EDITORIAL – Why not revisit the idea of a giant sign on the face of Mount Paul?

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

SO THE BIG KAMLOOPS SIGN that was going to be erected in Riverside Park a year ago in time for the Memorial Cup is on the shelf indefinitely.

It was going to be five feet high and 20 feet long. The cost? $150,000, with City taxpayers on the hook for $90,000, and Tourism Kamloops and Communities in Bloom kicking in the rest.

Aside from the fact there wasn’t enough time to build it in time for the Cup, other considerations have come into play, so a City committee wants it put on hold.

The thinking now is that maybe enough people wouldn’t see it in Riverside Park. And maybe it should include lights after all, which had originally been excluded due to cost. And, it appears it won’t say just KAMLOOPS any more but, in the spirit of reconciliation, will also include the word Tk’emlúps.

Nothing wrong with that. Maybe all new signage within City limits and on Band lands should include both words. A sign installed at the airport last year welcomes everyone to Secwepemcúlecw so the idea of acknowledging both languages is becoming common place.

If we want to think big on a new Kamloops/ Tk’emlúps sign, let’s think back to the 1970s when community boosters decided to erect a giant Hollywood-style Kamloops sign on the face of Mount Paul.

A helicopter hoisted each letter onto the side of the mountain and, for a short time, it was visible from pretty much anywhere in town. That is, until the Band had second thoughts about having a sign that said KAMLOOPS on Band lands, and asked for it to be taken down. Which it was, removed and re-installed out at the airport.

But, maybe the Band wouldn’t object to a giant sign that included both Kamloops and Tk’emlúps being put on Mount Paul? It would certainly fill the bill as the “iconic structure” Tourism Kamloops is looking for.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.