This turns 25 on June 30, local celebration planned

The Loon Dollar monument in Echo Bay is back in place, and will be the focus of a community celebration Friday, June 30.

The giant loonie was temporarily removed in May, its steel and fibreglass surface refurbished at a Sault Ste. Marie body shop.

“It had some scratches and some weathering…they repainted it and its now back up in its glory again,” said Lynn Watson, Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional Township mayor.

June 30 marks the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the Canadian dollar coin into circulation, and the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the monument at Echo Bay on Highway 17B.

A local time capsule from 1992 is sealed within the base of the monument. 

A celebration of the monument, which is surrounded by a small, pleasant park, will be a nice segue into Canada 150 celebrations to be held July 1, and also a part of the Township’s 125th birthday celebrations, Watson told SooToday.

The Loon Dollar was erected at Echo Bay, with some provincial government financial assistance, with the guidance of Sylvan Valley artist Robert-Ralph Carmichael, creator of the dollar coin’s loon image (who passed away in July, 2016), and the Royal Canadian Mint.

“It had to be done to scale, so Bob (Carmichael) worked with the Mint and with the contractor (Nick Chornyj) to put up the Loon Dollar, it had to be authentic, everything had to be the same on the monument as it is on the coin,” Watson said.

Tourists from Canada and other countries are interested by the monument when they visit Echo Bay.

“We get that all the time, both Canadian and American,” Watson said.

“In fact, we have a couple who come from California, their son lives in southern Ontario, they come up every year in May, and they make a point of stopping at the park at the monument every time they come to visit their son, and this year when they came the coin had gone to be refurbished.”

“They contacted us right away to see what was going on with our coin. Our Loon Dollar was missing and they wanted to know where it was.”

Numerous people from other Canadian provinces, passing through Echo Bay, stop to have their photos taken beside the Loon Dollar and ask locals about it, Watson said.

The Loon Dollar Festival will take place at Loon Dollar Monument Park in Echo Bay from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, June 30. 

The festival will include a Robert-Ralph Carmichael artwork display, a Mighty Machines showcase, a display from Sudbury’s Science North, the opening and resealing of the monument’s time capsule and rededication of the monument.

The dollar coin we know is now considered an icon, but when the federal government first announced, in 1986, the Canadian one dollar bill would be replaced with a one dollar coin, the decision did not sit well with many Canadians.

Production of the dollar bill did not stop until 1989, and it was gradually taken out of circulation in order to give Canadians time to accept the dollar coin.

“At first, I was disappointed the same as everyone that we were going from paper money to more coins,” Watson said.

“The coffee shop talk was that men would be carrying purses the same as ladies, we wouldn’t be able to hold our pants up with all that change,” Watson chuckled.

Since then, of course, we have the toonie, on-again off-again talk of a five dollar coin, and more and more cashless transactions with the use of debit cards and online purchases with credit cards.

Watson said local support for the dollar coin soared when it was announced Carmichael’s loon design would be featured on it.

“We were very happy for him.”

“He was quite an artist, and this was certainly a highlight of his work with the government, because he had a number of coins commissioned, in addition to his paintings,” Watson said.

Carmichael told SooToday in 2015 it was gratifying to see his work on the dollar coin.

"I enjoy seeing it, when you see it on television, you see the image so bright and clear on the TV sets, it's really quite satisfying,” Carmichael said, adding he always enjoyed pointing out his initials which are seen on the coin (and the monument).

"It was a mind-blower, really, to finally get a coin minted (displaying his work) and to have a circulating coin, something as prominent as a dollar, that was big," Carmichael said.