Ottawa’s New Illuminated City Sign Is Basically Just Like The Toronto One
Every major city needs some sort of tourist attraction that also makes for a good photo-op. Across the world, city signs have popped up and attracted the interest of locals and tourists alike. Two Canadian ones look very similar now. The Ottawa sign in the ByWard Market got an illuminating upgrade that makes it look just like the Toronto sign.
The nation’s capital is a little brighter at night now thanks to the newly built lit-up sign with eight-foot tall letters that spell out Ottawa.
On December 20, the new and improved Ottawa sign was unveiled just in time to make those nighttime holiday pictures at the ByWard Market even more special.
“I think it will be a great addition,” Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told CTV News.
Even though the sign is pretty and already a popular attraction, the new illuminated version of it bears a striking resemblance to the Toronto sign.
The one in Toronto is almost 10 feet tall and lit by LED lights that can programed to show basically any colour.
The Ottawa one was taken down in November to be rebuilt by a sign company based in Moncton, New Brunswick and also features an internal light system that lets different colours to be displayed.
This upgrade also made the sign more durable, just like what was done to the Toronto one when it was replaced.
Back in 2017, the Ottawa sign was put up as part of Canada 150 celebrations.
So many people came out to see it and take pictures of themselves sitting in the giant “o” or leaning against the “t” that the city ended up keeping it around.
That same thing happened in Toronto a little earlier.
The sign in Toronto was originally installed for the Pan Am Games in 2015 and was meant to be temporary. But the attention it got was so great that it’s still around today.