Kamloops is home to some of the strangest landmarks, people, and history. Keeping it Weird Kamloops decided to look further into some of these sights, such as the bronze bull just outside of TRU on McGill road which is adjacent to the Truck Chilling Park. So why are they there? Local Kamloopsian, Julie Hendriks, provides a bit of insight as to why a bronze bull is stationed there.

Canadian born Joseph Fafard crafted Obilix, the bronze bull, to represent the history of cattle ranching, along with forestry and mining, which have all been key aspects in our economy of the Southern-Interior. Fafard’s artworks of depict cows and bulls, represent his upbringing in the prairies of Saskatchewan. In 2005, the artist gifted Obilix to the Kamloops Art Gallery. It is also an edition of five, the other four are on permanent display in locations throughout Canada, one at the entrance of the Toronto Zoo.

While not much is known about the Truck Chilling Park, Hendriks assures us, the trucks are indeed chilling.

“Being a truck driver, constantly driving that route in training, those old trucks always catch my eye,” Hendriks said.

The city of Kamloops and the Kamloops Art Gallery setup the vintage trucks to showcase heritage vehicles that drove Kamloops forward. Kamloops noticed lots of vandalism of Obilix at it’s original location of Riverside Park, so they decided to put it in an area, that doesn’t catch lots of foot-traffic, Truck Chilling Park.