The Town of Qualicum Beach’s select committee on parks and recreation has a proposal to make fire hydrants in the community more aesthetically pleasing.
Committee member Peter Drummond made the recommendation at its meeting on Oct. 14. He got the idea from the City of Quesnel, which has made painted fire hydrants a tourist attraction.
“They put colourful characters on their fire hydrants which have proven to be very popular, rather than just having them as functional hydrants,” said Drummond, who made a motion to explore painting of fire hydrants with sea life forms such as fish, starfish, scallops and other local sea life. He added that local arts groups could be invited to do the painting.
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Committee chair Robert Filmer and other members supported the idea and it will be recommended to the town council for approval.
The Quesnel Downtown Association currently offers a painted fire hydrant walking tour. It has 23 fire hydrants that have been painted with different characters including a rodeo clown, teacher, paper boy, hockey player and many others.
“It’s very endearing,” said committee member Rob Ferguson, who checked the City of Quesnel website. “It’s a good idea. It’s something that should be considered around as tourism draw, around the town’s beautification draw and possibly get some artists involved. It would be very difficult to find it objectionable, to find it offensive, right, when we want to make fire hydrants more attractive.”