It took a few months, but the owner of the Sudbury water tower has cleaned the 'SKODEN' graffiti that vandals painted on the structure last summer.
Dario Zulich, who also owns the Sudbury Wolves, the Sudbury Spartans and the National Basketball League of Canada expansion franchise the Sudbury Five, said he intended to paint over the graffiti before the snow arrived.
With snow in the forecast for Friday, he decided Thursday was the time to get it done.
“It's just a primer coat,” Zulich said Friday. “It's putting underwear on it. I'm really going to dress it up next year.”
Zulich bought the structure a few years ago, after the previous owner tried and failed to make money renting ads on it. The idea came to him when the NBL official commissioner came to Sudbury for talks about getting Sudbury a franchise. When he saw the “for sale” sign on the tower, he started making fun of it.
“I was embarrassed,” Zulich said.
Despite some misgivings from his family, he bought the tower and took down the for sale sign.
“Some of my brothers said, 'What the hell you doing? Why are you doing this? Are you losing your mind?'
“I said no, other people collect big expensive things. There's guys that collect motor cars or coins, some collect stamps ... but I collect water towers. Not that I'm going to buy more than one.”
Like Science North, the Big Nickel and the Superstack, Zulich said the water tower is an iconic structure in Greater Sudbury, and he didn't want to see it rust out and become an eyesore for years to come.
“Someday when I grow old, when I'm 80 years old looking up at it, I'll be able to say it was something I could do for the community. You can't buy the Big Nickel, but I was able to buy the water tower.”
Longer-term, Zulich said he wants to use it similar to the way Toronto's CN tower is used, lighting up on special occasions – when the Wolves score a goal or the Spartans score a touchdown or the Five wins a game.
“We're going to have the LED lights on it, and those LED lights are going to change colours,” he said. “At Christmastime, (it will be) green and red. If it's Easter, yellow; on Halloween, we'll make it orange.”
