Jillian Easthope thought a sunny October afternoon would be the last time she saw her family’s bricks at Olympic Plaza.
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Her father purchased one for the family, and her aunt had another in the plaza.
Those two commemorative bricks are among around 33,000 inscribed with the names of purchasers, who bought them in 1987 for $19.88 each to support Calgary hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics.
On Oct. 27, Easthope made crayon rubbings of her family’s bricks, which she said at the time was about capturing one of the “last moments” seeing them before the plaza was to close for renovations and its bricks lost forever.
But an eventual change of heart from officials meant she could be reunited with her family’s cherished Olympic keepsakes.
The Calgary Municipal Land Corp. initially said it would not be possible to retrieve the bricks and return them to their owners. Instead, the bricks were slated for destruction to make way for the $660-million overhaul of the plaza and nearby Arts Commons.
However, after a public outcry and the launch of a petition by a Calgary MP, CMLC and the city reversed course in early December and said they would try to return some bricks to their owners.
The city received 5,105 applications to retrieve the commemorative pieces from the plaza, and Easthope was among them.
“I was happy to see that they had made the decision to recover as many bricks as they could,” Easthope said Thursday.
“I put my application in a minute after the opening of the registration,” she said, adding that she requested both her aunt’s brick and her father’s.
Brick pickups scheduled for Jan. 3 and 4
The city said previously that those who registered before the Dec. 18 deadline would receive a confirmation email the following day, then a second email before Jan. 3 advising if their brick was successfully removed.
For intact bricks, the city said it would provide details in the email for pickup on Jan. 3 and 4.
In an email Thursday, the city confirmed 30 per cent of the more than 5,000 requested bricks were not salvageable.
Easthope said the email she received was unclear as to whether both bricks were extracted without damage, but indicated at least one was saved. She planned to collect it Friday evening.
“I always knew there was a chance that I wouldn’t be able to retrieve them,” she said. “I knew that from viewing the bricks, they were in good condition, so I had high hopes.
“I feel bad for those that requested theirs that were unable to retrieve theirs,” Easthope added.
The city made it clear before beginning the bricks’ removal that factors such as the age, prior damage, replacement, and construction materials used, meant it may not be possible to remove all bricks intact “despite best efforts.”
Easthope said it’s unfortunate the bricks aren’t going to be utilized in the new facility, but said that with people being allowed to retrieve them, “history will not be destroyed.”
“That makes me happy, that brings me joy,” she said.
‘This was everyone’s place for the Olympics’
Ron McMahon, who moved to Calgary in 1987, does not have a brick of his own but has developed a connection to the plaza and its bricks over the years.
He created a website that helped people locate their brick in the vast plaza.
“I wish it wasn’t like this . . . I wish it was the city announcing that they’re going to restore Olympic Plaza and not destroy it,” McMahon said Thursday.
He hopes that saving the bricks people didn’t claim will be considered, suggesting they be stored so their fate could be determined at a later date.
McMahon called the city and CMLC’s change of heart, allowing people to register to get their brick, “the best option of a bad experience, a bad event.”
“It’s kind of like being able to go and grab a photo that you see lying in the smoky remains of your house after it’s burned down,” said McMahon. “You’ve still lost the memories and the place where you could go and be a family and celebrate together.
“I think Olympic Plaza was the same thing for Calgarians . . . this was everyone’s place for the Olympics,” he said.
The city is expected to provide an update to media on Friday morning regarding the return of the bricks.