JOY'S JOURNAL
/by Joy Metcalfe
(click photos to enlarge)
Gordon Campbell.
A GALA DO WITH GORDON …
Next month something very exciting is going to happen. It’s a gala fundraising luncheon entitled “Lunch with a Legend”, starring the former mayor of Vancouver and premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell. The event is being sponsored by the Joanne and Peter Brown Foundation, for the Mel and Marty Zajac Foundation and the Zajac Ranch for Children.
It’ll be held on September 20 at the Terminal City Club and is bound to be a sellout! Can’t wait. It’s been eons since we’ve seen Gordon!
I’ll be there…
Vancouver’s “Mr. Fireworks” Ray Greenwood.
FIREWORKS IN THE SKY AND
BACKSTAGE!
Happy to see the Celebration of Light return after a three year absence. I recall when this summertime delight began in 1990, when sharp businessman and Vancouver promoter, Ray Greenwood, decided that we needed something exciting and totally different to happen in Vancouver in the summertime.
It was during a trip Back East that he witnessed Toronto’s amazing pyrotechnical fireworks display and competition among international countries.
So with the financial support and cooperation of Benson and Hedges tobacco company and radio station CKNW, he launched the Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire at English Bay on July 4, 1990.
Impresario Hugh Picket with our gala-gala-do gal Joy Metcalfe.
Famed impresario Hugh Pickett and I, along with TV anchor Tony Parsons and Benson & Hedges executive Dick Clark and his wife Beryl, were the main judges, while ‘NW’s Bill Nelson was the emcee.
Impresario Hugh Pickett with our gala-gala-do gal Joy Metcalfe. (Vancouver Archives)
We’d sit in the stands, make notes and, at the end of the night, adjourn to the Boathouse’s upstairs bar and add it all up.
Judging a pyrotechnical extravaganza is not an easy task. How did the fireworks blend with the music? Did they cover the three levels of sky? How high did they go? How breathtaking? Which country produced the most colorful display?
By year three, we were experts!
That was the year that there were more fireworks behind the scene than out in the water.
Our fiery Italian fireworks producer burst into our little judging area, and declared that Italy had won. We judges had already decided that Spain was, in fact, the winner of the three night competition.
He was so angry, calling us a bunch of dolts who knew nothing. And that we would have to change our minds.
We were absolutely gob-smacked. Not only at the intrusion, but the idea that we were stupid to boot.
Suddenly Hugh, the ever elegant, perfect gentleman, jumped to his feet, slammed his notebook down onto the table, and screamed at the offending intruder to take himself away or Hugh would toss him down the stairs.
Seeing the usually imperturbable Mr Pickett so enraged, our Italian producer beat a hasty retreat. And, needless to say, that evening Spain reigned. And that was our grand finale of fireworks judging!
Editor’s Note: For an update on current controversies around the annual Celebration of Light, see The West End Journal’s lead story in The Talk of the Town here.
Bowen Island golf enthusiast, the late Tim Kerr.
BOWEN ISLAND GETS ITS GROOVE ON …
Speaking of booming, just back home after a luxurious cruise to the northern climes of Europe, Bowen Island’s Murray Atherton and his charming wife Anna Marie arrived home just in time for the Logger’s Sports Day, garden unveilings, the opening night for an outdoor presentation of the musical Robin Hood, and tripping the light fantastic at the annual Dock Dance.
That was followed by the fundraising golf tournament to top up the coffers for the Tim Kerr Memorial Golf Academy at their great golf course that is now featured on all TrackMan systems for swing training.
Bowen Island’s Health Centre has commenced building. The new main Fire Hall will be opening this month and their Community Centre / Municipal Hall is being built.
Bowen’s second cidery has just opened. The first, which is now two years old, won Gold in a competition in London, England, and third prize for their category in Portland, Oregon.
And all this activity and first rate excitement is going on just a 20 minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay!...
THEATRE UNDER THE STARS …
Speaking of things booming and coming back stronger than ever, Theatre Under the Stars’ annual summertime productions are still attracting the crowds.
This year it’s Something Rotten and We Will Rock You – light, loud and funny.
TUTS has always attracted the best people, both pro and amateur, for their stage productions, including big Barry Rector, who, besides being a Sentinel High School teacher, and playing the blustery Mr. Bumble in Oliver, had a most unusual musical talent. Barry is/was the ninth best whistler in the world, competing against whistling competitors from across Canada and the United States, but in the late 1980’s, had to cut back on many of his activities over an 18-month period.
There is nothing more horrible or devastating in life than to be faced with the fact that your loved one has a serious life-threatening disease. It’s a nightmare beyond comprehension when it’s your child. Barry and his wife Merle were told by doctors that their four-year-old daughter, Heidi, had cancer.
For 18 months, Barry and Merle took turns staying overnight in Heidi’s room at Children’s Hospital, helping to allay her fears, keeping her safe and warm. During that time, Barry became familiar with other young cancer patients there, entertaining them with his remarkable whistling abilities and singing childhood songs.
In December, shortly after Heidi’s fifth birthday, she passed away.
It takes a tremendous amount of fortitude, love, caring and commitment to come through a heart-rending ordeal of this kind, an ordeal that could make one cold and bitter. But the Rectors were strong, overcoming their loss and carrying on with their lives.
When I saw that curmudgeonly old Mr. Bumble on the TUTS stage years ago, giving his all to make people laugh and enjoy, I recall Margaret Lee Runbeck’s thought, ”Happiness is not a state to arrive at but a way of travelling.”
For all those out there suffering the a similarly grievous situation, let us have a little compassion, say a little prayer, give a little whistle…
STAR-SPOTTING IN WHITE ROCK
Yes, indeed, that was a former CKNW newsman strolling around White Rock’s downtown area last week. Harry Phillips was in town to catch up with old friends.
The Top Dog’s ace reporter and author, George Garrett tells me that Harry was an outstanding reporter at CKNW and then with CBC Vancouver. Several years ago, while Harry was on the job, he was scouted by the leading Los Angeles radio and TV stations, where he finally became the top producer of ABC’s leading investigative program, 20/20, creating several award-winning documentaries and winning a much treasured Emmy.
Harry travelled the world digging up stories. Truly an outstanding “reporter,” as good old Jack Webster would say.
He was spotted dining with close pal, Gale Honey, at Nicholas Popoff’s Onyx Steakhouse last week…
White Spot founder Nat Bailey.
VANCOUVER’S ORIGINAL FOOD TRUCK
Speaking of yesteryear and food, it was 1928 when White Spot founder Nat Bailey transformed his 1918 Model T truck into a travelling lunch counter, becoming one of B.C.’s first ever food trucks. As White Spot president Warren Erhart opined, “For more than 90 years, White Spot has proudly supported local growers like the Guichon family and their Felix Farms in Delta, who have supplied potatoes for White Spot’s Kennebec fries since 1938.”
B.C.’s longest running restaurant chain launched their 2022 Celebrate BC menu on July 25…
’TIL NEXT MONTH …
Remember, I’m always searching for rumors, items, stories and scoops, so drop me a line at joymetcalfe@shaw.ca and spill the beans!
Cheers!...
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