Red Deer sells off coin-operated parking meters ahead of move to digital technology

The City of Red Deer is updating its parking system, replacing their old coin-operated meters with digital technology.

Council voted earlier this year to sell off over a thousand of the old meters, but the overwhelming interest caught them off guard.

Cheryl Stanley of Sylvan Lake stood in line for just over 30 minutes on Thursday, hoping to get her hands on one of the meters.

"I thought there would be lots left! I had no idea people would be so interested in these meters," she said.

She plans to send her meter to a friend in South Carolina.

In total about 1,100 parking meters were sold.

"There was people that were reaching out at that point, saying 'What are you doing with the old meters and how can I get my hands on one?' So we thought if there’s some interest, there's probably more," said Amy Fengstad of the City of Red Deer, adding at one point, there were about 500 people waiting to buy a meter.

"I think it's wonderful that so many people want a piece of downtown history. The creative ideas of what people are going to do with them I think are fabulous, so I’d rather see people use them than us having to recycle them."

Cindy Cummings and her mother bought a double meter for $40.

"Just to have one because they don’t have them anymore. Just for fun to see what it was like, nostalgia!"