Banners from the Penticton Vees鈥� 2022-2023 championship season won鈥檛 be the only additions to the South Okanagan Events Centre rafters come Friday night.
When the team plays its home opener on Oct. 6, fans in attendance may notice dozens of new banners that date back to the 1960s hanging from above.
That鈥檚 because the Vees reworked 44 of its own championship symbols from Memorial Arena, and have given them a second home at the SOEC.
Fred Harbinson 鈥� the team鈥檚 head coach, general manager and president 鈥� spent the last 12 months working on the project, doing so alongside the hundreds of former Vees players and staff who helped raise around $20,000 to make it happen.
Now, once the four pennants from last year鈥檚 Fred Page Cup team are raised, there will be a total of 90 banners at the SOEC that represent Penticton鈥檚 junior hockey history 鈥� from the Broncos to the Knights, Panthers and Vees.
鈥淲ithin 24 hours, we had the money raised,鈥� the Vees president said, adding that Broncos icons Bob Nicholson and Chad Campbell were instrumental in making Harbinson鈥檚 vision a reality.
READ MORE: Penticton Vees to raise 4 championship banners at home opener
It all started after Penticton defeated Nanaimo in the 2022 Fred Page Cup Finals, as the team鈥檚 bench boss reflected on the city鈥檚 storied hockey history during the offseason.
A lover of sports history, Harbinson started reaching out to former players through the team鈥檚 alumni newsletters about how strongly he felt about having all of the franchise鈥檚 championship banners under one roof.
And so it began.
Banners, including ones from the championship-winning 1986 Penticton Knights and 1973 Penticton Broncos, were reworked to be consistent in size, as well as to include timely BCHL branding. Old banners in their original form can still be found inside Memorial Arena.
Before the start of this year鈥檚 Vancouver Canucks鈥� Young Stars Classic, existing banners at the SOEC were taken down, ordered chronologically with the reworked ones and then put back up to complete the project.
鈥淭hey go all around the building and it鈥檚 pretty impressive,鈥� Harbinson said.
The team鈥檚 president added that when fans come to Vees鈥� home opener against the Trail Smoke Eaters on Friday night, it鈥檚 unlikely that they won鈥檛 notice all the work that鈥檚 been done to honour Penticton鈥檚 hockey history.
鈥淏anners are for the fans,鈥� said Harbinson, who has more than 300 playoff wins to his name during his 16-year tenure behind the Vees鈥� bench. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l get to see those and enjoy them every time they walk into the rink.鈥�
