Residents of Vancouver’s Cowichan Valley could soon be asked if they want to mount a battle to keep the bragging rights for the world’s largest hockey stick.
The City of Duncan currently holds that title owing to possession of a 62.5-metre stick, complete with giant puck, mounted at the Cowichan Valley Community Centre.
The stick, a relic of Vancouver’s Expo 86, has been in Duncan since 1988 — and has even had its “world’s largest” status confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records.
But that title is under threat. In January, the city of Lockporte, Ill., approved a plan for a new arena complex which would include a new record-holding stick measuring more than 76 metres in length.
“I love the stick. You can see it from the highway here, everybody coming to town, it’s pretty unique,” Duncan local Greg Clackson told Global News.
“I’d like to see it repaired or replaced or whatever it takes.”
The community may be on the verge of the first steps towards that process, if Cowichan Valley regional directors sign off on a plan to launch a public survey on what to do with the iconic landmark.
In a report to the Cowichan Community Centre Commission in April, staff noted that the 28,118-kilogram stick was “approaching the end of its serviceable life.”
“Ongoing maintenance and extensive repairs in the early 2000’s have extended the life of the (world’s largest hockey stick), but the glulam Douglas-fir structure of the stick is showing evidence of advanced decay,” it added.
The report further noted that a third-party consultant had recommended the stick undergo “significant renovations or replacement” by 2025 — a process estimated to cost between $1.5 million and $2 million.
Despite the cost, Duncan Coun. Tom Duncan told Global News he believes many in the region will rally around preserving the record.
“I think there is pride in the valley, people like to be able to say when you have visitors, ‘You should come down and have your picture taken with the biggest hockey stick in the world,'” Duncan Coun. Tom Duncan said in an interview.
“There’s a lot of community spirit behind it.”
Duncan said the community has come together on previous occasions to do things like repaint the massive roadside attraction.
While he acknowledged refurbishment would be expensive, he said the stick functions as a key tourist attraction for the area.
And he said updating the stick would be an opportunity to keep the Guinness world record intact.
“We want to make sure we can maintain that title if we do a refurbishment, we will have to look at adding a little more length to the stick to make sure challengers don’t beat us out,” he said.
In the report to commissioners, staff proposed the creation of a fundraising society which could help cover the costs of an upgrade or replacement, but warned there would likely be limited grant availability for the job.
Local Murray McWilliams told Global News that while there’s no doubt the stick is a big tourist draw, the community should hold off on trying to make a bigger one until the U.S. challenger actually makes good on its threat.
“I would wait until it was seriously challenged and they got the title, and then if the city wanted to beat that title go ahead and do what they have to do,” he said.
Clackson said that while he loves the stick, he also appreciates “a lot of people can’t afford a new stick.”
“I think there should be a vote on it,” he said.
If regional directors sign off on the plan, the Cowichan Valley Regional District would launch an online survey through the Plan Your Cowichan platform, along with paper surveys available at the Cowichan Community Centre.
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