A series of four street banners celebrating Chilliwack’s 150th anniversary are coming soon.
The new banner designs were approved by council June 6, with Coun. Chris Kloot voting against.
During the council discussion, Kloot expressed his thanks to the artists, and to the public art advisory committee in his remarks, but he said he felt “they missed the mark” with the designs chosen by the committee to celebrate 150 years since incorporation.
Given that the banners were the only notable thing City of Chilliwack was doing for the anniversary, Kloot said he had imagined they would be a true celebration of the community’s history, reflecting the First Nations canoe races, paddle boat steamers, the Electric Railway, farming pioneers, or other significant historic events or images.
“I have nothing against these banners, but they could be for any year,” Kloot said. “I feel they missed the mark to really portray the history of Chilliwack.”
Coun. Nicole Read, chair of the public art committee, said it was unfortunate all the information about the artworks couldn’t be provided.
“There is history and meaning in all of these artworks, and they do celebrate the things we now have currently in the community,” Read said.
The banners will mark the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of the Township of “Chilliwhack” as it was originally spelled.
A roundtable discussion hosted by city officials and the advisory committee, was held to discuss how the city would best celebrate its 150th anniversary, and it proved to be a “very sensitive” topic, said Carol Marleau, manager of recreation services.
“Some stakeholders weren’t comfortable with anything other than the banner program,” Marleau said, adding that they didn’t get buy-in for any other initiative.
Each banner will have “Chilliwack 150, 1873 - 2023” printed on it. They will be installed on city-owned infrastructure as well as in the downtown business area.
Artists were asked in the banner callout to express the “uniqueness of the community, including its diversity” and the resulting images chosen depict: a Great Blue heron, Mt. Cheam and Five Corners.
Coun. Mercer said he wouldn’t have accepted the recommendation, or outcome of the roundtable, given that Chilliwack has “so much to celebrate” of its past, and he felt they were “missing an opportunity.”
Coun. Harv Westeringh commented that: “All points are valid,” but pointed out the committee’s task at hand was to find some banners that promote Chilliwack 150.
“That is what we did with the submissions presented,” Westeringh said. “I think we chose four good submissions.”
Coun. Jeff Shields agreed on the esthetics.
“I do think they are beautiful banners,” Coun. Jeff Shields commented, adding the designs might not have been exactly what he’d have chosen, “but they will look good.”
He suggested it might have been good to get Chilliwack Museum and Archives staff involved to delve into the relevant history.
“But time is of the essence now,” Shields said.
Kloot made one last attempt, asking if there was any chance at this point that the city staff could think about creating more 150th events, like a toonie skate, or toonie swim, with ice cream, or something in addition to the banners.
CAO Chris Crosman responded by saying that staff would look at it again to see if there was anything else they could come up with aside from the banners, like a skating event or others before the end of the year.
“It seems like public art always takes it on the chin,” said Coun. Jason Lum, saying he liked the plan to sell the banners and split the proceeds between the artists after the campaign is over.
“I like these banners and I don’t generally like anything,” Lum added.
The Chilliwack public art advisory committee received 18 submissions in response to the banner callout, and ranked them based on scores.
The cost for 200 banners, the removal of all existing #sharechilliwack banners, replacing them with the Chilliwack 150 campaign, is estimated to be $32,000, which included $19,000 for the banners and $13,000 for removal and replacement, according to the staff report.
Once scores were tabulated from the rankings, the following artists were selected:
Marcela Obregon - Blue Heron and Fauna, Mt. Cheam
Tommy Green - Five Corners
Guru Sarwa - Mt. Cheam
Once the 2023 anniversary campaign period is over the banners will be sold with proceeds to be split equally among the artists.
RELATED: Artist callout process for banners drew some criticism
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