Paul Bunyan is being restored.

Paul Bunyan, a 14 foot high fibreglass statue, was purchased from OK Tire in Fernie when it closed in 2008. The intention was to change his trade from lumberjack to blacksmith and this question was asked of visitors at the 2010 Columbia Basin Culture Tour, after he’d been repainted and installed outside Fernie Forge in Hosmer, BC. All responses received were favourable and a beer keg was obtained to become a hammer head. Sadly Paul Bunyan’s giant anvil and hammer were never completed because of the tragic suicide of blacksmith David Barrett.

In January 2021, one month after David’s death, there was a tremendous snowstorm. A cottonwood branch hit Paul Bunyan on the back of the head, causing his head to topple onto his chest and looking like he too had hanged. The image was so disturbing to David’s widow Sandra that she wanted Paul Bunyan removed immediately. It took time before Sandra realized that this bizarre coincidence may have been David’s sense of humour from beyond the grave – much like the film “Bruce Almighty” starring Jim Carrey, where he doesn’t know his own strength after death. It brings Sandra comfort to think that at least the broken statue of Paul Bunyan is now being restored and he was sold to Joel Baker in 2023. Once restored he will be added to the American Giants Museum on Route 66 in the U.S.A.. His head, which isn’t original, remains in Fernie and has been donated to Fernie Museum. Watch this beautiful 2024 video by Joel Baker to see the story so far.