Richard Kaiser stands in his yard with his dog beside the Inukshuk he made as a Maritime tribute to the Olympic Games, to show his patriotism and foster the Olympic fever.

EAST HANTS: With the buzz of 14 gold medals and a winning hockey game on home soil to end the Olympic Games with a bang, people in the Corridor left signs of their Olympic fever a little while longer for all to see.

Throughout the Olympic season, homes, businesses, people, even cars in the Corridor area donned their patriotic and Olympic pride using red Christmas lights, signs, flags and mittens. But some individuals and families went out of their way to show their Olympic pride and share it with others.

By now, most people recognize the Inukshuk, a cairn made by rocks in the shape of a person as the symbol for the 2010 games in Vancouver. Richard Kaiser, from Enfield, made his Inukshuk or Inunnguaq, and placed it on his front lawn with a red spotlight, topping it off with a mini Olympic flag.

“I get a lot of thumbs-up when people are driving by and I’m outside, because people know about it and, they recognize it, it’s a very recognizable symbol,” said Kaiser about the almost three foot tall structure.

Kaiser made his Inukshuk as a tribute to the Maritimes, before the Olympic Games. It’s made out of sandstone from PEI, slate from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia Granite, and he even threw in a piece of Cape Breton Coal. Kaiser says his tribute to the Maritimes during the Olympics was another great opportunity to back the rest of the country, far and wide.

“Canada is a great place; I’m a Canadian supporting my country and showing my patronage and it gives me the opportunity to be able to show that. Not like just Remembrance Day or July 1, it gives me another opportunity to say I’m proud to be Canadian,” said Kaiser.

Kaiser saw the historic Summit Series game between Canada Russia in 1972 and said that like every other Canadian, was glued to his TV set for this year’s gold medal game in men’s hockey.

If driving by Shooters during the last half of February, you may have read the sign that said ‘come and see our Olympic Torch’. Shooters manager Beth MacDonnell was holding an Olympic torch on display for all to see.

“We decided to bring it in the restaurant so that people could see it; we wanted to do it because this doesn’t happen all the time,” said MacDonnell.

MacDonnell bought the torch from her sister-in-law, Elaine Giffen, who ran with the torch through the community she grew up in. Along with the Olympics being on all day in the restaurant, the torch and the red Olympic flags stand as a piece of the world-wide games that dashed through Enfield and the Corridor.

“This was the longest torch run in history, and it ran through our community, so for some people who didn’t get to see it, well it’s on display here so that they can,” said MacDonnell.

Driving up Highway 214, it would have been hard to miss a giant homemade sign complete with Olympic rings, maple leaf, and Inukshuk; the sign was spot-lit and surrounded by red Christmas lights on the home of Scott and Norma Macintyre. The self proclaimed family of Olympic fanatics, decided to take an extra step in their high visibility area.

“We’re big sports and Olympic fans and we had heard of people putting red Christmas lights out for the Olympics to show support. I thought ‘that would be nice, but it’s still general, and not showing our direct support; so I just figured let’s just make a sign’. So I bought a sheet of plywood and said we’d have to give up the windows for a while,” said Scott MacIntyre who decorated the sign with wife Norma, and daughter, Heather.

A typical day in the MacIntyre home with their five children ranging in age from 7-23 included having the Olympics on, and nothing else, day and night.

“We enjoyed seeing all the highs and the lows, you suffer with the people that don’t do well and you’re elated when everything goes great and when we get a gold, so it’s a good way to live vicariously through the athletes,” said MacIntyre.

MacIntyre and his wife attended the ‘Year to the Day’ party in Whistler, B.C. one year before the Games were set to take place. The couple contemplated making the trip out to witness the games, but with five children and the chance of only seeing a select few events, the family decided to stay and promote the Olympics from their own front yard.

“A lot of people have said ‘we love your sign, that’s great’; It’s not an expensive investment, it’s kind of frivolous in a way to buy a sheet of plywood for a sign that’s only going to be used for two weeks, to help promote the spirit, it’s a small price to pay,” said MacIntyre.

MacIntyre says that his entire family likes how the Olympics are a positive force bringing Canadians together.

“There are a lot of bad things in the news, and sometimes you just have to feel good about things that are going on in the world,” said MacIntyre.

Kaiser carries the same sentiment, and even after the Olympics are over, and he takes in his red spotlight and flag, his Inukshuk will stay as a marker.

“This was one way to promote good things within our own community. Everybody has got the spirit; even people who don’t know too much about the Olympics know that Canada isn’t doing too shabby.”

acano@enfieldweeklypress.com