The painted memorial bench honouring a Vancouver artist’s late partner will remain at Kits Point, for now.

Julia Goudkova thought painting her late partner’s memorial park bench was a great way to celebrate his memory. Colin Mackay died in a motorcycle accident in 2015.

Goudkova sanded, washed, primed and painted the bench near Maple Street and Ogden Avenue vivid colours of yellow, red, teal and white.

The City of Vancouver said it had to go after a planned memorial on July 2nd, marking five years since Mackay’s death.

Once word got out that the colourful bench would be replaced, Goudkova started an online petition to fight the replacement, garnering 8,000 signatures in four weeks.

Park board members voted on Monday night for staff to look into options for artistic enhancements to benches that don’t include paint or other coatings. In the meantime, the bench Goudkova painted will remain at Kits Point.

Last modified: July 23, 2019

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