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The Sturgeon Falls Beautification Group has a sculpture of a mermaid waiting for installation, as currently, the artwork rests in a municipal garage. It has been there for about a year. Gayle Primeau, the founder of the group, hopes the mermaid will make a big splash displayed at Minnehaha Bay, and she’s been working with the municipality to make this happen. However, it may be some time yet before the piece is displayed.
See: Mermaid sculpture seeks water in West Nipissing
West Nipissing council met on August 9 and discussed installing the sculpture and decided to hold off until more information was available as to how much it would cost. Mayor Savage mentioned the municipality will hire an engineer to ensure “the installation and mounting” of the piece is done properly.
Proper mounting would “help mitigate the risks,” explained Stephan Poulin, the director of community services for the Municipality. “There are safety concerns,” as the sculpture is expected to stand “about ten feet high” once mounted, and the municipality needs to “mitigate its risk as much as possible” before introducing the mermaid to the public.
“It’s not as easy of a project that some might think it is,” Poulin clarified, which is why he wanted some direction from council on the topic. “We don’t have estimates” on how much the installation will cost, so he hoped council would help with that, too.
“Council needs more information” Mayor Savage clarified, and direction was given to staff to look into costing options for the project. An engineer will be contacted to provide advice, some options for designs will be provided, and final cost estimates will be drafted and returned to council for its consideration.
“From there we can have a discussion” Mayor Savage said, “and provide direction” to the fate of the mermaid.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
