Huge hand now downtown

Photo: Contributed

The Helping Hand statue was installed Thursday morning.

The new "Helping Hand" statue has been installed in downtown Penticton, inscribed with words chosen by local citizens and translated into 15 different languages spoken in the city. 

Twelve feet high and 10 feet across, the sculpture of an outline of a hand weighs between 800 and 1,000 pounds. It was lowered by a large crane to its new home in front of Valley First Thursday morning, where a tree will grow through it. 

“Valley First and the city are very excited to see it installed and for the community to begin to enjoy it,” said director of recreation and facilities Bregje Kozak. “The sheer size will make it a pretty impressive addition to Main Street and we hope that the inclusion of residents in the selection of words to feature on the sculpture will make it extra special and meaningful to the community.”

A public consultation process in March and April collected over 380 submissions of potential words to be inscribed on the statue that were meant to reflect what Penticton means to the community. 

The artist, David Jacob Harder, consulted directly with the public and toured Penticton before choosing five words for his artwork: Beauty, nature, family, home and diverse. 

The $36,000 sculpture, for which funding was split between the city and Valley First, was originally planned to be erected in May. 

"The sculpture install was delayed as we needed a bit of extra time to finalize the translations of the words that are etched into the sculpture," Kozak explained. "There were five words selected and each one was translated into 15 languages that represent residents of Penticton."

The artist worked with members of the Penticton Indian Band and representatives from South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services to select and translate the words.