Fort Langley rainbow crosswalk covered up for filming of Sonic the Hedgehog sequel

The rainbow crosswalk in downtown Fort Langley will return, once local filming of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie wraps up around the last week of April.

Red Energy Films has been building facades and making small, temporary modifications to the streetscape around Glover Road and Mary Avenue since late March.

A facade on a largely empty lot on the corner of the street now sports convincing brickwork and faded old murals, despite the fact that the back is just plywood.

The production company also covered up the street’s signature rainbow crosswalk, which has been in place there since 2017.

According to location manager Michael Farias, a material treatment has covered the crosswalk, it hasn’t been painted over or scrubbed off.

“It’ll be easily cleaned off,” he said of the cover.

As soon as filming is completed, expected to be around the last week of the month, the Township will be able to pressure wash off the substance and touch up the crosswalk.

The original crosswalk was funded by a group of local artists, led by Elaine Brewer-White. They spearheaded the campaign in July 2016, following the massacre of 49 people inside a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

Brewer-White noted on her Facebook page that the crosswalk was to be restored, but also said its creation had been “a hard won battle with the TOL [Township of Langley] mayor and some councillors who did not want to see this symbol of welcome and inclusivity happen in our town.”

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The crosswalk cost $12,000 to paint, with the artists raising half the money, and the Fort BIA donating the other half.

Coun. Eric Woodward, who was president of the Fort BIA at the time, said “obviously, it will be restored.”

“It’s really important to me that it comes back, it’s a fixture of the town now,” Woodward said.

The filming has been welcomed by local merchants, who said it has brought a lot of business to the Fort.

However, it may cause a few traffic issues once filming starts in earnest.

Farias said a letter recently went out to local residents and shop owners; there will be intermittent traffic control at Mary and Glover. There may be alternating one way traffic at times.