ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Sherry Dudinsky and Peig Abbott. We’re here to talk about a Town of Canmore public art initiative. What exactly is Walk with Wally?

PEIG ABBOTT: The Walk with Wally Tour formed out of the Building Neighbourhoods Builds Community project in support and recognition of how the culture sector contributes to the health and wealth of the community. The Town selected nine artists to participate with nine neighborhoods in Canmore.

RM: This one has to do with a recently departed but beloved member of the Cougar Creek and Elk Run neighboyrhoods, doesn’t it?

SERRY DUDINSKY: For four or five years, mainly in the fall and winter, we’d see him around and behind our place. It was pretty exciting to actually have a bull elk that close.

RM: There was a story earlier this year about Wally finding a home in somebody’s backyard and passing away there, so he was very comfortable around people. He was kind of a fixture of that area.

SD: What was really interesting was when a few of us neighbours, there’s six of us in our group, got together with Peig and realized that Peig had stories herself, being an Elk Run artist. We thought – I bet there are other people in town that want to share their stories as well, so we’ve created a depository, per se.

RM: It sounds like there have been a lot of people who do have stories. In fact, he had a variety of different nicknames around the community, didn’t he?

SD: Marvin, Uncle Buck, Boris I think was another one, so a variety.

RM: How is this all going to come together in an art project?

PA: We’re soliciting stories from the community because we know that Wally or Marvin or Uncle Buck, he touched the lives of many in the community. We’re really interested to find out how and where and when. We’ve created a Facebook page called Memories of Wally, as well as an email address where people can submit their stories to us. From there, we’re creating a walking tour. There’s going to be key points of interest on a map where there are audio downloads. You can go on a walking tour, select these audio downloads, and have kind of that virtual memory of his legacy as you’re moving around the neighbourhood.

RM: What’s your story with Wally, Peig?

PA: I was leaving very early from my studio one morning. I had my vehicle loaded and I was just about to leave, and all of a sudden there’s this massive bull elk right in front of my truck. It was just this magnificent opportunity to see him up close, and we exchanged these beautiful moments looking into each other’s eyes. The majesticness that he had was absolutely stunning.

RM:  Is there a deadline you’re looking to have these stories in by?

PA: This is a project that’s going to live on beyond the kickoff for the tour. The sooner you get your stories in the more chance you will be selected for the tour itself, but it’s kind of a depository, as Sherry was saying, for people to share that commonality. I know that there are future plans to commemorate his legacy in the neighborhood, so these stories that the community will contribute will go towards that legacy.

SD: We’d like their pictures as well. One of the things we’re trying to develop is the possibility of having a photo album of some sort. We’re not necessarily just going to be confined by the Town of Canmore project. We may go beyond.

Filed under: Canmore, Public Art