Park board installs 'Barge Chilling Beach' sign next to Vancouver's runaway barge

The Vancouver Park Board has bestowed the citya holiday gift (its words, not ours) in the form of an official sign commemorating the barge that crashed intothe seawallafter becoming unmoored during the storms of Nov. 15.

The sign which reads 'Barge Chilling Beach' appeared on Sunset Beach on Wednesday morning.

The barge, which had not budged from its spot over the past month despite multiple attempts to move it, has become an unlikely source of joy or distraction during a month where major highways and infrastructure have crumbled away, entire cities and tracts of farmland were submergedin floodwaters, and tolls have accumulated fromthe pandemic.

Many residents have made their way to the barge, brick redand devoid of goods, to gawk at its colossalsize up close.

The barge has inspired countless memes, selfies,and a premature memorial. It alsotweets.

Donnie Rosa, general managerof the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, said the idea came from the people.

"We've been seeing people kind of having fun, taking pictures, all the messaging out there and we thought let's add to the fun and let's bring a little more joy to the season, if you will," Rosa said.

Rosa says the sign is temporary, but it will remain up as long as the barge is around.

Watch the moment when the barge met the seawall:

Barge smacks into seawall during storm

3 years ago

Duration 0:25

Heavy winds sent a barge careening into Vancouver's seawall Monday afternoon.

At the risk of ruining thejoke, it bears explaining the city's history with signs.

In the yearsbefore the pandemic, a park called Guelph Park was home toa sculpture resembling a manor, colloquially, a dude(its original name was Reclining Figure).

In 2014, theartist Viktor Briestensky installed an official-looking sign that read"Dude Chilling Park."

The Vancouver Park Board removed the unauthorized sign. Public outcry ensued. Alocal resident gathered hundreds of names on a petitionto get the city to put itback in place.

And the city did. When the signwas later stolen, the Park Board replaced it with an official one.

The park board says it knows that at the end of a long and difficult year, the only sensible thing to do is to give in to the lure of the barge.

"Vancouverites have a unique sense of humour. We like to take these things and run with them," Rosa said.