1971 Canadian Championships at The Netropolitan Museum of Figure Skating Pins
Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, located in central Canada, saw the country’s finest figure skaters gather in that city for the 1971 Canadian Figure Skating Championships. Collectors of figure skating pins who attended the event were greeted with a neat and clean pin to proudly display on their coat lapels and scarves. And those collectors—along with everyone else—were greeted not only with cold January weather but a blizzard to boot. It was, after all, winter in Winnipeg. Winterpeg.
It just wouldn’t be Canadian if an item—no matter what it is—didn’t have a maple leaf emblazoned somewhere on it. The pin made to commemorate the 1971 Canadian Championships did not disappoint with regard to the beloved national symbol. Next to a semi-abstract illustration of a figure skater in black, a red maple leaf proudly proclaims “Made in Canada.” The enameled pin, on a gold-colored base metal with white background, measures approximately 7/8″ in diameter (2.2 cm). Although the maple leaf and the skater are the focal points of the pin, around the circumference are the details: “Canadian Figure Skating Championships, Winnipeg 1971.”
Collectors of figure skating pins who attended the event were greeted with a neat and clean pin to proudly display on their coat lapels and scarves.
Unlike pins issued for many U.S. Figure Skating Championships that use the colloquial wording “Nationals” (or something similar), the Canadians resisted that approach, at least early on. Only beginning in 1979 for the championships in Thunder Bay did the first use of the colloquial term “Canadians” appear on a national event pin.1
Enjoy Winterpeg. 1971.
1Based on pins in the collection of The Netropolitan, which includes 1963 and at least one pin from each Canadian Championship from 1970 through 1990.
1971 Canadian Figure Skating Championships Pin Gallery
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