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Editorial: Proud and louder Pride Festival

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Proud and louder Pride Festival

Full-fledged Salt Spring Pride celebrations return to the island next weekend after a pandemic-forced hiatus, and they promise to be bigger and bolder than ever.

Music, dance and drama will be part of the fun, of course, both on the core all-weekend festival site of the Salt Spring Farmers’ Institute and in the streets of Ganges during the parade and aftermath on the steps of the library on Saturday. But in light of recent events around the world and unfortunately close to home as well, the 2023 Salt Spring Pride Festival organized by Diverse and Inclusive Salt Spring Island (DAISSI) has a more serious side too.

The recent backlash and political activism aimed at reversing human rights advances made in the past few decades cannot be left unchallenged. As festival volunteer and longtime activist Robert Birch points out in a DAISSI welcome message on page 7 of this paper, “relentless, daily attacks” are being endured by trans and queer individuals worldwide. According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Campaign organization, more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in 41 of the 50 U.S. states in 2023 so far — many targetting young people — with 70 of them already becoming law.

Putting aside religious groups’ rationale for gender oppression, our society seems addicted to defining and pursuing an ideal “norm.” From birth, many children are pressured to fit some kind of image of a normal and “successful” person. It seems the further one’s offspring stray from the strict path of “normal,” which would traditionally include identifying as heterosexual, the more stress parents experience.

But it doesn’t take much observation and reflection as an adult to realize that “normal” is a marketing illusion, and we have learned much about gender matters in recent decades. Humans are naturally and thankfully unique and diverse. In nature and human communities, diversity is essential and where it’s at.

Salt Spring’s Pride Festival offers lots of opportunities for everyone to celebrate diversity and inclusion, and to learn more about current issues and actions that can be taken to face the backlash and support the island’s young people. See the schedule in this week’s paper for details or saltspringpridefestival.ca.

Nomad up next at Tea à Tempo on July 26

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Nomad up next at Tea à Tempo on July 26

SUBMITTED BY MUSIC MAKERS

Fans of the popular concert series Tea à Tempo enjoy a wide range of music offered in the weekly summer programming in All Saints by-the-Sea.

The concert on Wednesday, July 26 featuring Nomad is sure to be a music lover’s delight.

Nomad is a collective of six imaginative and talented musicians hailing from all over North America. The group’s music telepathically weaves in and out of crisp structure, improvisational jungles and lyrical melody in a sublime mixture of jazz, chamber music and free improvisation. Since forming in 2012 while attending McGill University, they have toured eastern Canada, midwestern U.S., and performed at the Toronto and Vancouver International Jazz Festivals, IMOO festival in Ottawa and L’OFF festival in Montreal.

Since releasing their last full-length album As We Are in 2016, Nomad has performed and released a single with German pianist Pablo Held and released a remote recording collaboration featuring new music with guest artists, including flutist Anh Phung, vocalist Felicity Williams, drummers Phil Melanson and Devin Drobka. Their third full-length album is due for release next month. 

Wednesday’s concert will be played by five members of Nomad, including Salt Spring’s own Simon Millerd on trumpet and keyboards. With him will be Mike Bjella, tenor sax and flute; Ted Crosby, tenor sax and clarinet; Ben Dwyer, bass; and Kai Basanta, drums.

Music by donation begins at 2:10 p.m. Donations provide the honoraria for performers and contribute to the running of the Tea à Tempo series. Tea and treats, for $4, will be served immediately following the concert in the hall overlooking Ganges Harbour.

Let’s work to reduce kitten and cat suffering

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Let’s work to reduce kitten and cat suffering

By JEN MACLELLAN

For BCSPCA SALT SPRING

Salty Paws Driftwood column

It’s kitten season on Salt Spring! Little teeny bundles of fluffy ginger, tabbies and torties in all corners of the island. It’s incredibly tempting to add one of the adorable four-legged fuzzies to your family, especially if they are “free!”

Having been involved in animal rescue on the island for over 20 years, I can tell you honestly, what they say is true, there is no such thing as a free kitten.

Kittens need veterinary care from the start. They need deworming, parasite protection and vaccinations to ensure a long healthy life. In the past couple of years we have seen a spike in very sick kittens arriving at the BCSPCA shelter. Kittens born to feral moms or pets that haven’t been vaccinated don’t receive all the immunity from the queen that they need. The illnesses are long and traumatic, sometimes permanently affecting the development of the kitten, sometimes resulting in death. Most of these illnesses are easily preventable with vaccines.

Please spay or neuter your pet. Unaltered animals allowed to wander are causing an explosion in our feral cat population despite increased focus on trying to control it. Males will travel for miles, driven by instinct and often risking their health by entering feral colonies, fighting for territory, crossing roads and dangerous territory. Females may not return home to give birth, alone in the elements, surrounded by potential predators, in addition to the the risks involved in labour and delivery.

With the veterinarian shortage and an increase in costs for veterinary medicine, many people find it difficult to get their animals the care they need. If you find yourself in that position please reach out. Ask about our SNIP vouchers for spay and neuter. If you find a “free” kitten we would love to tell you about our foster to adopt program. The BCSPCA has resources to assist you.

Consider insurance. It’s comforting knowing you won’t have to make a decision on the best care for you pet based on finances.

The BCSPCA on Salt Spring has adoptable kittens for just over $200. All kittens receive veterinary care, parasite protection, deworming, core vaccines and are spayed or neutered and microchipped. They also come with six weeks of free pet insurance.

The shelter is open Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. if you would like more information or to meet one of our amazing adoptable cats.

In Response: Further harbour degradation can be prevented

Contributed Article
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In Response: Further harbour degradation can be prevented

By GLENN STEVENS and other CLEAN AND SAFE HARBOURS INITIATIVE MEMBERS 

In response to the Driftwood’s July 12 “Testing the Waters” editorial, Clean and Safe Harbours Initiative (CASHI) members would like to make the following comments.

CASHI members think it’s terrific, as does the Driftwood, that the June 21, 2023 Island Health/CRD fecal matter water test results show that at Centennial Park bulkhead and Churchill Beach enterococci levels are “safe for swimming.” This does not mean that there is no fecal matter in the water, as the Driftwood points out, but that it is not “unsafe” for swimming. A regular water quality monitoring program for Ganges Harbour is long overdue, of course, given that our harbour is permanently closed for shellfish harvesting because of the risk of sanitary contamination.

As the Driftwood points out, no doubt human waste and garbage are being dumped into our harbours and that this pollution comes from both liveaboards and transient vessels. The Driftwood also notes there are derelict boats in our harbours at a high impending risk of sinking. We all know this and know this has been going on for far too long. Derelict boats have sunk and can readily be observed actively sinking. Some, but unfortunately not all, sunken boats are removed every year. The navigational charts underscore that Ganges Harbour has dozens of sunken derelict vessels, and we can readily observe their debris littering our shorelines. Ganges Harbour is a junkyard. There are perhaps a dozen shopping carts at the bottom of the harbour off the seaplane dock and even sunken dinghies off our dinghy docks. You don’t have to be a waterfront property owner, or even on a waterfront property, to observe any of this. 

Given these facts, we submit that the CASHI is even more urgent: we have an opportunity to prevent further fecal contamination, along with other waste and other pollution if the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee (SSILTC) adopts the proposed CASHI bylaw!   

Instead, the Driftwood says we should not adopt CASHI to regulate liveaboards because “Even taking the highest estimates for the numbers living afloat, their impacts are surely dwarfed by countless numbers” of other vessels using our harbours year-round. So, the Driftwood concludes, since “There is no practical way to determine the provenance of every sack of garbage” between a liveaboard and a transient vessel and “by the time a vessel becomes derelict and sinks, the owner is usually long gone” and “given the context of an affordable housing crisis” “we should aim elsewhere” “to incrementally address pollution in our harbour.”

With respect, we submit this makes no sense. Two wrongs (illegally dumping in our harbours by both liveaboards and transient vessels) do not make it okay for anyone to pollute our harbours. That there are two or more groups of offenders underscores that we should be actively enforcing regulations against illegal dumping. Why would we tolerate anyone dumping in our harbours? Why would we allow a bigger mess to be passed along to future generations to resolve? Frankly, this is a poor excuse for doing nothing about this without even one constructive suggestion being made.   

Please consider that SSILTC Bylaw 355, Section 3.19.1, currently prohibits all dwelling on vessels, except in two very limited circumstances. However, our local Trust committee has resolved not to enforce that bylaw or any other bylaw making any dwelling illegal on Salt Spring Island but with some significant exceptions when enforcement may occur: “the resolution does not apply to regulations intended to protect ensuring health and safety, appropriate sewage disposal, pollution, location in environmentally sensitive areas, and unpermitted campgrounds” (Reference: Salt Spring Islands Trust Fact Sheet).

Thus, you are now allowed to live on a vessel, but enforcement may occur if you are dwelling on a boat and do not dispose of your sewage as required by law or cause pollution that is illegal. While this approach by the Trust appears balanced with our community needs given the ongoing the housing crisis, that unfortunately is not the case. Why? Because the Trust has not been enforcing Bylaw 3.19.1 against illegal dwelling on vessels no matter what illegal dumping or pollution may have come from liveaboards, visiting vessels, sea shanties or any occupied structure in the harbour.    

So, we now find ourselves in a worse situation. Although still illegal, the Trust effectively allows you to live aboard a vessel in Salt Spring harbours without any concern of being held to comply with any laws for keeping our harbours clean and safe.  What do you think is going to happen once word gets out that this is allowed in Salt Spring Island harbours?  

