Save Farine Five Roses

We've had a couple of reports (thanks David and Lisa!) that the Farine Five Roses sign was turned off on Friday night (13th October) and has not been turned on again since then. There may also be some other activity on the roof in the vicinity of the sign. If anyone has more information please let us know. Is this the beginning of the end?

I've just heard from Dinu Bumbaru at Heritage Montreal that they received a letter from ADM last Thursday saying that ADM is working with Smucker's to, in M. Bumbaru's words, "keep the sign on display." I'm currently trying to get direct confirmation from ADM or Smucker's, and to find out what their plan might actually be.

I am awaiting official word from my contact at the offices of the borough of Ville-Marie as to their position on the sign. A spokesperson from ADM's HQ in Decatur, Illinois has also been in touch, and has made promises to keep this blog in the loop re developments. As always, I'll post more as soon as I know anything.

A spokesperson for Monsieur Labonté, the Ville-Marie borough mayor, has confirmed the following points:

The FFR sign was off Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. Bizarrely, it was on during the day yesterday (Tuesday). Regarding an earlier blackout, ADM had emailed me to say that "It was accidentally turned off for a few days....It was turned back on as soon as management was made aware." So - what's going on exactly? Does management need a nudge every time we see the sign is off? I can't help but wonder if the aim is to acclimatize us all to the notion that the sign is unreliable. Maybe they're just seeing if repeatedly turning it off provokes less and less of a reaction from the public and the media. Thoughts anyone?