Collector Peter Lepold, of Kelowna, B.C., has given a philatelic nod to everyone who made it through the past 17 months of COVID-19.
A prolific Picture Postage issuer, Lepold issued his first customized creation in 2003 and has since released nearly 200 different stamps.
His latest creation borrows one of his favourite themes, Kelowna’s four-metre-long Ogopogo statue, shown alongside “Baby Ogie” while wearing a mask and swimming in the icy water of Okanagan Lake, which the monsters are said to inhabit.
“Speaking of spending all that time at home, I had a few face masks done with the phrase ‘I’ve survived COVID-19’ and my favourite Ogopogo theme,” Lepold told CSN earlier this spring, adding he replicated the face mask design on a Picture Postage stamp.
The publicity chair of British Columbia’s Kelowna & District Stamp Club, Lepold said he, his wife and one of two daughters are fully vaccinated.