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Tuesday, November 16, 2021

A hometown hockey hero

Vision in brick
Parry Sound, ON
October 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On the southeast corner of Isabella and Church streets, in Parry Sound, Ontario, someone painted a mural on a brick wall outside a Circle K convenience store. A propane cage blocks part of it just to the right of this frame.

In many ways, this piece of public art tells a story that is central to the history of this cottage country town of 6,500 or so. Bobby Orr was one of the greatest hockey players of his generation, and he remains one of Parry Sound's proudest sons, the kind of superstar who forever casts a golden glow on the place he came from.

So small is this town that its entire population would fill precisely one-third of the seats in TD Garden, the current home of the Boston Bruins. I'm not sure why this occurs to me now, but there it is.

Numbers aside, I smile as we come across this ode to a local hero who did good, staring at us as we park our car at the Dairy Queen across the street, a welcome break in the middle of a long day on the road.

Parry Sound High School sits to the northeast, and I imagine this mural has imprinted itself on countless students who are either hockey players themselves, or who find some way to connect themselves to the hockey culture that winds its way through so many towns across this country.

Whoever walks past here, they're all fans. And they're all connected in some way to this humble, generous man who made his community proud.

#parrysound #ontario #canada #roadtrip #travel #travelphotography #circlek #retail #store #bobbyorr #hockey #mural #public #art #random #small #town #street #photography #streetphotography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #instagood #photooftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins

Related:
Lost in the concrete, September 2013

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1 comment:

  1. photowannabe1:47 PM, November 16, 2021

    I love these brick wall murals and the tribute to a wonderful man is touching.
    Sue

    ReplyDelete

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