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Totem money comes through for Duncan centennial

Friday, May 25, 2012 - 1:24 PM
By Natasha Riebe
Duncan

Five months into its centennial year, the city of Duncan has finally received news that it will be able to commission a new totem pole to add to the 80 already dotting the Cowichan Valley city.

The Duncan Business Improvement Area Society helped the city apply for a legacy grant from Heritage Canada in September. Mary Ann Hartley with the DBIAS said it was a waiting game for a few months until they got the approval last week.

“We were a little concerned because we expected to hear in early March and we didn’t, so the longer that time went without hearing, we couldn’t help but worry,” she intimated. And in response to the news from Heritage Canada, “We’re clearly delighted.”

City Councillor Sharon Jackson envisions the centennial totem being big, meaningful and front and centre.

“This is going to be a spectacular totem,” she told SunFM News. “The totem committee is going to have to think very carefully about where it wants to be placed, I know they’re thinking about ‘gateways to the city’, so it will be remarkable.”

Another aspect of the centennial totem project is to improve the signs on the existing poles, which Hartley points out are currently incomplete.

“It would all be very uniform, you’d move from one totem to the next and the signage would be very similar,” she explained. “It would have dates, artists, and the story behind it easily read.”

The city is getting some $60,000 from Heritage Canada for the totem projects. Hartley said they must be finished by the end of the year to fit in with Duncan's 100th birthday.