Public input is being sought to determine the future of the World’s Largest Hockey Stick.
The 206-foot hockey stick has had a place of pride over the entrance to the Cowichan Community Centre’s arena doors since 1988 and Tom Duncan, a member of the Cowichan Community Centre Commission, said it’s showing its age.
He said the commission will engage the public with a survey asking what people would like to see done with it; including repainting it, refurbishing it or getting ride of the famous stick altogether.
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“The community has stepped up may times over the decades since the hockey stick and puck were first placed at the entrance of the CCC’s arena to provide repairs, painting and lighting,” said Duncan, who is also a City of Duncan councillor.
“We’re looking for that same public engagement again to help us decide what we’re going to do with it. It’s been in the elements for a long time and it has deteriorated quite a bit since 1988. We also recently had a woodpecker problem so we’ve been doing some inspections to see just what condition the stick is in and it needs work.”
The stick, which was made in Penticton of Douglas Fir, was authenticated to be the world’s biggest hockey stick in the 2010 Guinness Book of Records.
The World’s Largest Hockey Stick, which is approximately 40 times larger than life size, was commissioned by the Canadian government for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 1986 in Vancouver.
After Expo, the hockey stick was transported to the Cowichan Valley by barge and three flat-bed trucks and has been displayed outside of the Cowichan Community Centre since May 21, 1988.
But its title as the largest hockey stick in the world could soon be challenged as there are plans to construct a 250-foot-long hockey stick outside a recently approved ice arena dome in Lockport, Illinois.
Duncan said if there is enough support, adding to Duncan’s hockey stick to make it bigger than the one proposed for Lockport could be considered.
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“We’d have to look at the costs of refurbishing it and making it longer to maintain our title,” he said.
“We haven’t heard from anyone saying they are going to take our title away yet so there’s still time to do something about it. But regardless, if we don’t add on to it, we’d still have the title for the largest left-handed hockey stick in the world.”
Duncan said the survey will soon be available online and in paper form that can be picked up at the Cowichan Valley Regional District office on Ingram Street, as well as at recreation centres and municipal offices in the Valley.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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