Welcome to Cranbrook.

Travellers arriving into the Key City from the west on Highway 3 are now being greeted at Elizabeth Lake with a large welcome sign/sculpture, part of a $204,355 beautification project that includes also paving, landscaping, tree planting, the installation of more lighting, picnic tables and a multi-faceted information kiosk beside the Visitor Information Centre.

This afternoon (Sept. 4), several dozen people attended a grand opening ceremony in front of the craggy welcoming sign, including city officials, funding partners Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI), and representatives of project partners Ktunaxa First Nation, Rocky Mountain Naturalists, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Cranbrook and District Chamber of Commerce, as well as sign creators Paul Reimer of Cranbrook and Michael Hepher, now of Fernie.

“This project is a great example of what can be achieved through partnerships around a vision. The financial contributions from CBT and MOTI are very much appreciated, and the Ktuanxa First Nation, Rocky Mountain Naturalists, Ducks Unlimited and the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce provided valuable input into the information panels,” stated Mayor Wayne Stetski.

Enhancing the western entry to the city, the focus of much hopeful planning discussion in the late 1950s, will be a great benefit for the city, the mayor said.

“Together, we have created a new, very welcoming area for both the citizens of Cranbrook and for visitors to our great community,” he said, noting Elizabeth Lake has been a key location in the area for “thousands of years,” with Ktunaxa Nation residents having made good use of it before the city grew up around it.

Stetski spoke of a gathering “in this same location” in 1967, when it was named Confederation Park.

“They had big plans for this park,” he said, smiling at then Mayor G.W. Haddad’s speculation that Cranbrook would be a city of 250,000 by 2067.

“We have a little way to go,” Stetski said, pointing out that plans for the park 50 years ago included it becoming a busy recreation lake and grounds, with a lakeshore drive circling Elizabeth Lake and numerous facilities.

Cranbrook and District Chamber of Commerce President Mike Adams said the beautified entrance will entice more travellers to stop and see what the city has to offer.

“The upgrades to the entrance of Elizabeth Lake will enhance the satellite visitor centre and hopefully encourage more visitors to stop in. Any time our visitor counselors can tell the story of Cranbrook to visitors, there is an opportunity to have those visitors stay a little longer and explore the community further – and that is a good thing,” Adams stated.

Aiding the city pay for the project were two grants totaling $57,000 from CBT’s Community Development Grant and Environmental Initiatives Grant, as well as $35,000 from MOTI, contributing to the paving work. The total $204,355 cost includes all grants, donations in-kind and internal city wages.

CBT community liaison Jennifer Krotz said she enjoys Elizabeth Lake “as a local. It’s a wonderful asset. We are proud to have been a partner in this project.”

MOTI’s Rocky Mountain District manager Jack Bennetto echoed Mayor Stetski.

“We all worked together to get here,” he said, noting MOTI is keen to “do the same thing for the north end of the city (eastern entrance)” and plans are percolating with the city for something to be done next year.

Sign artists Reimer and Hepher, who have worked together on such local sculpture projects as the Spirit Tree, the books beside the Cranbrook Public Library and the Reclamation Sculpture at Canadian Rockies International Airport, said they took their motivation for the sign from Fisher Peak and The Steeples that burst into view just west of Elizabeth Lake.

“Public art is one of the most efficient ways to help a community grow its identity,” Hepher said, suggesting it challenges residents “to look at the world in a way that we are not used to seeing it. Paul and I are very honoured to be part of another large, significant sculpture in the city.”

Reimer explained the piece originated from the desire to blend travelers’ most recent experience in seeing Fisher Peak and The Steeples and take them deeper.

“What if we grabbed hold of the first thing people see when they come to Cranbrook – the mountains,” he said before noting that hidden in the large rock face of the piece are people – Cranbrook’s greatest asset that traveller wouldn’t necessarily know about unless they stopped and stayed.

“We’re more than must pretty mountains. We’ve hidden some people shapes in the sculpture,” he said, remembering the hours spent in a quarry with Hepher, searching for the right rocks.

“We intended them to be abstract,” he added. “The implied forms are designed to remind newcomers and locals alike that this is a strong community, with a rich history, held together by great people,” Reimer said.

Mayor Stetski said he appreciates the “creativity so clearly demonstrated by both Paul and Michael in designing and constructing the sign sculpture and the hard work by our city engineering and public works staff.”

The beautification project isn’t quite finished yet.

Minor touch ups such as line painting and additional landscaping will be done in the spring, along with the installation of an electric vehicle charging station.

Lead image: From left, City of Cranbrook Councillors Gerry Warner, Bob Whetham, Sharon Cross and Mayor Wayne Stetski, with Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce President Mike Adams, CBT’s Jennifer Krotz, artists Paul Reimer and Mike Hepher and MOTI’s Jack Bennetto.

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

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