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Name the Lane contest winners for downtown Chilliwack seem fishy

Coho Lane and Steelhead Alley were the winning entries in the contest by Algra Bros.
15983344_web1_Algra-SitePlanFeb2019
Algra Bros. site plan shows the new lane names. (Submitted)

There’s something decidedly fishy about the new lane names selected for the new Algra Brothers’ downtown Chilliwack development near Five Corners.

The winning entries — Coho Lane and Steelhead Alley — were chosen from a shortlist of submissions through the Downtown Chilliwack Instagram in the ‘Name the Lane’ contest.

READ MORE: Name the Lane contest announced

There were more than 500 enthusiastic entries to consider.

“Thanks everyone for your creative and insightful suggestions,” crowed the contest organizers.

The winners were picked because both steelhead and coho salmon are “hugely meaningful” to both current and historic residents of the area, said Dave Algra of Algra Bros.

“There were several things we wanted to achieve with the naming,” Algra explained.

First was to make a direct connection with Chilliwack history and to recognize the importance of wild fish dating back centuries for locals. The second thing was they wanted the names to work well in an urban context.

And third they wanted the names to be “instantly recognizable, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember,” Algra said.

The winner who came up with the names, whose Insta handle is @running_bear_expeditions, received a $100 gift certificate from Harvest Café as the contest prize.

In the end there were many interesting, cool suggestions, but people would have to stop and think about them, Algra said.

In the end Coho Lane and Steelhead Alley will be listed on Google Maps and Apple Maps but the names won’t be used by Canada Post for snail mail.

“It’s just the way of the future. How we search and find locations these days is quite different than it used to be,” Algra added.

READ MORE: Rebuilding of DT Chilliwack with Algra Bros


@CHWKjourno
jfeinberg@theprogress.com

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15983344_web1_Algra_STEELHEAD_LANE
Coho Lane was the name chosen for the longer lane and Steelhead Alley is for the shorter section in the Algra Bros. development. (Submitted)


Jennifer Feinberg

About the Author: Jennifer Feinberg

I have been a Chilliwack Progress reporter for 20+ years, covering the arts, city hall, as well as Indigenous, and climate change stories.
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