Illinois’ Lockport — inhabitants 26,000 — is eager to win bragging rights with a stick of 76 metres, which might surpass the Cowichan stick’s 62.5 metres.
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Is the Cowichan Valley going to let Lockport, Illinois, snatch the title of House of the World’s Largest Hockey Stick away from Vancouver Island? From Canada?
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Space residents will get an opportunity to weigh in on that query if the Cowichan Valley Regional District agrees to a advisable survey about the way forward for the stick.
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Estimated substitute prices could possibly be “upwards of a number of million {dollars}” relying on the design, development materials and timeline, workers stated in a report back to a latest assembly of the Cowichan Group Centre committee.
The stick has been mounted since 1988 on the Cowichan Group Centre, co-owned by Duncan and the Cowichan Valley Regional District and positioned simply contained in the North Cowichan border.
Lockport — inhabitants 26,000 — is eager to win bragging rights with a stick of 76 metres, which might surpass the Cowichan stick’s 62.5 metres.
The group southwest of Chicago would mount the stick on a deliberate 71,000-square-foot ice facility that includes two NHL regulation-size ice rinks.
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It’s no secret that the Cowichan stick, weighing in at 28,118 kilograms, wants upgrading.
Ongoing upkeep and in depth repairs within the early 2000s prolonged the lifetime of the hockey stick, however the construction of the stick is exhibiting proof of superior decay, a workers report says.
Final yr, a woodpecker tried to arrange home within the stick by punching holes in it, though the chook ultimately moved on.
A marketing consultant stated the regional district ought to both plan for vital renovations or substitute by 2025.
The stick was initially commissioned by the federal authorities and featured on the entrance to the Canadian pavilion at Expo ‘86 in Vancouver.
Greater than 30 different communities entered a contest for the stick, however the World’s Largest Hockey Stick Society raised $150,000 to convey it to Vancouver Island.
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The society transferred the persist with the regional district in 1994. The Guinness Guide of World Data decided it was the biggest hockey stick and puck in 2008.
“It’s positively a degree of delight for the group in Duncan,” stated Mind Cant, vice-president of enterprise affect and engagement with 4VI, previously Tourism Vancouver Island. “That is amongst a group of beloved roadside sights.”
Vancouver Island has different quirky sights. Port McNeill was dwelling to the World’s Largest Burl, not too long ago broken when it was set on fireplace. In 2019, the almost eight-metre-tall Howard the Gnome was relocated from Nanoose Bay to Galey Farms in Saanich.
Choices for the regional district embody modifying the stick’s help system, changing present supplies, constructing a brand new stick, making it bigger, or not changing it.
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Some regional district board members prompt early this yr that the stick might simply be prolonged.
The estimated substitute value got here in final yr at between $1.5 million and $2 million, though that might probably enhance within the subsequent couple of years as a consequence of anticipated development value escalation and inflation, the workers report stated.
A capital reserve fund stands at about $3.37 million, however a lot of that’s designated for a roof substitute for the group centre.
“Time is of the essence” due to the time it will take to run a public engagement course of and the 2025 deadline, the workers report stated.
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