We're interested in saving the Farine Five Roses (FFR) sign in downtown Montréal. Here's one way to let your feelings about the sign be known - positive or negative. Try out the Anagram Game, then type out your ideas and email them to us and we'll feature the best ones on this website. (Partial anagrams are fine!)
In 1946, Ogilvie Flour Mills Co. Ltd. opened the New Royal Mill in Montréal. A photograph from 1948 shows the rooftop sign at the time of installation reading 'FARINE OGILVIE FLOUR' on three lines. After Ogilvie purchased Lake of the Wood Milling, in 1954, the sign was changed to 'FARINE FIVE ROSES FLOUR'. In 1993-1994, the entire business was bought by Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM). The Quiet Revolution resulted in sweeping legislation that established the primacy of the French language in all forms of public communication, including signage. This led directly to the removal of the word 'FLOUR' from the sign in 1977.
The sign currently consists of fifteen letters arranged in two rows, repeated on both sides of the sign: 'FARINE / FIVE ROSES'. These letters are each about 15 ft. tall, supported by a huge open scaffold, such that the words stand out prominently against the night sky, especially when approaching the city from the South shore of the St. Lawrence River (eg driving over the Champlain Bridge). The words are currently outlined in white and in-filled with red. At night they are lit by red neon laid into the red parts; the first word 'FARINE' is described in outline, while more elaborate rows of red neon up to three lights wide describe the words 'FIVE ROSES'. These words flash on and off in a slow rotation, such that one full cycle - lasting about 22 seconds - is as follows: top row on, bottom row on, both off; top row on, bottom row on, both off; top and bottom on, top and bottom off.
In mid-July 2006, the sign was turned off - seemingly permanently - as a direct result of ADM's sale of the Farine Five Roses brand to Smuckers. (Since ADM no longer owns the brand, the sign on the roof of its mill has become an irrelevance.)
In mid-August, the sign was turned back on amid adverse media coverage and public outcry. Notably, the City of Montréal remains adamant that it will not interfere with ADM's rumoured plan to remove the sign.
In 2003, another famous rooftop sign - erected by Pepsi-Cola in New York in 1936 - was saved from destruction through thoughtful planning. As a key part of a property/development deal, it was moved to an adjacent park and renovated. (Eagle-eyed viewers can see it fleetingly in one of the final scenes of the recent movie Munich.) ADM, Smuckers, and the City of Montréal can perhaps learn something from this imaginative arrangement.
Links about the Pespi-Cola sign:
This page contains all entries posted to Save Farine Five Roses in August 2006. They are listed from oldest to newest.
September 2006 is the next archive.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
