Vancouver love locks moving to Queen Elizabeth Park

The Park Board has approved a new piece of public art designed specifically for Vancouver love birds

The sculptures, destined for Queen Elizabeth Park and designed by Vancouver artist Bruce Voyce, depict four couples standing beneath umbrellas.

But the sculptures have another purpose. It's hoped that the same people who are snapping padlocks onto city structures, as symbols of their love, will hang their locks on the stainless steel figurines instead.

The art work was commissioned because people were affixing locks to fences on the Burrard bridge, prompting safety concerns.

"Weight can definitely cause issues for structures that are not designed for that," said Park Board Chair Sarah Kirby-Yung.

The love lock craze isn't confined to Vancouver.

Locks a weight on Paris bridge

Officials in Paris were confronted with the same dilemma. For years, visitors have attached locks to the famed Pont Des Arts and then have thrown the metal keys into the Seine river.

By last year, the locks weighed about 45 tons, prompting fears the bridge could collapse. Officials removed the devices.

In Vancouver on Monday night, Kirby-Yung said she hopes the love lock tradition continues, noting the new sculptures can handle thousands of locks.

"It really becomes a ritual, something couples want to do, and so I think that's the spirit behind it and I think Vancouverites will embrace it."

Voyce said the structures — ageless, genderless figures made of stainless steel — evoke a Vancouver sensibility.

"It would speak of love in the temperate rainforest, which is kind of what we're talking about in Vancouver."