There’s no doubt, given the conversation that Calgarians have had over the past year, that the bricks engraved with the names of donors in Olympic Plaza are sentimental.

After all, these were literally a way for many individuals and companies to become the foundation for the 1988 Winter Olympics.

But with a planned closure of Olympic Plaza as part of the overall redevelopment of the park and of Arts Commons, Calgarians have been wondering what will become of their brick.

Many of those bricks, now nearly 40 years old, are in bad shape. That was part of the reason why the bricks were determined to be unsalvagable for the redeveloped Olympic Plaza.

“We recognize that the bricks hold sentimental value for many Calgarians as fond memories of the 1988 Olympics, which is a significant chapter in our city’s story. Due to their age and condition, the bricks will not be repurposed and integrated in the revitalized plaza,” said CMLC in a statement to LWC.

Some Calgarians have taken it into their own hands, however, to save their brick.

Olympic Plaza brick removal techniques being discussed on social media

Social media users have been talking about techniques to remove bricks from the park. That’s something that CMLC, The City of Calgary, and the Calgary Police Service all say could constitute a bylaw infraction.

“Although we recognize the historical and sentimental value that Calgarians hold towards the bricks in Olympic Plaza, the removal of bricks or any infrastructure within a park is strictly prohibited as part of the Parks and Pathways Bylaw (11M2019, section 7),” said CMLC.

Further, the removal of the bricks that make up the walking surfaces in the park could become a hazard if more bricks are removed, they said.

“As many of the bricks are found on walking surfaces, removing them would pose a public safety risk and could result in areas of the park being closed to the public.”

As of the afternoon of Oct. 24, a total of 13 bricks were missing from Olympic Plaza. It was not clear when those bricks were removed.

According to CMLC, there were more than 33,000 bricks total at the Olympic Plaza.

“The project team has examined the possibility of removing and returning the bricks to purchasers, but individual excavation of the 33,000 bricks is not feasible and is unlikely to be successful without causing significant damage to the removed bricks and those around them, and would also come at significant cost and schedule impacts to the project,” CMLC said.

“As such, the bricks will not be preserved in the redevelopment effort.”

The City of Calgary and CMLC held a Brick by Brick event in Sept. to commemorate the bricks, and provided interested Calgarians free charcoal rubbings of their bricks.

Each of the bricks has also been digitally scanned as part of the redevelopment process. Those scans have been mapped to a free City of Calgary online tool to find and memorialize the names etched.