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New Mr. P.G. merch available as Exploration Place partners with BC Bob

He first started selling T-shirts and mugs without realizing the character is trademarked by the city
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A neon Mr.PG sign is for sale on BC Bob's website.

Exploration Place is now partnered with "BC Bob" Kronbauer, one of the province's most popular content creators.

BC Bob is known for his engaging method of storytelling and for sharing fun facts about BC. He has a following of 150,000 on TikTok and 85,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he shares fun stories about the province’s past and present.

He is also the host of Now You Know BC on CHEK. His show highlights the unexpected, iconic, and sometimes uniquely strange and interesting elements of the province.

The new partnership involves the sale of hoodies, crewneck sweatshirts, T-shirts, toques, tote bags and a limited-edition Mr. PG neon sign, complete with a great backstory. All merchandise is from BC companies. Proceeds go to the museum.

Kronbauer’s partnership with The Exploration Place started with a little bit of accidental copyright infringement.

“I started selling Mr. P.G. merch about a year ago,” said Kronbauer. “We made T-shirts and we made some mugs. But I didn't realize that it was trademarked by the city. So I got a cease and desist letter. It said you have to destroy all this stuff. You can't use our trademark, It was pretty stern language, which I'm used to … The city said that we don't license it out to anybody that's not a charity.

"So I said hey, do you guys want to do some stuff? Do you guys want to make some designs and sell them because they have the license to do it? ... I figured that people love the design. So I reached out to the museum and asked them to partner with me.”

Kronbauer has a strong connection to PG which drove the partnership with The Exploration Place

“My grandma lived there,” said Kronbauer “‘I hung out with her most summers.. I go there and I go picking blueberries. My grandma takes the bucket of them and if we're not there, she'll send us tons and tons of wild blueberries.”

He also mentioned that his favourite BC monument is Mr. P.G. with his close second being a sculpture of the Ogopogo in Kelowna.

“One of the exhibits at The Exploration Place has an episode of my TV show that runs on a loop, said Kronbauer “It's about the lost Mr. P.G. that they have on display there. He's this sort of miniature steel version of it that the Rotary Club took around the world and that disappeared. He came back with a beer tap under his kilt, which he didn't when he left, and then somebody had drilled a hole in his mouth where they could put a cigarette.”

Kronbauer told The Citizen that The Exploration Place is his favourite charity in PG and he wanted to do something to help support the museum.

Funds from the new merchandise will go to Exploration Place to fund its efforts to promote science, education, community engagement and the preservation of Northern BC history.

Items are currently on pre-sale until Feb. 19 and will be shipped out after this date. More details, including how to purchase, can be found at https://bcbob.ca