An executive member of the Cochrane Classic Vintage Riders Snowmobile Club says he feels blindsided by the sudden announcement of the impending closure of the Polar Bear Habitat.
“We have a huge investment there with our snowmobile museum, and it’s the only one in Ontario,” Dan Girard points out.
He says the club should have been warned it was coming, instead of learning in the media.
“All the snowmobiles belong to individuals that are in there,” he says. “ If they’re going to lock up the doors, that means that we have to work hard and take care of making sure that all these machines are returned to their rightful owners.”
(Cochrane Classic Vintage Riders)
He’s particularly worried about Big Al. It’s the only snowmobile of its kind ever made, and has four engines.
“You just don’t move that in the back of a pick-up truck or on an open trailer,” Girard explains. “It has to be packaged and brought properly back to the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa.”
Big Al is the work of the same man responsible for the Batmobile, the DeLorean from Back to the Future, and “Kitt” from Knight Rider.
Girard adds that the Vintage Riders bring a lot of activities and therefore money into Cochrane.