Where's Buhler Manitoba? Sponsorship sign overshadows Manitoba community
People driving into Morden, Man. may have been a bit confused about their location after a giant sponsorship sign was erected at the Highway 3 entrance.
The name of the sign's sponsors, John and Bonnie Buhler, stood huge in front of the town's name and its 15-metre-long mascot Bruce the mosasaur.
Although the Buhlers knew the sign was coming they had no idea how large it would be.
On Thursday morning they received a photo and note from their daughter which said, "Dad, you are not going to leave it like that?"
"My heart is still in my throat," John said.
"It just looked overwhelming. It looked like the name was bigger than poor old Bruce," Bonnie added.
The Buhlers contacted the City of Morden and the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre and asked for their names to be removed. Both names have since been taken down.
"Having not been involved in the design process of the sign, which was based on the interpretation of an agreement of sponsorship for the mosasaur sculpture, the Buhlers felt that it was ostentatious and suggested selecting a more suitable slogan representative of the community on whole," the City of Morden said in a statement on its website.
The city decided to host a competition to choose a new city slogan which will be featured on the sign instead.
The sign had already made an impact with people sharing its overwhelming size on social media. An online petition asking for the Buhler names to be removed received more than 130 signatures.
The Buhlers said they had no intention of overshadowing the town's name or mascot.
"It certainly wasn't our intention and it just makes us look bad," John said.
"It's very embarrassing for us and we feel very badly about it."
Bonnie said it was just a misunderstanding and they are happy to have a new sign which represents the community replace it.
