Barrie's Spirit Catcher may be made of steel but it turns out the iconic sculpture is like many other thirty-year-olds - it's starting to show signs of aging.
A chain-link fence was erected more than a month ago around the nearly three decades old landmark after annual maintenance revealed the need for more than the usual touch up.
"It identified some possible issues with the ball bearings that hold the quills in place and recommended for safety's sake that we fence the area right away, which we did," said Sue-Ellen Boyes, Director of Development and Marketing
at the MacLaren Art Centre.
The MacLaren Art Centre owns the sculpture which weighs twenty tonnes.
A falling quill would be dangerous and the Centre wants to ensure that won't happen.
It's the first time in three decades of annual inspections that the Centre was told wear and tear on the Spirit Catcher would require further investigation.
Engineers are doing a more detailed examination now and will deliver their findings.
"They're taking a look at the impact of what is the level of wear and tear and when we get that report together we'll swing into action and see how quickly we can get it repaired," said Boyes.
"We are as anxious as anybody to get it addressed so that those fences can come down."
Boyes can't give a time-line for when the Spirit Catcher will be uncaged but for now it's off limits.
"The wear and tear isn't surprising when the structure is 30 years old this year," said Boyes. "It's made of steel. The Barrie weather is changeable and substantial, so you can imagine over thirty years there would be some changes."
She calls it a "little tune-up" on the massive structure that is 21 metres high, has 16 quills, two wings, three legs and a pair of kinetic antennae.
The landmark Spirit Catcher was recently reunited with its sibling sculpture, the Sea Serpent.
Both created by local artist Ron Baird, the Sea Serpent was installed down the shore within eye sight of the original Barrie landmark Spirit Catcher.
"We're proud of how much a symbol of Barrie it has become for many people so we take it seriously," said Boyes. "We want to keep it in good order for the next decades."
