Iconic Penticton book store sign coming down

Think iconic local symbols and chances are your mind goes to stuff like the Penticton Peach or Munson Mountain’s majestic “PENTICTON” sign.

But there are impressive lesser lights too. One of them resides downtown at 242 Main Street in the form of The Book Shop, the most celebrated used book outlet in the entire Okanagan.

A social media darling with a whopping 570 Facebook reviews and a five-star rating, The Book Shop features 200,000-plus books, 5,000 square feet of floor space and a cool vibe that comes from a half-century of service.

But as riveting as it is, it’s not the only glamorous icon on the street. Another is perched directly above.

It’s here you’ll find one of the most remarkable retail signs in the region. It doesn’t light up or spin around yet it’s glorious just the same — a mega-size, multi-panel ode to both the prominent store that sits beneath it and George Orwell’s cautionary tale about fascism, Animal Farm.

For almost 30 years its DIY whimsy — and its enormity — has captured the attention of Main Street passersby. That it was conceived and built right here in town over the course of several months by a young man barely old enough to vote only adds to its distinction.

But now, The Book Shop sign is into its final days. By the end of March it’ll be dismantled and removed, never to return.

So we quizzed the one person who knows more about the situation than anyone else — Tavis Stevenson.

Stevenson is the current co-manager of The Book Shop. He’s also the son of founders Bruce and Pam Stevenson.

And he’s the guy who created the sign, from scratch, way back in the late ‘90s.

“It’s my decision to take it down,” he explained, instantly dismissing any notion that it might be a bylaw thing.

So why remove it?

Primarily, said Stevenson, because it’s so dilapidated it’s dangerous.

More on that in a moment.

“It was my dad’s love of books that first brought us into the business in 1974,” explained Stevenson, speaking of father Bruce, who died in 2019.

“We moved to this store in 1990 or so. But we had other locations too, including one up the street in the 400 block of Main and another on Martin Street, across from the old theatre.”

Eventually the Stevensons, now fighting the encroaching power of digital media, would consolidate their bookish biz at the new address.

And along the way, they’d get their sign.

“After several years here, my parents said it would be neat if I did something up there,” explained Stevenson, adding that his love for big art began much earlier when his middle school class painted a mural on a Front Street building.

“It’s since been painted over,” he said, “But over the next couple of years myself and a friend of mine from that class, Darren Filipenko, painted more murals around town, including at the rear of our building.

“So the notion of murals was instilled in me early.”

But murals are typically painted on flat surfaces. And the ridges in the second floor metal siding at 242 Main, covering the aged concrete of what once was the “Drossos Block,” were any-thing but flat.

“So we needed to do something that sat on top of it,” said Stevenson, who began work on a design his dad would call a “Removable Feast.”

“The idea being it’s a used book store and all the books are removable,” he said. “And the Animal Farm wagon train motif is a bit of a western thing, alluding to an old Penticton, an old wooden-built farming town.”

Then Stevenson set up shop in his parents’ back yard and got busy.

“So the whole thing is made up of 3/4-inch eight-by-four poster-surfaced sheets of plywood,” he explained. “I painted on them then cut the shapes of everything out with a jigsaw.

“It’s all in relief. Three or four layers of plywood all over. It took me most of the summer of ‘97 to do it.”

And it’s heavy.

Considering a single sheet of 3/4-inch plywood tips the scales at 55 pounds lbs or more and that several sheets went into each “wagon,” we’re talking hundreds of lbs of total weight.

“We put it up with the help of friends,” said Stevenson. “There are long riveted bolts that penetrate the concrete face of the building, and we used ropes with scaffolding and people on top to pull it up.”

That’s one of the chief reasons it now all has to come down. The sign’s architect, who’s been up there recently to inspect the condition, is fully convinced it’s time.

“The plywood is grey and splitting and the screw connects are no longer ideal,” he said. “And we don’t want big pieces to start falling off. We find little pieces on the ground already when we get here in the morning.”

But there’s more to it than that.

“It’s been visually worn out for quite awhile,” said Stevenson. “A lot of paint has worn off it.

“And because it’s a layered object, it’s become a massive bird house. Birds are always moving through it and nesting and cleaning themselves and falling out of it when they’re trying to get their wings.”

Going forward, the store only needs to OK the project with City Hall to begin. Stevenson believes that won’t be an issue.

Then after the deed is done, various pieces of the wagon train will be given to family and friends and “anyone who wants one.”

And then The Book Shop second floor façade gets a thorough revamp.

“The thought is to remove the siding and basically refurbish what’s underneath, the original concrete face of the Drossos Block,” said Stevenson. “There’s an old bank of leaded windows. They’re all broken and we’ll end up replacing them.

“We’ll fill the holes we’ve created, paint it, maybe seal it. We’re not really sure what we’ll re-veal by pulling the siding down.”

The question of a replacement sign, however, remains unanswered.

“We’re just not sure yet,” said the creator of the first. “That’s the last step. Do we put some-thing up that continues to say books, book, books or is an allusion to what has been there?

“I think we just want to bring it back to something it was. To retain what has been.”

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald