The finishing touches are still coming together before Lacombe is officially the home to the Guinness Book of World Records World’s Largest Lure and organizers of the monument recently received a $20,000 cheque from the ECHO Lacombe Association to help ensure everything is paid for.
Brad Pallister, president of Thompson-Pallister Bait Co., was happy to accept the cheque on behalf of the organizes who brought the project together.
“Today we are getting all the partners together and making sure we finish off the project in terms of the administrative side of things. It is the culmination of a really wonderful month,” he said.
Pallister said the project was always intended to be a community project and ECHO’s contribution is a nice local touch that helps bring the community aspect to the equation.
“To have a community organization like Echo come in and help with a significant contribution towards the cost, as well as Comet Welding stepping up huge, we were really able to put all the pieces together towards a really good project through Lacombe Fish and Game,” Pallister said.
Drayton DeBussiere, president of ECHO Energy Association, said the organization is always looking for long-lasting projects that have positive community impact.
“What is better than the potential largest fishing lure?,” he asked. “Once we hear about the Guinness World Record, I think that is going to be a really cool achievement for the community and it is something that people will be able to see from a long ways away for a really long time.”
DeBussiere is excited for the tourism the monument will bring to Lacombe.
“One of the things we looked into when we were considering this project was how big the largest type stuff is. There is an interesting group of people that travel all over the place to specifically see these kinds of things. I think it will be a neat draw for Lacombe,” he said.
He added ECHO has some other projects on the go now that the lure is wrapping up.
“We kind of like to keep our cards close to our chest so we can really unveil things properly,” he said. “I don’t want to give too many hints, but we have things going on.
“We are seeing some positive momentum with ECHO’s support and it is an exciting time for us for sure.”
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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