A familiar face greeted swimmers headed into the Canfor Leisure Pool on Wednesday.
A bronze statue of Terry Fox, based on the fibreglass statue previously located at Community Foundation Park, is located outside the main entrance to the pool.
In March, city council approved spending $24,250 from the city’s Festival/Discovery Place Trust Fund to recast the statue. In October of 2021, council approved the relocation of the Terry Fox statue to the new downtown pool, but an inspection showed the fibreglass statue had deteriorated with age.
That original statue was located at ground level and was vandalized, prompting a new fibreglass statue to be cast and placed on a raised plinth in the park.
The statue commemorates Fox running his first-ever marathon at the 1979 Labour Day Classic in Prince George.
“I’ve seen statues of Terry Fox all across the country and they are typically ones of the agony, the pain, and the suffering,” Coun. Garth Frizzell said in March. “Prince George’s is all but unique for the moment when he realized he could do the Marathon of Hope and that statue is different from ones you see anywhere else. This is a bit of a treasure for Prince George and recasting it in bronze is suitable and is the right thing to do.”
The Canfor Leisure Pool opened to the public for the first time on Wednesday, for a limited number of swimmers. Up to 200 people per time slot were able to register in advance on the city’s website to try out the new pool, ahead of the general opening day on Nov. 14.
All swim times scheduled on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are now full. But spots were still available for Thursday morning and afternoon, as of Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
- with files from Hanna Petersen
