Driving across Port Coquitlam's Coast Meridian Overpass just got a little friendlier.
On Monday, the city installed new street banners along the viaduct - as well as on Shaughnessy, Elgin and Maple streets, and in front of the city's two recreation centres - showing the faces of people who have lived, worked or contributed to the city.
The banners went up to time with the city's 90th May Days celebrations this week and will be up for a year as part of a legacy project to honour 100 years of the municipality's incorporation. The images are of volunteers, teachers, students, artists, environmentalists, sports enthusiasts, business owners, pioneers, war veterans and elected officials - all of whom agreed to have their photos taken after being nominated last year.
And one portrait is up at a fortuitous time for the subject.
Chris Wilson, a Coquitlam resident, former Olympian, former vice-president of the Tri-Cities' female hockey association, Rotarian and KidSport Tri-Cities executive director - and the NDP candidate in the provincial election in the riding of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain - has his picture and name on an overpass banner.
Yvonne Chui, PoCo's arts and culture co-ordinator, who organized the public art project, said the banners are not meant to be free advertising for Wilson's campaign. The 100 people who were picked for the portraits "had to have some connection to Port Coquitlam," Chui said, "if they lived here for a long time or worked here. They are the faces that make up the community."
She stressed the project got started months before Wilson was nominated on March 3.
Pardeep Purewal, PoCo's manager of communications and administrative services, said the banners don't feature any current PoCo candidates and the people nominated - and reviewed by a committee - represent a cross-section of the community over the years.
For his part, Wilson said he feels lucky to have had his image selected. "I'm extremely honoured to have been nominated," he said Tuesday. "I have done a lot of work in the Tri-Cities and in Port Coquitlam."
The 260 community banners form part of the 100th anniversary celebrations and the biographies of each person are listed on the city's website at portcoquitlam.ca/100banners. Other centennial projects include Illuminating Port Coquitlam (a digital media public artwork); a tree carving; tree dedication and markers; and a time capsule.
