City celebrates its heritage with signs along Centennial Connector Trail

Prince George honoured a piece of its heritage today, unveiling a new interpretive sign at Foot Park.

Many members of the Foot family attended the event. Howard Foot spoke about his father, Claude, who arrived in Prince George in 1906.

“He really was of pioneering stock. When he came up here, he was up here for two weeks and he said, ‘If I make it to my first pay day, I’ll be doing well.’ It was a very different place then.”

Foot arrived by hand-pulled scow from Quesnel, a journey that took 17 days at the time. He stayed far past his first pay day, going on to serve as a local government officer for 33 years.

The Foot Park sign is one of 50 being installed at sites along the Centennial Connector Trail, thanks to a donation from Husky Energy. Most of the signs will be installed this summer. Another interpretive sign honouring another pioneering family was also unveiled at Freimuller Park this afternoon.

“It highlights really the heritage of our community – certain areas of the city, certain buildings,” says Mayor Lyn Hall. “It just gives us a great history. It’s a walking tour of what our heritage is here in Prince George.”

Hall says it’s important to memorialize the contributions of the City’s pioneering families.

“There are families that have been around this community for 100 plus years and to be able to commemorate those families that were pioneering families by naming parks, trails – I can’t think of a better way to do it. We owe it to those families – they built this community.”