Forty Foot Fred from space

Photo: Google Maps

Kelowna's Forty Foot Fred is still out there. Maybe.

If you have a few moments to kill on Google Earth, you can see him for yourself.

The larger than life Flintstones character and historic icon of Kelowna's old Bedrock City amusement park was rotting away in a field just north of Kelowna International Airport.

As recently as 2016, he was still lying there. That's when Google last mapped the area.

But the field is deep inside a huge private ranch said to be owned by local land developer R.J. Bennett, brother of former B.C. premier Bill Bennett. And R.J. is rumoured to have dismantled the mascot once word got out about its location.

We couldn't reach Bennett for confirmation, but chatter on the Old Kelowna Facebook page seems to indicate Fred has gone back into hiding.

The story of Fred makes the rounds every so often, and is rekindled now and then on social media.

He used to welcome kids to Kelowna on Highway 97, near where the McCurdy Corner strip mall sits today. Before the mall, Bedrock City was a Flintstones-themed amusement park, complete with dinosaurs, caves and other kitschy novelties. 

It was a Kelowna landmark in the 1970s and '80s before closing in 1998. 

You can check out users' photos of Fred on Old Kelowna, or scan the area north of the airport on Google Earth, on the east side of Ellison Lake, also known as Duck Lake

Fred can be found at the co-ordinates 49°59'39.2" N 119°22'52.8" W.