Dallas-based designer Stephen Stefanou is in Richmond lending his creative talents to the second-biggest Olympic spectacle in Richmond.By Matthew Hoekstra - Richmond Review
Published: January 30, 2010 6:00
There’s nary a sniff of interest from Rover and Bowser. But in a matter of days, a piece of artwork nearly the size of a football field will be one of Richmond’s largest spectacles.
In the off-leash McDonald Beach Park on Sea Island, workers are arranging red beams to form the Olympic rings.
Within days the design will be towed down the Middle Arm in pieces and anchored on the Richmond Olympic Oval’s doorstep.
Thirteen million cranberries will then fill the floating structure and the latest Richmond Revealed display will be complete—in time for the arrival of the Olympic flame Feb. 9.
“It’s the largest scale and most daunting project we’ve ever done,” said designer Stephen Stefanou.
Told to do something with cranberries—and something big—the Dallas, Tex. designer imagined a display floating in the Fraser.
“It was a lack of a place to do it that made me to look to the river. In a way the river is the front lawn of the building, so that’s where we could put the decoration,” said Stefanou.
His crew built steel-reinforced fiberglass beams and filled them with foam, and trucks hauled the pieces to McDonald Beach earlier this week.
Alaska fishermen who’ve joined Stefanou’s team will use their boats to tow the floating sections down river when the tides are just right.
It won’t be easy. The pieces must cross under three bridges, including the Moray Channel Bridge, where clearance on either side is a matter of a few feet.
The team has also had to consider river traffic and current. Special buoys will hold the 62-by-70-metre design in place despite the tides and specialized netting will keep the berries from turning into fish food.
A giant maple leaf and flame will join the cranberry-stuffed Olympic rings in the design—one of many Stefanou has created in his firm’s 30-year history.
A pre-med-student-turned-designer, Stefanou specializes in seasonal or event-related displays, and recently returned from Las Vegas where he created a few Chinese New Year displays. Besides the Bellagio Resort and Casino in Vegas, his work has graced Rockefeller Center in New York and prestigious shopping malls of the United States.
For the Richmond project, Stefanou has been working with Ocean Spray, the cranberry co-operative that’s contracted him for less-ambitious displays of the berry in the past.
“What’s most interesting to me on this project was realizing how much science and art come together to make something like this work,” he said. “In the process of doing this, we’ve had a lot of science at play—a lot of marine engineering and disciplines that are frankly new to my company.”
For local cranberry growers, it’s an opportunity to show the humble berry to the world.
“We’ve been farming cranberries here for a long time, and we’re just excited this is happening right in cranberry country,” said Lisa May, 29, whose family started farming in Richmond in the early ’60s.
All the berries in the river display were harvested in Richmond last November. They’ve been patiently waiting in the freezer for their waterlogged Olympic journey.
“They’ve figured out a few things to make sure they’re going to last for the entire Games and maintain their beauty,” said May.
Local growers will also be dumping cranberries in city hall’s water feature during the Games. May will be one of the farmers standing in the water—wearing hip waders—telling international visitors the beauty of the bloated berry.
“I think it’s catching on in more parts of the world and more people are learning about the beauty of the cranberry. Not only do they taste good, but they’re good for you,” said May.
***
Olympic cranberry display
•13 million cranberries weighing 13,600 kilograms (30,000 pounds) will form the logo of the Canadian Olympic Committee in the Middle Arm
•It will measure 62 by 70 metres and cover more than 3,200 square metres (34,000 square feet)
•More than 30 anchors will hold the display in place
•All berries will come from Richmond farms
•Richmond is Canada’s largest producer of cranberries with more than 60 family-owned farms, the majority of which are part of the Ocean Spray co-operative
•Cranberries will be composted at the end of the installation
In the off-leash McDonald Beach Park on Sea Island, workers are arranging red beams to form the Olympic rings.
Within days the design will be towed down the Middle Arm in pieces and anchored on the Richmond Olympic Oval’s doorstep.
Thirteen million cranberries will then fill the floating structure and the latest Richmond Revealed display will be complete—in time for the arrival of the Olympic flame Feb. 9.
“It’s the largest scale and most daunting project we’ve ever done,” said designer Stephen Stefanou.
Told to do something with cranberries—and something big—the Dallas, Tex. designer imagined a display floating in the Fraser.
“It was a lack of a place to do it that made me to look to the river. In a way the river is the front lawn of the building, so that’s where we could put the decoration,” said Stefanou.
His crew built steel-reinforced fiberglass beams and filled them with foam, and trucks hauled the pieces to McDonald Beach earlier this week.
Alaska fishermen who’ve joined Stefanou’s team will use their boats to tow the floating sections down river when the tides are just right.
It won’t be easy. The pieces must cross under three bridges, including the Moray Channel Bridge, where clearance on either side is a matter of a few feet.
The team has also had to consider river traffic and current. Special buoys will hold the 62-by-70-metre design in place despite the tides and specialized netting will keep the berries from turning into fish food.
A giant maple leaf and flame will join the cranberry-stuffed Olympic rings in the design—one of many Stefanou has created in his firm’s 30-year history.
A pre-med-student-turned-designer, Stefanou specializes in seasonal or event-related displays, and recently returned from Las Vegas where he created a few Chinese New Year displays. Besides the Bellagio Resort and Casino in Vegas, his work has graced Rockefeller Center in New York and prestigious shopping malls of the United States.
For the Richmond project, Stefanou has been working with Ocean Spray, the cranberry co-operative that’s contracted him for less-ambitious displays of the berry in the past.
“What’s most interesting to me on this project was realizing how much science and art come together to make something like this work,” he said. “In the process of doing this, we’ve had a lot of science at play—a lot of marine engineering and disciplines that are frankly new to my company.”
For local cranberry growers, it’s an opportunity to show the humble berry to the world.
“We’ve been farming cranberries here for a long time, and we’re just excited this is happening right in cranberry country,” said Lisa May, 29, whose family started farming in Richmond in the early ’60s.
All the berries in the river display were harvested in Richmond last November. They’ve been patiently waiting in the freezer for their waterlogged Olympic journey.
“They’ve figured out a few things to make sure they’re going to last for the entire Games and maintain their beauty,” said May.
Local growers will also be dumping cranberries in city hall’s water feature during the Games. May will be one of the farmers standing in the water—wearing hip waders—telling international visitors the beauty of the bloated berry.
“I think it’s catching on in more parts of the world and more people are learning about the beauty of the cranberry. Not only do they taste good, but they’re good for you,” said May.
***
Olympic cranberry display
•13 million cranberries weighing 13,600 kilograms (30,000 pounds) will form the logo of the Canadian Olympic Committee in the Middle Arm
•It will measure 62 by 70 metres and cover more than 3,200 square metres (34,000 square feet)
•More than 30 anchors will hold the display in place
•All berries will come from Richmond farms
•Richmond is Canada’s largest producer of cranberries with more than 60 family-owned farms, the majority of which are part of the Ocean Spray co-operative
•Cranberries will be composted at the end of the installation
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