Parksville will set aside some funds to spruce up the labyrinth in Parksville Community Park this spring.
The Parksville Labyrinth was built in 2013 and was last painted in 2018, according to a presentation to council during a financial plan meeting in November.
“I hope this is something we can renew because we’re all a group of volunteers that have dedicated many — hundreds of hours to design, to organize volunteers to come together with ideas,” said Holly Carnegie, who conceived of and designed the labyrinth.
Mark Desvaux spoke as well and told council labyrinths have physical, psychological and emotional benefits — including in his own life.
“My personal journey with the labyrinth was one though grief when I lost my wife a number of years ago to cancer and it has become an incredibly powerful part of my journey and healing," he said. "This is just one of many stories that we’ve collected about how the labyrinth has changed people’s lives and increased the well-being of citizens of Parksville and beyond.”
Desvaux cited a study that included 1,215 people and 126 labyrinths that found people report they felt more relaxed (86 per cent), more peaceful (83 per cent) and more reflective (80 per cent) after they spent time in a labyrinth. Seventy-one per cent of respondents reported feeling less stressed and 70 per cent felt less anxious.
A Parksville survey this past summer asked 150 people who passed by the labyrinth how often they walk the labyrinth and found 43 per cent do so daily to weekly. When asked how important it is for the labyrinth to remain a feature of the park, the average person said 9 out of 10, according to Desvaux.
“We still have visitors that come back to walk the labyrinth, from different places in the world, from Ireland, from Australia, from South America,” said Carnegie. She added that Parksville hosted an international labyrinth conference in 2013, the only time that conference took place in Canada.
Carnegie and Desvaux requested the city budget $800 for paint and supplies in 2025. They are ready with a group of volunteers to do the work, which will be a community effort.
“Anybody walking on the boardwalk that wants to pick up a paintbrush is welcome, with some direction, to add their brush stroke as well as their ideas,” Carnegie said.
The plan is for the work to begin in late May and carry on into early June, since they will need about a week of dry weather.
“It’s such a beautiful culmination of just our boardwalk, to come to the end with that destination there,” said Coun. Joel Grenz. “I’d love to see this as part of the park maintenance.”
Council unanimously approved $2,300 for the project in the financial plan — $800 for supplies and $1,500 for city staff time needed to prepare the site.
Mayor Doug O'Brien said he initially was not in favour of the idea, but changed his mind after hearing the presentation.
“I didn’t realize how much this labyrinth was actually loved and used by our community, so I’m fully supportive," O'Brien said.
