Thursday, August 19, 2021

Little Kingdom


Everyday, sometimes six times a day, I check up on the massive White Rock Lake Fire that haunts the B.C. Interior. Though most of my checking concerns perimeter maps and satellite photos, I have over the past few days found myself staring in disbelief at Mark Pearce's picture of what remains of Little Kingdom.

It's full name is Little Kingdom Gas Bar, but it is so much more than what Robert Marchand came up with years ago after he noticed locals were spending an additional five dollars before setting off on hunting trips because they had to drive into Vernon and back to gas up.

After installing gas pumps, Marchand built a cashier's shack, then a supermarket, then a hardware department, then, at the behest of his wife, a women's fashion boutique above it. I wrote at length about Little Kingdom in my master's thesis, where I compared it to a work of Beuysian social sculpture.

And now Mark Pearce's picture -- of a ruin. I have stood next to those pumps and filled my tank, reached into that ice box for bags of ice. I cannot believe that this "wonderland of convenience" is no longer in service.

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