All of the front yard painting is pretty much complete and so the crew continues working their way around the back of the shop as they layer on the coats of paint and blends. The building is looking better all the time.
Sugary delight!
A couple of decades ago, a local greenhouse owner approached me. My assignment was to design and build a sign or display that would entice people within a 100-kilometre radius to buy his beautiful flowers. We had created sugar cube castles in our art gallery as Christmas displays in years past, and they were always popular. I reasoned that if I pulled out the stops and built the largest possible castle, it would do the trick. The ceiling of the garden’s interior display space was just over 14 feet tall, which governed the final height. Because it was a public space, I welded up a steel frame, which was hidden inside, then began assembling the sugar cubes, one at a time. I used hot glue to fasten the cubes together. It took four days to complete the task and used more than 14,000 sugar cubes. The castle proved to be very popular and was even featured on national TV. People travelled many miles to get a look, and they did buy some poinsettias!
Prize creation
While going through old files and concepts from years ago, I came across one of the most unusual and fun ones. The drawing was for a snow ‘toboggan’ that was built and used to enter a race down a ski hill in Edmonton. We were working at West Edmonton Mall, building the new Galaxyland at the time, and they asked us to partner with them in a charity fundraising event. We designed and fabricated the ‘snow machine’ and brought it to the event. The officials ultimately determined ot was too dangerous to race alongside other entries. But we did receive a trophy for the most creative entry. Our team also got one solo demonstration run, which was smooth and fast. The hardest part of the whole operation was dragging this monstrosity back up the hill and onto the truck after the event.
