Osoyoos resident featuring a spooky town landmark on her clothing line

Photo: Contributed

Taking a town’s landmark and putting it on a T-shirt has been a classic celebration of local culture for years, and one Osoyoos resident is putting her favourite on kids' clothes.

While the huge statue made of Virginia creeper vines doesn’t have an official name, he is referred to as the ghost on the post, the guardian, the protector or, for Megan Bell, the vineyard monster, looming off the side of the highway heading into Osoyoos from Oliver. 

“I've been coming to Osoyoos forever and he has been there forever. It just one of those things you get to know as a bit of a landmark in Osoyoos and every day on my drive into work, I see him,” Bell said.

Bell moved to the Okanagan three years ago from Vancouver and settled in Osoyoos. But being on maternity leave this past year during COVID gave her some extra time to launch the company she’s always wanted. 

“I was kind of bored and feeling a little isolated so I was thinking what can I do to help me pass the time, and I thought, maybe a little company,” she said. 

“My original plan was for a boutique bringing in other people's clothing and things like that. Then I thought it would be cool to add a little bit of a personal touch to it.” 

The focus for those clothes was to celebrate BC itself and the small towns within it, launching the new clothing line Lake + Wild on Dec. 4.

And choosing to feature the spooky guy was an easy decision. 

“Just everyday seeing this big vineyard monster thinking, ‘How is he not already on a shirt or something locally?’ He's amazing and I like all that slightly creepy stuff so I'm putting it on a shirt.” 

While the T-shirt is just in kid's sizes, for now, Bell said ‘with requests coming in the community for adult ones that may change.’ 

“I was hoping to have the support of the community if they want to support someone who's living here locally.”

And supporting the local community herself with the new project is important to Bell too, hiring Cool Hand Printing Co. to do the shirts in Kelowna and Cypress Paper Company for the designs in Vancouver. 

“They've been amazing to work with, I'm just trying to support local artists, local companies where I can too.”

A discussion has also started on the Osoyoos Loop Facebook page, with over 250 comments on what to officially name the town’s vine statue.  

“It's really amazing, I guess it was just good timing because there are all these things on the Loop, people talking about what to name the guy.”

To check out more of Lake + Wild’s collection, visit their website here.

Photo: Chelsea Powrie