The world's tallest gnome, found in the small Vancouver Island community of Nanoose Bay, needs to find a new home or it could be torn down.
"Howard," the eight-metre gnome, has stood along the Island Highway in Nanoose Bay for 21 years.
It was constructed in 1998 by Ron Hale as a mascot for the amusement park that he and his family once owned in the same location.
The property was sold but the gnome still stands today. But the owners of a Chevron gas station that now sits on the property want to dismantle it, according to Ron Hale’s granddaughter, Bridget Matewish.
"They came back to us last week and they said for legal reasons, and I don't know what that means. That's all they said to me," she said.
CTV News has reached out to the Chevron station for comment.
Matewish said the gas station originally told her it would fix the statue, but has since retracted the offer.
She said the statue would likely be removed by the end of April, so she's doing whatever she can to keep her grandfather’s legacy alive.
"We want to find him a new home, somewhere people can still visit him, take photos with him," she said in a Facebook post that has been shared hundreds of times. "We don’t want to see him torn down and thrown out."
Matewish said ideally the statue would go to another Oceanside-area community, but people from across Vancouver Island and B.C. have expressed interest.
"If he can go to a place where he can still bring happiness and people can take photos with him and he can still be all over the internet…I’m happy with," she said.
One high-profile supporter of "Howard" is Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall, who has lived on the mid-island for years.
"It would be sad to see him go. He has waved us on for countless years. Our Nanoose Bay gnome," Cattrall said in a statement.
On August 19, 2009 the Guinness Book of World Records officially recognized the gnome as the world’s largest garden gnome. It stands at 7.91 metres in length.
