Farewell, Goose – ‘Fly Away Home’

Jun 9, 2017 @ 10:00

 

Last night, June 8th, 2017, the Municipality of Wawa held a farewell gathering for the Wawa Goose. This, the second version of the goose, is retiring. Its replacement will be revealed July 1st as part of the Canada Day Celebrations.

 

clicking on this image will open it up in another window so that you can see faces clearly!

 

Brian Lachine directing the crowd to wave, smile and jump!

At 6 p.m. the crowd began to arrive. By 6:30 over 150 people had joined at the base of the famous monument and were waiting patiently for the drone to do its magical thing and take video of the crowd bidding farewell.

 

A number of photographs were taken of them waving, waving goodbye to the Goose, and ‘jumping for joy’ that we are getting a new Goose! If you look closely you can make out faces. Do you see Mayor Ron Rody?

 

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the drone was unable to fly – and Blair Mills (Wilderness Helicopters) came to the rescue.

 

Blair Mills (Wilderness Helicopters) and Brian Lachine (Municipality of Wawa, Tourism) after the flight.

Melanie Watson coordinated the flight, Neil Mills helped bring the helicopter out of the hangar, and within 15 minutes we (Brian, Cathy and myself) were airborne and circling the Goose.

 

Thanks to cell communication, Brian was able to talk to the ground and have the crowd face the helicopter so that we could take pictures of them waving. Unfortunately, about half the crowd left — the flies were vicious, but the crowd was still substantial.

 

A quick circle around the Goose and we were done. The crowd was very patient, and they made these photographs memorable.

 

 

Wawa-news would like to thank all those who came out to bid farewell to the Goose, Municipal Staff, and especially Brian, who let me capture these photographs from the air. A huge thank you for Blair, Neil, Cynthia and Wilderness Helicopters for their generosity and community spirit!

 

Michipicoten Bay Sunset, June 8th, 2017 from above the Wawa Goose Monument.

4 comments

  1. Jeanette Nelson

    Wonderful Wawa, great photos! excited for new Wawa Goose, good luck with install!

  2. Hartley Waldman

    I can’t wait to see the new goose!

  3. What was wrong the original one?

    Editor – The first goose began to deteriorate, it was made of concrete. After spending years at Fort Friendship, she was restored by Mickey Clement and spent a year on Pinewood Drive. She is now standing beside Young’s General Store. The second, the one you see today, has a bad case of rust causing structural problems and will be repleaced. The Great Goose Reveal will be July 1st, 2017.

  4. Farewell to the iconic goose, that made our little town of Wawa famous. It was always a welcome site, when ever I made a trip back home. Let’s hope that the new icon is just as majestic.