People pleaser Rick Dale of the History Channel's American Restoration television show said Canadians have always been among the show's number one fans and that's why he and wife Kelly will be visiting Prince George this Sunday afternoon.
"There's a gentleman (event coordinator Garth Miller) who wanted to do a surprise restoration project for the Wood Wheaton dealership and so we did it in a way that represents Wood Wheaton back in the early 1900s and the kicker on the whole thing is it's a fundraiser for the SPCA and I'm a big animal lover and I just thought 'oh my God, this'd be great,'" said Dale, during a phone interview with the Prince George Citizen.
The mystery project will be unveiled at the Wood Wheaton dealership at 1 p.m. Sunday.
"Garth, God bless him, wanted a lot of bling on this thing and he wanted it to be done up right because it would represent Wood Wheaton and at the same time he wanted to auction it off for the SPCA," said Dale. Here's a hint: the auction item is something that was very popular in the 90s, Dale said. And then interest faded until recently and now it's more popular than ever and that makes it a rare find nowadays.
"Unless you find a farm that's been there for the last hundred years, they're really hard to find," said Dale. "We used a lot of old processes to finish it and there's gold leafing and gold plating - it's really beautiful."
Dale said he was happy to hear that the item made it to Prince George in one piece.
Dale and wife Kelly have traveled to Canada often, but not a lot in the west.
"Canadians were fans from the very beginning and they've stuck with us this whole time," said Dale, who has millions tune in to his show each week. "I'm excited about coming to Prince George. My thing and my wife Kelly's thing is all about pleasing the fans. If time is up and there's still people wanting autographs we'll stay until everybody's happy and that's the nature of the business I'm in because I want to make everybody happy because that's what I do."
Suggested donation for a photo and autograph is $20, with proceeds going to the local branch of the SPCA.
"The Wood Group has stepped up to the plate to become a significant sponsor of the SPCA," said SPCA board member Dave Mothus. "This is the first event of several we have planned together in a partnership. This is a huge event that we would never have been able to put together because it's something that's just not part of the budget of a non-profit organization."
Mothus said he was shocked and pleased the SPCA was chosen to benefit from the event and upcoming events to be announced in the future.
There will be a by-donation barbecue on site on Sunday as well, with those proceeds also going to the local branch of the SPCA.
"We'll see you all there," said Dale.
