A piece of history has resurfaced in Hope.
Deryck Forrest and students from the EXCELL program were recently cutting grass between the Station House and Shell gas station on Old Hope Princeton Way when they discovered a concrete Expo 86 sign. The sign was covered in overgrowth and resting on the slope that leads to the train tracks behind the building.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Forrest, who is the Station House vice-president. “The biggest thing is that nobody knows anything about it. It would be neat to know how it got there. It’s part of the history of Hope.”
The Expo 86 sign was originally placed at the junction of highways 1 and 7 in 1986 to welcome visitors to the world fair in Vancouver.
It was to be dismantled by the Ministry of Highways on Oct. 31 that year, but town council agreed to retain the installation with a modification of the Expo 86 logo and maintain the area which included flowers and flag poles.
A North Vancouver company quoted council $3,000 in November 1986 to change the large sign to say “Welcome to Hope.”
There’s no clear indication how the Expo 86 sign ended up behind the Station House. However, Forrest would like to see it cleaned up and moved to a more visible location in front of the Station House.
