Organizers behind Calgary’s upcoming Olympic Plaza revitalization project will attempt to retrieve some of the more than 33,000 commemorative bricks that line the downtown park, after previously telling the public that doing so would be nearly impossible.
The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), the City of Calgary and Arts Commons announced on Monday on the city’s website that original brick purchasers — or those associated to them — can register their interest in retrieving their bricks, beginning Tuesday.
But the CMLC also warned it won’t be feasible to remove some of the engraved bricks due to their age and condition.
“We know that there’s this window just before we start construction that we’re going to be able to attempt to work with Calgarians, and the City of Calgary will be running that to remove the bricks,” CMLC president and CEO Kate Thompson said on Monday.
The brick retrieval process is intended to be completed before demolition and construction begins in January for a major transformation of Olympic Plaza and neighbouring Arts Commons.
Olympic Plaza was built to host the medal ceremonies for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games, and the bricks were sold in the lead-up to the Games for $19.88. The bricks are etched with names and custom messages.
Earlier this year, the city and the CMLC said removing and returning the bricks to the people who paid for them would be too expensive and difficult to complete without damaging the bricks.
Thompson explained on Monday that the mortar bond connecting the bricks horizontally means force or a cutting tool is required to remove the bricks, and the double basket weave that was used to lay out the bricks means it’s difficult to cut each out individually.
Thompson said the cost to remove the bricks will depend on on how many Calgarians are interested in retrieval. The city said roughly 300 people attended an event earlier this fall to imprint their brick’s engraving on a piece of paper.
Valerie Salkeld is one of the Calgarians who will be registering to retrieve an Olympic Plaza brick. Her husband, Laird, bought the couple a brick in 1988 that he etched a marriage proposal on, which she was unaware of until two years later when the couple got engaged.
Salkeld added she believes the city underestimated how connected people are to the bricks they bought and the stories attached to them.
“I was really pleased to hear that city hall had changed its mind on people getting their bricks. With the amount of response they had, I think they realized how meaningful the stories attached to those bricks were,” Salkeld said.
After a request to remove one of the plaza’s bricks is verified, the city will attempt to retrieve it. The CMLC has said the plaza’s bricks are considered public property, and people who try to remove the bricks themselves could be fined between $250 and $400.
Olympic Plaza will be closed until 2028 as part of the major transformation project.
The CMLC said earlier this year that due to the bricks’ age and condition, they wouldn’t be integrated into the revitalized park. However, the CMLC and city are developing a digital archive of Olympic Plaza that provides varied perspectives of its history.
The revitalized Olympic Plaza design is scheduled to be revealed next year.