Four new options for a Flying Phil Memorial Project have been announced just in time for the late Phil St. Luke’s birthday on March 7.
Jennah Stavroff, Doug Giebelhaus and St. Luke’s brother, David, are championing a lasting memorial and are asking the community to decide what form it will take, according to a news release.
“The project will be different but it’s definitely still going ahead,” Stavroff said in the release. “I’ve heard some really incredibly touching stories about Phil since getting involved and am committed to seeing something created to mark his contributions to the community.”
The four possibilities are a chainsaw carved wooden bench, a driftwood bench and sculpture (both options would include a sculpture of Phil on the bench), as well as a series of murals and re-naming the Parksville boardwalk to the “Phil St. Luke Boardwalk”, complete with new signage and a memorial plaque.
There is an online poll set up at https://flyingphil.ca/poll with more information about the options.
The Phil St. Luke standing committee wrapped up its final meeting this week and the campaign is now a public effort, Stavroff said, and thanked City of Parksville staff for their help so far.
Originally the memorial was planned to be a bronze statue, but the project was revamped due to the estimated $80,000 price tag, ever-increasing inflation and feedback from the community indicating there are better ways to remember St. Luke.
“It is about the community and we’re just sort of acting on behalf the community,” Giebelhaus said.
READ MORE: Parksville icon ‘Flying Phil’ St. Luke dies
The chainsaw bench is the most expensive at an estimated $15,000, followed by the driftwood statue by Island artist Alex Witcombe ($14,000), the interactive murals series ($9,500) and the boardwalk project ($6,000).
Depending on how much money is raised, multiple memorials are a possibility, and any funds leftover will be donated to organizations St. Luke supported.
Stavroff said she learned a lot about St. Luke through hearing stories from the community over the past year of fundraising.
To date more than $16,000 has been raised mainly from small individual donations. Funds will continue to be raised throughout the summer with a detailed project proposal set for final approval going before council in the fall.
“I think there’s probably a lot of members in the community who don’t realize just how much he volunteered and how much he contributed and sometimes the pain he felt in this community and how he always gave back,” she said. “There’s the surface Phil and then there’s this whole other really rich, interesting human story that’s there.”
St. Luke was widely known as a friendly face who welcomed everyone he saw with a smile and a thumbs up.
He was also a prolific volunteer and gave back to his community through thousands of hours spent at the Society of Organized Services (SOS), the Salvation Army, the SPCA, the Downtown Cleaning Crew and Inclusion Parksville, just to name a few.
“With size 15 boots and standing six-foot-seven, ‘Flying Phil’, as he was most commonly known, had a developmental age of a good-hearted nine-year-old making him remarkable to begin with,” the release said. “However it was his friendliness, thousands of hours of volunteering and joy in helping others in the community that really set him apart.”
By the early ’90s he’d become known as a Parksville landmark and in 2008 his birthday, March 7, was declared “Flying Phil Day” in the City of Parksville.
St. Luke died from cancer at age 70 in January 2023 after living 40 years in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area.
Donations can be made to the project via a Gofundme page, through e-transfer to flyingphilmemorial@gmail.com and at an account set up at Coastal Community Credit Union Parksville Branch.
Flying Phil merchandise is also available at the McMillan Arts Centre and Cloverdale Paints, and this summer will be for sale at Butterfly World, with funds going to the memorial project. Merchandise is also for sale at https://flyingphil.ca/merch.
— NEWS Staff