Canada Post “Roadside Attractions” Stamp Series Includes “Pysanka”

Canada Post Product List Service

Starting this July, Canada Post is taking Canadians on a cross-country journey and will issue the first set in a three-year stamp series celebrating four great Canadian Roadside Attractions.

 The series begins in Northern and Western Canada with the Watson Lake Signpost Forest in Yukon; the Inukshuk in Hay River, Northwest Territories; British Columbia’s Mr. PG in Prince George; and the “Pysanka”, massive Easter egg in Vegreville, Alberta. Next year’s stamps will celebrate central Canada while the 2011 series will focus on Eastern Canada.

This first edition will feature roadside attractions that pique tourists’ interest as they travel our land to the west. Mr. PG is an eight-metre high log man raised in 1960 in Prince George to recognize forestry’s important role in the city’s history. A second stamp features the Signpost Forest, in Watson Lake, Yukon. The first signs were raised in 1942, by a homesick US G.I. to point his way home. Today, more than 64,000 signs are posted. The stunning inukshuk outside Hay River, Northwest Territories, illustrates the stone giants’ purpose in guiding travellers in Canada’s North.

A journey along the Yellowhead Highway (east from Edmonton) leads to Vegreville, AB, where a massive Easter egg - pysanka—the largest in the world, in fact—is on display at the entrance to Elk Island National Park. Pysanka, is Ukrainian for “Easter egg,” and it symbolizes Vegreville’s vibrant folk culture. It was created to honour Vegreville, Alberta’s large Ukrainian-Canadian community. Beautifully decorated Easter eggs are a tradition among Ukrainians worldwide.

Designer Fraser Ross of Halifax’s Semaphor Design Company notes, “They’re all iconic in their own way, so we wanted to give them each a monumental quality.” The stamps feature traditional oil paintings by Nova Scotia artist Bonnie Ross. The detail and dimension within them was captured by adding layer upon layer of graduated colour. Meanwhile, the lively colour scheme lends a cartoonish aspect to the scenes. Fraser adds, “This quality highlights the originality and quirkiness of these attractions; they’re so much fun and we wanted the stamps to speak to that.”

Ross came to see that their excitement extends well beyond their quirks. “They’re like historical landmarks in both a literal and figurative way,” he says. “They literally mark a location, but they also mark a time and place. On family vacations, we all stop; we stare; and we rarely leave without a picture. Over time, we may forget the details of a vacation, sometimes even the destinations themselves, but somehow the roadside attractions we meet along the way find a permanent place in our memories and photo albums.”

The 54-cent stamps measure 35 mm x 41 mm (vertically) with kiss-cut perforations and a pressure sensitive gum type will be available in booklets of eight. Also available is a souvenir sheet of four-stamps measuring 95 mm x 109 mm vertically with 13+ perforations with a PVA gum type. Lowe-Martin printed 4 million stamps for the eight-stamp booklets and 250,000 for the souvenir sheets. The stamps will be printed using lithography in seven colours plus varnish on Tullis Russell paper and are general tagged on four sides. The Official First Day Cover will bear a set of cancelled stamps in the series. Photos of these new stamps are also available.

Order online at www.canadapost.ca/collection, or by mail order from the National Philatelic Centre. From Canada and USA, call toll-free: 1 800 565-4362. Outside, call 902-863-6550.