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Make a wish, then have a beer in Port Moody

Pinocchio wished upon a star. Beginning Saturday at 11 a.m., Port Moody residents and visitors will be able to wish upon a wall. Of a brewery.
Claire Lambert
Claire Lambert, of Port Moody Rotary, and Moody Ales' Nick Andersen, are hopeful the city's new wishing wall on the exterior of the westernmost stop of Brewer's Row will become a community gathering space that sparks coversations and inspiration.

Pinocchio wished upon a star.

Beginning Saturday at 11 a.m., Port Moody residents and visitors will be able to wish upon a wall.

Of a brewery.

That’s when the city’s Rotary Club will unveil its new eight- by 40-foot chalkboard affixed to the western outdoor wall of Moody Ales at 2601 Murray St.

The wall is the brainchild of Claire Lambert, a local realtor and Rotarian, who said she hopes the community will embrace the wall and commit their wishes for personal achievement in chalk stored in a mailbox mounted nearby.

Lambert said she was inspired by a similar effort by New Orleans-based artist Candy Chang, who implored people in that city to write their aspirations on a 41-ft. chalkboard wall she painted on the side of an abandoned building. She said her “Before I Die” project was a way to work through the death of a person close to her by starting a conversation that reflects on death and life.

Since then, according to Chang’s website, more than 4,000 such walls have been erected in over 70 countries, from Iraq to South Africa.

Lambert said her hopes for Port Moody’s new wishing wall are more modest. She would like it to become a bit of a gathering space where people can share neighbourly, positive conversations sparked by the chalk messages.

Lambert said writing aspirations down can make them more real, maybe even serve as the motivator to follow through and realize them.

But finding a wall big enough to fulfill her own dream — in an accessible location with an owner willing to share the space with the community — proved elusive until she happened upon the western-most end of Port Moody’s famous Brewers Row.

Nick Andersen, the operations manager at Moody Ales, got on board immediately, saying that creating community has been one of the drivers of success for the city’s conglomeration of brewers.

“We have a blank canvas,” Andersen said. “It’s an extension of our own ambition to be that community hotspot.”

Lambert said the family-friendly nature of Brewers Row makes it a perfect location for Port Moody’s wishing wall.

“Port Moody is a City of the Arts and we have to do something with that,” she said.

Andersen said he hopes those who write on the wall will embrace its intentions of positivity and accountability.

“Positive attracts positive,” he said. “You attract what you put out in the world.”

That’s why Lambert’s not worried the wall will become a billboard for graffiti. But if it does, brushes are also stored in the mailbox to wipe it clean.