There’s no guarantee that those who registered for the Olympic Plaza brick retrieval program will get their inscribed mementos back — but that didn’t stop more 5,105 people from trying anyway.
The City of Calgary and the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) offered to return the bricks that lined the plaza’s surface to the original purchasers, or to those with ties to them.
It was a reversal of course following the initial announcement that the artifacts would not be salvaged during Olympic Plaza’s transformation project due to age, wear and cost-related issues.
“Maybe they just didn’t think that it would be as big a deal as it was for people,” said Valerie Salkeld, a brick owner whose then-boyfriend Laird proposed to her at Olympic Plaza with a message on a brick.
“So when they responded to people’s disappointment, that was, that was a good thin. And I think that they came up with hopefully a good solution.”
The program came after public outcry regarding the decision and apparent attempts by people to remove some of the roughly 33,000 bricks from the ground themselves.
The CMLC did give people opportunities to commemorate their bricks, with events held at the plaza earlier this year that included etching equipment and a professional photographer.
For some applicants, that could be the only representation of their brick.
“Over the next two weeks, crews will continue to carefully remove the bricks from Olympic Plaza,” reads a statement from the city.
“However, due to factors such as the 40-year-old age of the brick, prior damage, replacements and construction materials used, despite best efforts, it may not be possible to remove all bricks intact.”
Those hoping to get their artifacts back also had to sign a waiver acknowledging their bricks may not be returned.
The age and condition of the bricks isn’t the only concern.
Ron McMahon, the creator of a brick finder app, said the timeline was too tight. He said the city should’ve made this program more accommodating.
“The city has ample storage yards where they could organize these bricks,” McMahon said.
“Recover them, store them in an organized manner in one of the many city yards and make them available over a long period of time.”
The city says it still doesn’t know how many bricks have been requested. Applications are still being processed and an applicant could have more than one brick.
Those whose bricks are successfully recovered will be notified by the city and can be picked on Jan. 3 or Jan. 4.