Last week, 151 banners were hung in downtown Guelph – one for each of the 151 calendar years since Confederation.
The banners focus on the city’s past, with each one bearing a photo and description of an event from that respective year.
It was a project intended to generate discussion about Guelph and its history. One banner in particular seems to be getting a lot of attention – and not the kind the Downtown Guelph Business Association had in mind when they came up with the idea.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive – with the exception of the one banner,” Marty Williams, the association’s executive director, said Monday.
The banner in question is the one for 1986. It hangs at Cork and Norfolk streets, and tells the story of the conviction of the four Wood brothers for the murder of Karen Thomson.
While the banner claims the “Woods brothers” were behind the killing, the spelling mistake isn’t what had many Guelph residents – including the city’s mayor – expressing concern.
This banner @DowntownGuelph to celebrate Canada's 150th is insensitive, ill-conceived and should be removed. #Guelph pic.twitter.com/oJfF6DLouD
— Cam Guthrie (@CamGuthrie) June 4, 2017
Awful, tear it down. The family doesn't want to relive that. Neither do I.
— Karl Morant (@kamorant) June 4, 2017
Banner program is supposed to be a celebration. Poor choice.
— Steve Mercer (@SteveInGuelph) June 4, 2017
In an interview with CTV News, Mayor Cam Guthrie reiterated those concerns.
“There are still family and friends that live in this city,” he said.
“I just didn’t think that it was really thought through all the way, to feel about how it would impact them.”
Also speaking out against the banner was Gayle Labuz, who says she married into Thomson’s family.
She called the banner “disgraceful,” given that the tone of the project seemed to her to be celebratory.
“This particular moment in history should not be celebrated or commemorated,” she told CTV News.
Williams said the goal of the project was never to celebrate the Wood brothers or any other dark moments in Guelph’s history – only to call attention to the city’s past.
“Our intention was only to tell the story of Guelph, warts and all,” he said.
“It was the biggest story of the year that we could find.”
Late Monday, the business association announced that they would take down the banner for 1986.
The banner was expected to be taken down by Tuesday morning.
With reporting by Abigail Bimman
