I have no idea what happened on the hill today, but I’m going to assume it was amazing. Today, I want to talk about the giant paint crew that helped paint shirts today, and all the other tagging days that we’ve had over the years.
The tagging idea started with this video out in a town called Boston. In our early days, Andrew made a stencil out of wood, and then we found a real maple leaf that had fallen on the ground and used it as our city stencil. At the time we were the only Canadian city, so it just made sense to claim the maple leaf. Once that leaf was covered in paint , we sent a guy named Calvin out into the woods to search for more. The whole thing was a team effort. Back then, Erin and Kerry would take the shirts home and they would tag them in their homes and bring them back for us. I once tried tagging inside my home. Not only did it make my place smell like paint for a few days, I also got some paint on my tiles which still haven’t come out. Because I know you’re concerned, I’ve smartened up and now tag on my balcony. Anyway, that year, we wanted a badass badge to show that we are weatherproof. We used a plastic snowflake at one point, and then made a giant -30 tag once too. After realizing that your hands get way too cold when trying to use spray paint in -30, we changed them to a badge. Later, in December, on the first night of the very first #NPSummit, our cardboard stencil finally snapped in half. Luckily for us, the very next day, we received our first metal stencil which we still use to this day. It was then, that tribe member, Bob, offered to make us a metal maple leaf. In one of the most underrated moves, we now had fully metal stencils. As the years passed, we made up a bunch of stories with NP Corporate and guilted them into providing us with more and more stencils. We even went as far as travelling to Boston and sneaking into the official NP Storage room to acquire a stencil. That summer, we also decided to create an Old 96er tag for those badasses who run the entire Commonwealth Stadium – Speaking of, does anyone know when we’re doing that this year? Oh, I’m supposed to let you know? Stay tuned – Since then, countless people have helped make people’s old shirts new. Today we had about 15 people helping get all those shirts tagged. Fun fact: A few years ago, I heard that heating the stencil up would make the paint come off easier. So, I threw it in the oven for a minute or two to heat it up. It works like magic. However, the downside to throwing it in the oven, is that the air in your house becomes extremely toxic for a few hours. So, to Dale and Steve, who help us clean the stencils, you have basically saved my life.
To all of you, on behalf of Jen, Andrew and myself, thank you. We couldn’t do this without you.
Monday, we are at the Peace Dove by the Muttart Conservatory.
Wednesday, May 31 – YEARBOOK PHOTOS – Wear your fresh grassroots gear AND/OR be as Canadian as you can. Bonus points (which can be used towards our reward points program launching in the fall of 2019) if you do both. Need inspiration (or perhaps you want to figure out what you don’t want to do)? Here are some of our previous albums: 2016, 2015, Fall 2014, Summer 2014, Winter 2014.
Find the Good,
Nadim
Share via socials:
