Get out your blue and white and celebrate a Toronto Maple Leafs legend this week.
The City of Timmins has proclaimed Wednesday, Aug. 26 Dr. Henry Hudson and Bill Barilko day.
In 1951, Barilko scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal. He died later that year in a plane crash with Hudson. The two were on a fishing trip. The Leafs didn't win a Stanley Cup for 11 years, the same year the crash site was located.
The billboard is going up on Highway 101 across from Porcupine Lake, which is where the ill-fated flight left from Aug. 26, 1951.
“On Wednesday a group of local volunteers is going to put the icing on the cake of a very long effort, it started back in 2011, to recognize the tragic loss of Dr. Henry Hudson and Bill Barilko in 1951,” said Kevin Vincent, one of the organizers of the event.
A fundraiser at the McIntyre Arena back in February was a 'tremendous success' and Vincent said it allowed the group to get the billboard.
The unveilling ceremony is Wednesday, Aug. 26 at Bannerman Park in Porcupine at 6 p.m.
After a few speeches, people will walk across the bridge and the billboard will be revealed.
“Anyone looking for it between now and then is not going to see it because it’s not going up until Wednesday and it will be covered,” said Vincent.
There will also be one-of-a-kind artifacts of the memorable goal at the Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre on Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“Bill Barilko’s nephew, Barry Klisanich, and Mark Fera, probably one of the preeminent collectors of Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia in the world who has a specific Bill Barilko exhibit, will be here for that day,” Vincent explained.
To keep with public health restrictions, the number of people allowed at the park will be capped at 100 people and social distancing will be followed.
“Wear blue and white on Wednesday and come out and celebrate Toronto Maple Leafs history for arguably the most memorable moment in Toronto Maple Leafs history,” he said.
