THE CURIOUS CASE OF SAM

Until he was removed, he was the face of Squamish: SAM the axe man. With his red mittens and Maple Leaf Toque, he was a big tourist draw, this 30-ft statue installed near the Squamish Adventure Centre, the town’s flashy tourist centre.Bryan Couture says given his popularity, SAM should be given a permanent spot for him at the adventure centre.

His removal by the orders of Squamish Sustainability Corporation on May 6 has managed to upset a whole spectrum of Squamish residents, from the man on the street to business associations to old loggers, who say SAM was not just a reminder of this town’s logging history, but also a magnet that pulled people off the highway and into Squamish.

To begin with, SAM was only a prop on a movie set, but Bryan Couture of Squamish Loggers Sports Days brought him to Squamish and SAM became an advertisement for the loggers’ sports festival. However, during the Olympics he was allowed to be left up there, with the loggers sports sign removed and replaced by a Squamish sign. Red Olympic mittens were painted on it in November and it was there until this May. John Drenka

On SAM’s removal, Mayor Greg Gardner said the Squamish Sustainability Corporation (SSC) board wanted to “draw a line” and make some ground rules for other groups who might express a desire to advertise their own sports near the adventure centre.

“The adventure centre is a beautiful building and the board said we don’t want a large number of mascots cluttering up the landscape.” he said.

The chairperson of the sustainability corporation, Rob Kirkham, said the board decided that other groups should also be allowed to use that space.
Asked how many groups approached the board, he said only one group, the Test of Metal, approached the board.

“Before the Olympics, we received a request from Test of Metal, who said, ‘Well, what’s the deal here, we would like to have our bike there or something,” he said.

The statue was originally being used only for a few weeks to advertise loggers’ sports, but was left there during the Olympics to promote Squamish, Kirkham said. He said during the Olympics there were debates and discussions in the sustainability corporation on whether it should be left there, but it was eventually decided that it should be left there with a Squamish sign underneath it so that it doesn’t look merely as an advertisement for logger sports.

When the board received the request from Test of Metal, the board thought of having a specific policy to guide that spot, he added.

“We thought OK, here’s the Squamish Days Loggers Sports and here’s Test of Metal, how many other organizations there might be that would want to do something, so we thought it’s time that we had a specific policy that controlled this.” Kirkham said.

Squamish Sustainability Corporation chair Rob Kirkham Since then, Kirkham said, the board hasn’t heard from the Test of Metal, but “that’s what got it started.” Asked if any other group has come out to protest SAM’s presence, he said, “Just the Test of Metal.”

Asked if any particular individuals had come to protest SAM’s presence, he said he couldn’t recall the names. Kirkham also said it was never part of the plan to have a big statue up near the adventure centre.

“Things evolve and SAM gets put up there, SAM gets left there and then he’s there. If he had never been put up in the first place and you had said to these people, ‘what do you think, should we put something up there and what it should be”. I don’t know how many would have said, ‘let’s get a giant statue of a logger and put him out there.’ Let’s not decide it should be SAM just because it’s there.” he said.

On the question of who opposed SAM’s removal, Coun. Bryan Raiser said he had conversations with few people in the bar and then he saw some letters to the editor, but he couldn’t recall specific names of people who opposed SAM’s presence. Veronika Vorachek who moved to Squamish three-and-a-half years ago from Whistler says SAM was something that represented the town and its history.

He promised to browse through his emails to find out the specific names who opposed SAM, but he replied back the next day saying he found none. Raiser said SAM’s removal upset him.

“I’m very upset that he’s being moved, I wanted him there to be used to his full potential. It’s an undisputable fact that he pulled in visitors, and instead of going to the visitor centre, they will now go to the casino.” Raiser said.

Cliff Miller, the organiser of Test of Metal, is of the opinion that advertising space should be free to be used by all, be it the Test of Metal or the “Tiddlywink club.”

“Put a bike up there for Test of Metal or Gear Jammer or Crusher. But put SAM up for six weeks before loggers’ sports, and put a climber up there for six weeks for the climbing festival.” Millar said.

As a community, Squamish should look towards the future and not to the past, he added.

“Everybody is got their opinion on what an icon is. I don’t know. I’m not sure even if we need an icon, why can’t we stand on our own, why do we need an icon here to attract people. We have to be respectful of the past, but I don’t think we have to be chained to our past either.” he said.Cliff Miller, the organiser of Test of Metal, says other organisations should also be allowed to advertise near the adventure centre.

John Drenka would like to disagree. Drenka, 94, is the owner of Squamish Mills. In his office, the past is plastered all around the walls. There are pictures of him at the Beef BBQ on loggers’ sports, and pictures of him with legendary Squamish Mayor Pat Brennan and with the man who brought Squamish its first hospital, Dr. Laverne Kindree.

“I think it’s a downright shame that they are doing this.” Drenka said of the decision to remove SAM. “That thing brought many people into our community.”

Another old logger Al McIntosh said, *“Look, logging is our past and it’s what built this town. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

McIntosh said SAM was an asset to the community because it was free and it pulled people in the town.

Al McIntosh says logging is part of Squamish heritage and SAM was a symbol for that. “It gave publicity to this town.” he said.

Jim Whittaker has done logging for more than 40 years, and has sponsored several events and has competed for several years. He liked the games of chopping and sawing, pull falling and he feels SAM should be back.

“I thought it looked pretty good. It was neat” he said.

According to his son Broach, he didn’t understand the rationale behind the removal and said it was a representative of Squamish’s history that needs to be saved.

