Glockenspiel restoration work set to begin
Installation is set to begin next week and expected to be completed by June
The German Club will have a ceremony to celebrate the reinstallation of Regina’s long-lost glockenspiel once ground is broken, says club president Kerri Van Loosen.
“Everyone’s just really excited,” said Van Loosen.
“It’s been a long process.” Installation of Regina’s long-lost glockenspiel is set to begin next week and be completed by June.
Since this week’s announcement, Van Loosen says that the club has received plenty of emails and comments from excited members.
But some are reserving major celebration until the work actually begins.
“We kind of had our hopes up last time, before that contract had fallen through,” she said, referring to a failed contract negotiation in January 2019.
But as soon as installation begins, Regina’s German community will organize a ceremony of some sort.
“It is a symbol of our community’s diversity and sharing of ethnic traditions,” the City of Regina said in a news release this week.
“Its return to City Square Plaza enhances this community space and reflects the city’s commitment to honouring its immigrant history and conserving cultural heritage assets.”
The glockenspiel will sit on the northeast corner of City Square Plaza.
The restoration includes rebuilding the pedestal and installing a master control system that programs the Glockenspiel using modern technology.
The base and controller are designed to withstand fluctuating prairie temperatures.
Due to the highly specialized nature of the equipment, the city released separate tenders for the master control system and general construction phase.
The latest request for proposals for general construction, which was released in September, was awarded to Independent Construction Management (ICM) and the controller and bell restoration was awarded to Verdin Co.
“We’re very happy that the city has continued to work hard to make this a priority because it means a lot to our community and I think to other people, too, who just remember it from their time downtown over the years,” said Van Loosen.
She said the community is happy to see the city has “righted where we feel we were wronged” after the glockenspiel was removed without consultation.
The glockenspiel stood at Victoria Park from 1986 to 2010, when it was removed during the construction of City Square Plaza.
It was then left in an outdoor lot, where parts of its ironwork were broken off.
Its concrete pedestal was discarded.
In September, the city said the glockenspiel’s bells were still in Cincinnati, Ohio, being restored by the Canadian branch of the Verdin Co.
The city expected to have the bells back by spring 2020.
The original stand is being stored in a secure outdoor city storage facility and will form part of the restored glockenspiel.
The glockenspiel’s previous control system used an extremely outdated Commodore 64.
The new one will use “state-ofthe-art electronic technology,” according to a previous request for proposals.
It must come with “superlative” scheduling and “the widest range of bell-ringing features.”
The city also requested a keyboard for custom play.