B.C.’s giant wooden Challenger map will return to the PNE after 25 years in storage

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For decades, one of the most popular attractions at Vancouver’s annual Pacific National Exhibition was a 6,000-square-foot wooden topographical map of British Columbia that occupied an entire building.

Parents and children walked around a mezzanine that allowed them to look down on a depiction of the province’s mountainous, spectacular geography.

But after PNE managers decided the building it was in had to go in 1997, the Challenger map, named after the man who spent seven years building it, was evicted. In the past near quarter-century, it has been stored in a climate-controlled space in an Air Canada hangar.

Various groups of zealous fans tried over the years to find other homes for it. Many were suggested: the airport, the new convention centre, Lytton, Skidegate. None worked out.

Now it’s coming back home to the PNE. With some differences.

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Officials, advocates and Bill Challenger, the grandson of the man who built it, announced Thursday that the map will come back to the fair once the money has been raised to fully restore it.

And this time, owing to the new possibilities of technology and lighting, everyone is hoping the depiction of a huge territory shared and loved by many can be used to highlight multiple aspects of the province’s land: Indigenous language groups, forestry, historical Chinese and Japanese settlements, river patterns, wildfires and more.

“We can use the map to educate people about just how many Indigenous people were here, how many different languages there were,” Mr. Challenger said.

This summer, a small section of the map will be on display at the fair – eight of the 196 panels, which were restored in 2009 to help with security planning for the 2010 Olympics – along with some sample blocks from the unrestored part.

A new coalition of map fans that has formed in the past few months – including prominent Musqueam band member Wade Grant; Vancouver city councillors Pete Fry and Lisa Dominato; journalist Bob Kronbauer; political consultant Mike McDonald; and BC Sports Hall of Fame chief executive officer Nic Cartmell – is hoping to raise the $2-million needed to restore the entire map and help the PNE with the conversion of a building on the fairgrounds to house it.

Canadian National Railway has already committed to $25,000 as the first corporate sponsor.

Many in the coalition think people are ready to jump on with support because of the emotional appeal the map has for so many.

“When I was growing up, apart from Playland, my favourite thing was seeing the Challenger map,” Mr. Grant said. “Now, this is really an opportunity to share the history and the cultures of the first peoples.”

Mr. Fry, who also visited as a child, feels the same.

He’d forgotten about it until a TV story a few months ago reminded him.

“It totally rekindled memories for me. It put so much perspective on the province: the scale and the grandeur. There’s a real opportunity there to take stock of what the province is,” said Mr. Fry, who was instrumental in reigniting the crusade to find the map a home, others in the group say.

“It really unites us as British Columbians. And I’m excited about how we can apply a more contemporary, decolonized view to the map,” Mr. Fry said.

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The group contacted PNE management, which has undergone a few changes since 1997. This time, they instantly responded to the idea of bringing the map back. It’s one of the three attractions from past fairs that people ask about the most – along with bingo and the demolition derby.

“We have always had a fond love of the Challenger map. I couldn’t be prouder the PNE is ready to take this on,” said the PNE’s current CEO, Shelley Frost. “It’s time for it to come home.”

That was good news for Mr. Challenger.

“We weren’t happy when they decided to decommission it. But if they want it back, I embrace that.”

The map, which cost the PNE $50,000 back in 1954 when it first arrived, will go back for free. Mr. Challenger’s only condition is that his grandfather’s ashes go back under the map’s plaque.

George Challenger, who had first visited B.C. in 1896 from Ontario and then immigrated to the province in 1910, built the map with his family between 1945 and 1952. The PNE started constructing a building for it in 1952 and the full map went on display for the first time in 1954, part of the celebrations for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

His grandson said it was George’s thank-you to British Columbia.

“He just loved B.C. so much. He prospected and timber-cruised all over the province and that’s where he came to realize the majesty of the province.”

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