Calgarians make final push to save Olympic Plaza bricks

Downtown Calgary’s Olympic Plaza is much than conscionable a gathering spot for Maureen Love — it’s a awesome of household memories.

“We were down present with our newborn lad to bash the medals, we did the fireworks, we did the torch run,” Love said of the 1988 Winter Games. “This truly was an astonishing spot to beryllium during the Olympics.”

Love is 1 of 33,000 Calgarians who paid $20 to beryllium portion of the 1988 Winter Olympic bequest by buying a ceramic astatine Olympic Plaza.

The ceramic is inscribed with her son’s sanction and is simply a tangible reminder of the two-week celebration.

“It’s the representation of each of america being down here,” Love explains.

Olympic Plaza has been a assemblage hub successful the downtown halfway since its operation for the 1988 Winter Olympics when it was utilized for medal ceremonies. Since then, it has hosted galore festivals, protests and assemblage events.

It’s a portion of Millie Hartviksen’s household past arsenic well. Her parents and sister some person bricks astatine Olympic Plaza and would similar to find a mode to prevention them, alternatively than spot them mislaid to the plaza’s redesign.

“I’d alternatively person it with me,” says Hartviksen. “I’ll enactment it successful my plot oregon something. After already losing ma and dada successful the past mates of years, it’s conscionable different spot of grief.”

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) is starting enactment connected the plaza translation successful the caller twelvemonth and portion recognizing the sentimental worth of the bricks, says it isn’t feasible to keep, oregon include, them successful the aboriginal design.

In a statement, CMLC says “the task squad has examined the anticipation of removing and returning the bricks to purchasers, but idiosyncratic excavation of the 33,000 bricks is not feasible and is improbable to beryllium palmy without causing important harm to the removed bricks and those astir them.”

But some Hartviksen and Love deliberation it tin beryllium done. They are asking the metropolis to reconsider the plans and let those who privation their bricks the alteration to get them themselves.

“We’d similar to beryllium capable to find a mode wherever we mightiness enactment with the city,” says Love. “So, the fewer of us, oregon galore of us, who privation our bricks due to the fact that it has a peculiar representation for america to beryllium capable to get our bricks.”

Trending Now

A sentiment echoed by Hartviksen, saying “have everybody motion a waiver truthful they don’t person to interest astir liability issues and assistance supply tools to bash it.”

The brace person been successful interaction with metropolis officials, including CMLC, the politician and their metropolis councillors but haven’t had immoderate luck pleading their case.

With the destiny of the bricks coming up quickly, they are making 1 last inquire to find a mode to support their portion of history.

“If the metropolis had a volition to bash this, I deliberation they’d beryllium capable to marque it happen,” says Love. “Let america instrumentality our small ceramic erstwhile it’s closed disconnected and person that peculiar memory.”

Some radical person not been truthful patient. A few Calgarians person taken matters into their ain hands, prying their commemorative bricks retired of place.

The Olympic Plaza upgrades are being bundled unneurotic with a translation of Arts Commons and improvements to a information of Stephen Avenue with CMLC to service arsenic the improvement manager for each 3 projects.

Once the upgrades to Olympic Plaza are complete, programming similar concerts and activations successful the abstraction volition beryllium managed by Arts Commons, which volition besides run and support the revitalized plaza.

The extremity is to implicit operation successful clip for the 2028-29 theatre season.