(Edmonton Arts Council staff with Happy Wall)

In just three weeks we’ll say ‘happy trails’ to Happy Wall on Churchill Square. Over the past 15 months, Edmontonians have created messages of hope and solidarity, sent birthday and anniversary wishes to loved ones, and promoted their festivals, events, and organizations. Flipping through images on his phone, Churchill Square programmer Bob Rasko says he’s happy with the results. “What amazed me was the instant sense of community that happened on the square. People wanted to create, share their special moments with the world, and in very essential ways, tell their stories. Happy Wall became an expression of the values and ideas uppermost in people’s minds.”

When the wall launched last May, people clamoured to create their messages and the enthusiasm remained undimmed by a freezing winter and wet spring/summer. “It was always a joy to go out on the square and see people using it. It wasn’t just a 15 minutes of fame thing. Having said that, it’s important to remember that Happy Wall was never meant to stay forever. It’s a transitory experience, but once the construction is finished, we’ll have new programming that we hope Edmontonians will find just as entertaining.”

(Testing Happy Wall’s illustrative capacity - image Bob Rasko)

Rasko says his best personal memory is of bringing his sons down to test the wall’s creative functionality. “We wanted to see if we could draw some pictures. Many of the posts at the beginning were text and we wanted to see what would happen with images. I think it worked pretty well!”

Other favourites include:

“There’s a guy who teaches Cree online, where people can ask to have words turned into syllabics. This one says “nehiyawewin”, which is the Cree term for the Cree language.”

 “I love the #YEGBike – love that they were able to create text and an image.”

“The handstand one is great because it’s not easy to write a clear message upside down. You can’t just slap it up, it requires a lot of planning and thinking to make it work. So, for this guy to execute all the steps, then do the handstand, and get a successful photo off -  I’m pretty impressed!”

 “Who doesn’t love Tacos on taco Tuesday?”

 “Although the Happy Wall kept changing, this message was up for an entire afternoon. It was nice to see people let that one simmer.” (image, Jason Syvixnay)

Over the next three weeks get down to Churchill Square and make your memory – snap a picture and share on Twitter and Instagram with the #HappyWall hashtag. Instagrammable wall aficionado Linda Hoang (Instagram, Twitter) is running a contest this month where one image each week will be selected to win a $50 gift certificate from TIX on the Square.

(Cypher Wild - image by Daena Crosby)

Since then, Jamie and I have written “HAVE A GREAT DAY!” on the wall and yesterday we were going to write “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE” at the request of my niece, Sally. Well, we didn’t get to write our message because the wall was being put to very good use by lots of other people.

First, we saw a woman with a child and they together created a very nice heart. At the same time, three young men were writing the word “MAPLE” on the wall.  When I saw them taking a picture of it, I asked why they wrote it. They explained that they were foreign exchange students and had been tasked with various objectives, one of which was to write something that represented Canada on the Happy Wall. Then they went off to do the next thing on their list.

Not long after, a couple who were from the same group wrote the word “MOOSE” on the wall. Then, then came over to where Jamie and I were sitting and asked us what a moose was! They must have been given that word suggestion by a local person. We explained that is was a large animal that you should back away from if you see one.

Shortly after, two more young people came to the wall and the young woman asked us for a suggestion for a word that represented Canada. After humming and hawing for a bit, Jamie suggested “HOCKEY” and that is what they wrote.

This wall is becoming one of my favourite things to check out whenever I am in the city. I hope that they don’t take it away when all the construction is complete.

Sally, I’m sorry I didn’t write your message. Maybe next time.