Controversy Brews over BC Sasquatch Statue

Canadian Press

VANCOUVER - While the people of Nelson, B.C. were busy arguing with U.S.

veterans about proposals for a statue honouring American draft dodgers last

month, 50 kilometres down Kootenay Lake, the town of Creston was having a

similar battle.

There, the statue at issue is a three-metre bronze of a sasquatch carrying a

case of beer. A case of made-in-B.C. Kokanee beer, to be precise.

A sasquatch is a mysterious, large ape-like creature reputed to roam the

woods of North America. The legend is comparable to that of the Loch Ness

monster or the abominable snowman.

"The town looked at it as an economic development,'' Mayor Joe Snopek said

on Monday, adding it was decided the town could not proceed because, with a

beer in its hand, the statue would be considered a business subsidy. Under

the province's Municipal Act, that wouldn't be allowed, the mayor said.

Last month, nearby Nelson came under fire after plans were floated to erect

a monument honouring American draft dodgers. The idea was axed by the city's

mayor after the 2.4-million-strong Veterans of Foreign Wars appealed to U.S.

President George Bush to get the statue quashed.

"It created some controversy,'' Snopek said of the sasquatch plans, adding

the Nelson debate "took the pressure off the sasquatch for a while.''

The town council had been ready to foot half the bill for the $40,000 bronze

by Karl Lansing but after the ensuing uproar, a private contractor has

agreed to foot the town's half, with the Columbia Brewing Co. picking up the

rest.

The decision to go that route came after 500 people in the town of 5,000

signed a petition opposing the expense.

Snopek said the council was looking at the statue as a tourist attraction

like the giant Easter egg in Vegreville, Alta., or the humongous hockey

stick in Duncan, B.C.

"One of the local guys who works in the grocery store wanted the world's

largest shopping cart,'' Snopek said.

"It got side-tracked,'' Snopek said. "(Some claimed) a sasquatch carrying a

case of beer (would) turn all the kids into alcoholics.''

Creston resident Laurel Ewashen did not see the sense in spending $20,000 on

bronze, beer-toting sasquatch.

"My priority would be a pool or a library,'' she said.

Now, said Snopek, 50 small statues will also be cast and sold for $3,000

each. The proceeds of those sales will be donated to the town by the

brewery.

"One of the petitions asked for the councillors to buy one each at $3,000 to

show faith in this project, '' Snopek said.

The tales of the statue, however, have created some tension between Creston

and Harrison Hot Springs in B.C.'s Fraser Valley, which also lays claim to

being home of the creature.

"If you find the sasquatch up there, send him home to Harrison Hot

Springs,'' Mayor John Allen told a Creston contingent at a recent Union of

B.C. Municipalities meeting.