A beautiful fan. A lovely sculpture of a bear. Seemingly endless mugs and water bottles.
And one positively ancient potato.
These are some of the gifts and items that Mayor Nolan Crouse has received over the years in his role as St. Albert’s top elected official.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went to the U.S. last week, he went bearing gifts. The official presents ranged from a sculpture by an Alberta artist for President Barack Obama and an aboriginal cape for First Lady Michelle Obama to designer scarves for the First daughters to booties for the First pooches.
But what do people present to St. Albert’s elected officials?
While there are some beautiful objects on display in a display case in the reception area of the city’s office – gifts given to past mayors – some of the items can be a bit more prosaic, a little more dog booty-like than pricey sculpture.
Like coasters. Or candlesticks. Or other knick knacks stored in a cupboard just outside the mayor’s office.
The provenance of some of the retained items isn’t known quite yet. There’s some research going on with past mayors to find out about items that have stayed in the city’s collection.
“The ones that you can look at as being a little bit more elegant, we’ve got to do a better job of recording what they are … because 20 years later no one knows what they were for,” Crouse said. That includes some of the pretty items on display.
But a section of Crouse’s office is crowded with a number of items he’s been given over the years. Much of it will stay with the city or be given away rather than go home with him.
“The majority of stuff is not given to me, it’s not mine,” he said.
That collection includes the previously mentioned potato, which wasn’t given to him as a compliment. He kept it, however, and years later it’s now a shrivelled black memory of the rotting vegetation it once was.
When a smoking bylaw was introduced, some protested by dropping off packs of cigarettes. He still has those, too. His vast collection of swag – things like coffee travel mugs – will occasionally get cleaned out when he’ll get a table at the farmers’ market and give items away for free.
Not every item has a story, but some do. Like a desktop decoration from Malaysia that was gifted by the owners of the first food truck to operate in St. Albert – the owners had just gone on a trip to Malaysia.
A more recent addition is a wine bottle with an excellent likeness of the mayor adorning it, gifted by the owner of a new business who’s an artist.
A large sculpture of a globe and hands was left by a former janitor, he said. There’s a pile of pucks from his puck-dropping duties, photos from sports teams, a few softballs. There’s a shovel from an Anthony Henday groundbreaking ceremony, and other little trinkets, from a tiny church mouse with a bible to a Funko “Mayor” bobblehead to some rubber ducks.
Others are more serious, like a thank you photo and plaque from the RCMP for the city’s role in remembering Const. David Wynn, and a painting that was gifted by Wynn’s widow, Shelly MacInnis-Wynn.
Some obviously have personal meaning for Crouse, like a painting done for him by a Lo-Se-Ca client named Michelle Sprogis.
Other gifts are just funny, like a running shirt he hasn’t worn yet despite having it for awhile.
“I’ve never had the guts to wear it,” he said, showing off the jersey which someone made for him. Why? It says “I run this town.”
Crouse explains there’s a policy where mayors and councillors can accept a gift valued at under $100. He sees a difference between gifted tickets and other objects – he avoids the former if they are expensive.
What he’ll keep, give away or leave for the city is yet to be determined. He said there are some pottery pieces, for instance, he might decide to keep.
He also likes getting gifts from kids, like the sports teams who have presented him with stuff.
“It’s always fun to be able to get something from youth, they’re appreciative of something,” he said.
Other items – like a gorgeous fan from an Asian trade delegation – will definitely be staying.
“You don’t have any rights to it, it’s not yours, it’s given for trade mission purposes,” he said.
There’s not really a policy in place, something Crouse said should be created as the city grows.
Wondering what the city gives when it goes a-calling? Crouse said during his time, at least, there haven’t been many gifts given.
“We don’t give very often,” he said.
There are not great records for what has been given to other mayors in the past. But the MusĂ©e Heritage Museum has some items that have been passed on from the mayor’s office in the past.
Much like Crouse’s collection, it runs from the elegant, like a large bust of Richard Fowler when he was citizen of the year, to baseballs.
“We have lots of plaques,” said Jean-Philippe Stienne, collections management assistant with the museum. He showed a couple of examples of plaques presented to Anita Ratchinsky on behalf of council during her time in office.
The museum has retained several items from past mayors. Like Crouse’s current collections, those items include gifted sports gear, like the baseball, and items from children.
They also have a huge collection of pins that have been given and worn by mayors over the years, including past mayor Fowler’s vast collection.
“We have to consider whether it’s important to the history of St. Albert,” Stienne said of deciding what to keep when the museum is offered a chance to acquire items.
Vino Vipulanantharajah, archivist at the museum, noted there are records of St. Albert hosting other cities, like a twin city from Japan, but he doesn’t know of any records showing the receipt of objects.
