Organizers of an unconventional tribute to beloved Canadian author Carol Shields are set to break ground in Winnipeg on Monday.

The late author's family, friends and fans will gather in the city's King's Park for a lunchtime sod-turning ceremony before construction of the Carol Shields Memorial Labyrinth.

The first phase of the Carol Shields Memorial Labyrinth in Winnipeg's King's Park is expected to be completed and 'walkable' by September.
(Friesen Tokar Architects + Landscape + Interior Designers)

Labyrinths and mazes were special to the late author, her husband Don Shields told CBC Arts Online.

He recalled that while they were courting in the U.K., one of the couple's dates in 1956 was a visit to the Hampton Court Maze near London. Years later, a visit to the Saffron Walden Maze in Essex helped spark the idea for his wife's acclaimed novel Larry's Party, he said.

Over the years, the couple would continue to visit other mazes and labyrinths.

"To find out that someone in Winnipeg had taken on this project … I thought, 'Isn't this super?' I think it's a great idea and certainly a great tribute to Carol," he said.

"We both agreed, and Carol was adamant, that Winnipeg provided us with many opportunities that we never had before," Shields said. "Winnipeg was where Carol blossomed as a writer."

Tribute born in late 2003

The idea to honour the Pulitzer, Orange and Governor General's Award-winning Shields with a namesake labyrinth was born shortly after her death in 2003 from breast cancer.

The project has snowballed in the past four years, according to co-ordinator Anne Nesbitt.

"Her spirit is just leading us through this and we feel it all the time," Nesbitt said.

"She wrote about ordinary people and those were her heroes. That's what this project is. It's just about an ordinary community, citizens coming together."

For the first phase of the labyrinth, organizers have raised approximately $130,000 from a range of sources, including the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba's provincial government, the Shields family, corporate donors and individuals in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.

'She wrote about ordinary people and those were her heroes. That's what this project is. It's just about an ordinary community, citizens coming together.'—Anne Nesbitt

Phase one encompasses creating the structure of the labyrinth by digging and laying the crushed stone pathways, brick edging and garden patterns, as well as outlining special spaces inspired by Shields, like a reading circle, a healing garden and a commemorative central area.

"For the designers, it was really a joy to bring together the literary aspect with a garden, recreational aspect," Nesbitt said.

The main structure will be "installed and walkable" by September, at the latest, she added.

Then, organizers must raise an additional $50,000-$70,000 to put in the gardens and flesh out the structure with more plant life, benches, boulders and other elements.

"We're hoping that over a course of about two years, we'll have the whole thing complete," she said.

When finished, the Shields Labyrinth will be the largest in Canada at about 2,000 square metres.

"I'm sure she would recognize this as a reflection of herself and her life, and that's basically what it is," Nesbitt said.

Family to attend labyrinth launch

Carol Shields and her husband Don pose for photos after she was named a companion of the Order of Canada at Government House in Victoria on Oct. 26, 2002.
(Richard Lam/Canadian Press)

Don Shields will travel from his home in Victoria to join three of his five children and several grandchildren in Winnipeg for the sod-turning ceremony, as well as the launch of A Memoir of Friendship, a book of letters between Shields and her longtime friend and fellow author Blanche Howard.

He called the labyrinth "one of the delights" his family is looking forward to.

"You walk [through labyrinths] and there's a certain — I don't know — tranquillity and peace or something that seems to come to all of us, just as we walk in these circles and follow a path," he said.

"Carol would be jumping through a hoop for this project," he added.