Photo: ProSign

For Jeff Gossoo and his family, the old Welcome to Kelowna sign on Highway 97 is more than a sign.

It was a labour of love, and its removal this week brought back a flood of memories.

The sign was taken down Tuesday morning to make way for the six laning of the highway and improvements being made to the intersection with Sexsmith and Old Vernon roads.

"It was a sad day for us," said Gossoo, who owns ProSign, the company that designed, and installed the sign back in the mid 1990's.

He said the city put out a request for design, which his dad's company at the time, was awarded.

He said it meant a lot to the family.

"We emigrated here from California in 1991 and my dad bought the business.

"Shortly after, we got the design and build of the Welcome to Kelowna sign, so we were pretty proud of it."

The original design also included an Ogopogo sculpture in front and five welcome flags in five different languages.

Gossoo said the Ogopogo statue only last a few years before it was removed because of constant vandalism.

The flags eventually went from five to just two, in English and French, because the others were being removed.

"People were climbing up and stealing them. In my records looking back, we were doing a lot of replacement flags," he said.

Gossoo also remembers the installation.

"We started about 4 a.m. that morning because the temperatures were going to be 37 C, and we were putting in all the wood pilings and about 22 little footings that held Ogopogo and the waves," said Gossoo.

"We wanted to get done before 2 o'clock that day. It was a bear of an install, because we did it all by hand. But, we got it done."

Once the highway project is complete in the fall of this year, the city will get a new sign designed and erected.