101 Avenue in Grande Prairie could soon have an honorary name. Members of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 54 have submitted an application to the City to change the name of the road to Veterans Way.
Legion Project Coordinator Barry Lazoruk says that the name change is meant to be a way to honour those who have served.
“A lot of people don’t remember veterans other than on November 11th and I thought if we decided to approach the city to rename 101 Avenue – not change the address, just rename it as Veterans Way – it would be an educational process so that people would remember veterans 365 days a year.”
Veterans Way would run from 98 Street to 102 Street. There would be no change to addresses on the street, instead giving the road a secondary name.
Lazoruk met with the City’s Infrastructure and Protective Services Committee on Tuesday to talk about the name change. Committee approved sending the idea to city council.
“The City Engineering Department did up a sign for us and after we did the presentation and showed the Committee the sign, they gave us 100 per cent approval that they’re going to give Council a unanimous approval to allow the sign to be put up.”
Lazoruk figures the project should cost $2,500 and says local company Rentco contacted the Legion and offered to pay the full cost of the new signs.
“That was really a generous offer because nobody mentioned it to them they read it in the paper and as soon as they read it they emailed us and said we’ll pay for the signage so you go ahead and order them.”
If the name change is approved, Lazoruk says he hopes to have the signs up in honour of First Responders Appreciation Day on September 15th.