chance to learn about culture and community. This is how you learn from each other.”
For instance, there are no stop signs in Nördlingen, traffic is managed through an intricate series of roundabouts, he said.
Nördlingen will share tips with Markham on how the 1,115-year-old town preserves its historic buildings, some dating back more than 500 years, Mr. Smith said.
“There, they value historic buildings as part of the community,” he said. “The buildings are not segregated.”
After the festival, the city’s delegation, consisting of Mayor Frank Scarpitti, Councillor and chairperson of the city’s economic development committee Carolina Moretti and the city’s economic development special projects manager Christina Kakaflikas, will travel to Munich for three days to strengthen business relations.
Munich is home to more 22,000 high-tech companies specializing in the electronics, telecommunications, aviation and automotive engineering sectors.
For more information about the tour, e-mail Lorne Smith, lorne.smith@sympatico.ca or call 905-640-3906.
• 34 Markham delegates travelled to China Nov. 21 to Dec. 6 at a cost of $53,600 to taxpayers. They visited nine cities and four agreements were signed;
• 21 Markham delegates travelled to India Jan. 2 to 19 at a cost of $57,500 to taxpayers. Six cities were visited and Markham says about 600 business contacts were made.