Collecting memories of the Sudbury Superstack

Stories on Vale's iconic Superstack Sudbury Writers' Guild is collecting stories, photos & other memorabilia to memorialize the Superstack in an anthology they hope to publish.

The Sudbury Writers’ Guild is hoping to hear from Sudburians and northern Ontarians who have reflections on what is likely one of the city’s most well-known landmarks.

It’s inviting members of the public to submit poetry, prose and photos of the Superstack for an anthology it’s looking to publish.

“It’s similar to our last project which we did called 'Painted Voices' which we did for the Memorial Hospital, we’re looking to put together an anthology on the Superstack this time," said project manager Thomas Leduc.

“Anything that has to do with the stack so we can put together a book of some sort.”

“We’re quite excited about it, the call out goes out to May 12,” he said.

“If you lived under the stack we want to hear about it, if you worked in the stack or had anything to do with it, I know myself growing up, it was always a beacon of home right.”

As a child, Leduc told CTV News, he would look out onto the horizon and once he saw the stack, he knew he was close.

“Not having it around is going to be a big change for us and I think it’s going to be a good one,” he said.

Liisa Kovala is the president of the Sudbury Writers’ Guild and she has a personal connection to the stack herself.

A life-long Sudburian, her father was a foreman on the project.

“My father was on the Superstack when the tornado came through so he had a lot of memories about that,” she said, laughing.

“I’ve never known Sudbury without the Superstack so for me it’s this kind of iconic feature.”

Kovala said with the stack coming down, people are bound to have feelings about the change.

“Some might think it’s an eye-sore, some might have good memories about it, so we want to hear their stories,” she said.

The stack was retired in 2020 after advancements in technology determined it was no longer needed to pump sulphur gases.

It’s roughly 1,250 feet tall and is the second tallest free-standing structure of its kind in the country.

The guild is accepting submissions for the anthology in both English and French.

For more information, visit the guild’s website.