Wheat Kings sign goes up at Westoba Place
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/07/2021 (1552 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Eagle-eyed locals going past the Keystone Centre on Monday may have noticed the return of a local landmark.
One of the “Home of the Wheat Kings” signs salvaged in February from the old Kullberg’s Furniture warehouse before it was demolished has been put up on the side of Westoba Place facing 18th Street.
Of the two signs formerly attached to the warehouse, the longer, flatter one was chosen for the arena’s exterior. They were first installed on the building in 2013 and were made to match the aesthetic of the warehouse given its status as a heritage building.
The warehouse was demolished earlier this year alongside several other buildings as construction crews prepare for the construction of a replacement for the aging Daly Overpass.
According to Branden Crowe, the team’s play-by-play voice and director of digital sales and strategic marketing, the sign just needed a deep cleaning before being put back up.
“A good dusting and a good power washing and it’s ready to go,” Crowe said. “I like to think of it as similar to when the old Winnipeg Arena was torn down and the fans and the Jets were all worried about the hanging portrait of the Queen … it was a similar feeling for these signs because of how long they’ve been at the corner on 18th and Pacific.”
Crowe said that former Wheaties general manager Grant Armstrong, who just won his second straight Stanley Cup as a scout for the Tampa Bay Lightning, saw the signs when entering Brandon for the first time and knew he was coming to a hockey town.
“The arena is such a big part of the city for every event, whether it be music, the rodeo or the fair that sometimes if you were to drive by you wouldn’t know it’s a hockey rink,” he said. “Now everyone can drive by and think ‘Oh yeah, that is the home of the Wheat Kings.’ That’s pretty cool.”
The exact fate of the other, more rectangular sign salvaged from the warehouse has yet to be disclosed, though Crowe said it will pop up somewhere inside the venue.
“It’s kinda the last piece of the puzzle for the in-arena renovations,” Crowe said. “There’s been a ton of work done in the arena with the new boards, the new glass, our office has been redone, new amenities and stuff for the players.”
The sign will be unveiled along with the new look for the inside of the arena, showing off what the team has accomplished in Westoba Place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That reveal will come sometime before the team’s training camp scheduled for mid-September.
The Wheat Kings are getting ready to host fans for the first time since March 7, 2020, when they fell to the Prince Albert Raiders by a score of 4-2 in front of 3,801 people.
“After 18 months of no hockey, it’s starting to turn a corner, and people are going to be able to celebrate and enjoy Wheat Kings hockey again,” Crowe said.
» cslark@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ColinSlark