“This town was built on logging and railways and I even feel there should be a logging museum for all our artifacts.” Brock said. Jim Whittaker and his son Brock Whittaker say there should be a forestry museum in Squamish.

Bryan Couture, the president of Squamish Days Loggers Sports Association, said he knows that SAM was a symbol for the loggers’ sports only, but given his popularity, it was hoped that the council would give SAM a permanent spot. He claims he got 200 businesses to sign a petition to save SAM, but it didn’t cut much favour with the SSC.

Former loggers, however, are not the only ones who have expressed their displeasure at SAM’s removal. Eric Armour, the owner of Trinity Romance, and the president of Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association, called SAM’s removal a “counter-intuitive” decision.Eric Armour, the president of downtown BIA.

“I think there are a lot of small towns which have these little symbols, like a giant hockey stick or a big giant fish, and I think people like that,” he said. “They stop to take pictures beside it, and I think SAM was like a postcard.”

Ana Santos, a well-known local environmentalist, felt the presence of SAM didn’t hurt Squamish in any way.

“I don’t mind SAM being there and I’ve nothing against the logging history of Squamish. We should learn from the past practices for a better management of our forest resources for the future.” she said.

Margo Dent, the past president of Squamish Chamber of Commerce, said SAM was a tribute to the past.

“If people look at Sam and think, this is a hick town, well that’s wrong. I think SAM is there to welcome everyone with open arms.” she said.

Terry Hein says she meets a lot of people through her delivery business and says people are "very upset" that SAM is gone.Terry Hein from Just Call Terry has a chance to talk to lot of people as part of her job as a delivery person. She said talk on the street is that SAM should not have been removed.

“None of my family was in logging, but I talk to a lot of people and let me tell ya, people are very upset. That building is beautiful, but don’t tell me it pulls in people. SAM used to bring in people, he was like Paul Bunyan. I think the council got it wrong this time.” she said.

Similar were the views of Veronika Voracek, who moved to Squamish from Whistler about three-and-a-half years ago. She said there are several mining towns like Bakerville that have their own symbols that represent the history of the town, but they don’t efface their history with something new. She said the only thing that young people moving from Vancouver can replace SAM with is a big “baby stroller.”

Kenny Music is the manager of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce. From his office at the adventure centre, he used to have a front-seat view of what SAM was doing for tourism in Squamish: increasing the visibility of the adventure centre and bringing more people into it.

Kenny Music, the manager of Squamish Chamber of Commerce, says SAM tripled the number of visitors that came into the adventure centre.“We’ve had hundreds, literally hundreds, of people every single day stopping by and having their photo taken with SAM,” he said. “I’ve not talked to one person who supports his removal. We’ve had many people come in, and we have several phone calls asking us why SAM was removed.”

He believed SAM enhanced the profile and the visibility of the community and the Squamish Adventure Centre “by well over a triple.”

“That has changed now,” said Mr. Music. “The amount of traffic that has come into this parking lot has completely disappeared for the most part. I feel it’s not a decision that has been taken democratically.”

Mr. Kirkham said there have been no surveys to prove whether SAM pulled visitors into the centre or “did they just stop, take a picture and go down the highway.” Robin Drygas and Jacqline McNicol say SAM is a Squamish icon that should be brought back.

His sentiment was echoed by Coun. Doug Race who said there haven’t been any surveys to prove that SAM brought in visitors.

“You think people made that special trip to Squamish to look at that?”

He also reiterated Coun. Kirkham’s comments saying it was never intended to have a permanent spot near the adventure centre.Coun. Race says adventure centre was never meant to be SAM's permanent home.

“I personally don’t think that statue was a great piece of art and having a forestry museum is a much better way to celebrate our past.” Race said

Coun. Race also said there had been some complaints before the Olympics from people who didn’t want it there. He gave out the name of one such individual, whose wife answered the phone and said she “ almost didn’t want anything to do with it now.”

But she also said she would get back with more names who opposed SAM during the Olympics, but didn’t.

The Squamish Reporter tried its very best to seek out people who might think SAM’s removal was for the better. Among the very few that spoke, none wanted to give their names or go on record.

Stephane Perron says SAM can be a confusing label for some people who come to Squamish thinking of it as the outdoor recreational capital of Canada. Stephane Perron, the president of Brackendale Owners and Tenants Association, spoke on the issue, saying he think Squamish sends a confusing signal to the world with SAM.

“What message are we trying to send here? If we are trying to sell ourselves as outdoor recreational capital, we should have a big bike or the statute of mountain climbers. I don’t see how he (SAM) fits in there.” Perron said.

He said it’s a label that can be confusing for a tourist that gets here expecting to find the outdoor recreational capital.

“You get to Squamish and there is this information centre and then you see a lumberjack, which is fine if we want to see the town that way.” he said.
Perron also said it would be slightly misleading to suggest that SAM pulled in visitors to the centre.

“I suspect the same thing would happen if there was a big grey whale or if there was a big mountain bike.” he said.Armand Hurford of Republic Bicycles in Brackendale says the best mountain biking trails were built over old logging railroads.

Coun. Corinne Lonsdale said she honestly felt that it was a minority that didn’t like SAM and that a majority of people actually did like him. She didn’t hear anyone from the community come and speak to her about the issue.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have a lot of discussion around the whole thing. I honestly don’t know how the public felt about it (SAM’s removal). But it was a fun item or icon and I was happy to have him there until something better came along” she said.

She said being the outdoor recreational capital of Canada is in no way mutually exclusive with having the forest industry as your heritage. She said she understood that people saw SAM as a connection to the past.

“You need to celebrate your past, and forest industry was our heritage.” she said.

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