Just more than year after Sunnybrae resident Roy Sharp was killed in a landslide, his memory will live on with a Columbia Shuswap Regional District park re-named in his honour.
On Friday, May 25, Columbia Shuswap Regional District hosted a ceremony with family, friends and CSRD officials at which the Robinson Creek Community Park, located at 5964 Sunnybrae-Canoe Point Road, was re-named the Roy Sharp Community Park.
Sharp was killed after a May 5, 2017, mudslide came crashing down, enveloping his Sunnybrae Canoe-Point Road home.
To David Miege, who initiated a petition for the name change, said Sharp was very community-oriented individual who loved to lend a helping hand whenever he could, and his loss had an impact on everyone in the community.
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“An event like that is just an unprecedented tragedy, not something you’d expect on any stretch,” said Miege. “It really affected everyone in the community in a big way and (the park dedication) sort of seemed like a good idea and everybody, not just in the little community where Roy lived but up and down the road and in Salmon Arm, really embraced the idea and supported it wholeheartedly.”
Miege had collected community signatures in support of the re-naming and said the CSRD also jumped on board to make the change.
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Miege previously told the Observer the park dedication will help people remember Sharp and be inspired by him.
“It’s clearly impossible to replace a guy like that, but it can maybe indicate to each of us that are neighbours up and down the road and that we can try and do some of the things that he did,” said Miege. “So help out somebody when they need it, look at your own kids and be a great parent to them… So there’s a few things we can all learn and sort of take away from what it is to be a community minded person. I think he embodied that spirit.”
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