Under the cover of the night this Saturday, an anonymous knitter brought toques she and her mother have spent the year making and placed them atop the heads of the ‘Commotion’ sculpture in the Gateway.
It’s the sixth year that the artist, coined ‘The Mad Hatter’, has been decorating the installation at Victoria and 20th as a colourful way to give to those in need. The toques are there for the taking and every year, they indeed are taken. The Hatter told MyPGNow that she refreshes the sculpture with new hats a couple of times a winter; always at night, always anonymously.
Some years, other donors have added to the piece with jackets, scarves, and gloves, which the Hatter said she absolutely loves.
Though she doesn’t want her identity known, the hatter gained some notoriety this year after a photo of the statue with her toques showed up on the cover of the ‘People of Prince George, The Foundation of Our Community Volume II’, written by The Citizen’s Seniors’ Scene columnist Kathy Nadalin.
“The main reason being is that there is an anonymous donor had adorned the sculpture with homemade toques and said ‘anyone needing a toque is welcome to take one as a gift to the community,’ now it doesn’t get much better than that to explain to people what people of Prince George are really like. That says it in a nutshell,” Nadalin said of her choice to use that photo as the cover.
“When I do these stories on these people that are the foundation of our community, I always like to talk about their volunteerism and this fits right in with the whole theme of the book. I just thought that the whole thing made complete sense about the people of Prince George and what they do for volunteer work and that includes this anonymous donor. That’s what Prince George is known for and that’s who we are.”
On the hidden identity of the Mad Hatter, Nadalin had this to say:
“I would love to know who this person is, but I don’t want to know. I just think it’s so beautiful what she’s doing that I think it’s even more precious that she stays anonymous as long as she wants to.”
Fitting in with her own theme, all the proceeds from Nadalin’s book go to the Prince George Community Foundation and she will be hosting a book signing at Books and Company on Nov. 23rd from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.