You cannot build a house on Salt Spring without an approved septic system, but it is open flushing season in the harbour. And our problem is getting worse. It is well known that illegal liveaboards and derelict vessels have been moved out from other areas due to the same concerns regarding their active pollution and deteriorating condition. Unfortunately, a number of these have found their way to our harbours.  Where other water bodies are being cleaned up, our situation is deteriorating.

We cannot aspire to a “preserve and protect” ethos if we turn our back to clear and active environmental damage. Rather than a heal the bay or save the bay initiative, the sentiments in the Driftwood opinion piece offer a shoulder shrug and condone a “damage the bay” laissez faire policy.

CASHI’s proposal makes living on vessels legal — in return, it reasonably requires compliance with laws to ensure our harbours are clean and safe.  The proposed bylaw would regulate both current liveaboard vessels and all other vessels that enter our harbours year-round and stay for more than 48 hours in any seven-day period. Permits are required in both situations. There would be no fee for a permit, but the vessel owner/user must provide proof that the vessel meets certain clean and safe requirements, i.e., has legally required waste containment equipment; does not impede navigation; is registered; and properly disposes of waste.     

By requiring such permit compliance proof, the Trust does not have to inspect every vessel. The bylaw would also regulate placement of docks and moorings (like a parking lot) to avoid navigation issues, as well as addressing abandoned and derelict vessels. Importantly, it would also allow the Trust to limit the number of permits it issues for living on vessels.   

Is this proposal perfect? Perhaps not. But it offers a means to allow the reality of what is already occurring in terms of living in the harbour while actively addressing the environmental damage we are suffering. Importantly, the proposed bylaw provides a practical solution for enforcement of the proposed regulations because if a vessel owner/user cannot supply compliance proof, a permit will not be issued; in this situation, the owner/user will be given reasonable time to cure the compliance issue, but if it cannot be cured within such time, the vessel will have no right to remain in our harbours.

Please read the proposed bylaw. It may be found on the Trust’s website about our June 22, 2023 delegation presentation.

Trust gives nod to brewery licence expansion

Robb Magley
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Trust gives nod to brewery licence expansion

Despite concerns from neighbours, a divided Trust committee has lent its seal of approval to a Salt Spring brewery’s license expansion. 

After a packed-house public comment period, where opponents of the Salt Spring Brewing Company’s plans pleaded for the expansion to be halted, the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee (LTC) voted 2-1 in favour of indicating its support for the project to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.  

Neighbourhood residents along Furness Road, many appearing alongside their young children, warned of noise, traffic and safety concerns stemming from increasing the number of potentially intoxicated patrons in the larger seating space, as well as of potential environmental impacts from the company’s modification of its licence to include a “lounge” endorsement.  

And despite what seemed to be earnest efforts between residents and local staff to find agreement, the differences — described by one neighbour as a “gap in trust” largely blamed on the off-island owner — remained seemingly too broad to span, at least in advance of the LTC’s approval. 

Head brewer Louis Hage said the company had taken to heart advice from the last LTC hearing, and explored the idea of a “good neighbour” agreement to help ameliorate some concerns from surrounding residents. But issues of the enforceability of such an agreement led to the brewery abandoning those plans. 

Trustee Laura Patrick, who ultimately was the lone vote against the motion to pass along LTC’s approval, said she had hoped to see a stronger relationship between the business and the neighbourhood. 

“I agree that this is a business that is important to the island,” said Patrick. “I’d like to have seen this [disagreement] resolved in a way that would have them working in synergy together; that would’ve given me the confidence to feel better [about approval].” 

“I’m uncomfortable with the idea of passing this,” she continued, “and I’m sad to deny it. This is something I’d like to be supporting, but I want to see it formed as part of the neighbourhood.” 

Trust staff noted the brewery had adopted other LTC recommendations, including building permanent signage to address speed and safety on the brewery property — and small signs to be placed on the tables within the brewery asking customers to drive slowly, keep noise down, respect the neighbours and park in the designated spaces. Trustee Jamie Harris seemed satisfied with these efforts, as well as the brewery staff’s assertions that the expansion would largely grow the business during the off season, rather than increase the number of tourists during peak summer months.  

“This has been an ongoing business for years,” said Harris. “I really have confidence that they will be able to sort it out on their own. They’re taking steps to make good; the last thing on their mind is inflaming the local community. I’m encouraged, [and think] the brewery will do the right thing.” 

Staff will now send a response to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch, indicating the LTC recommends the brewery’s application be approved.  

Theatre Alive invites AGM input under new director

Gail Sjuberg
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Theatre Alive invites AGM input under new director

A long-running performing arts organization is undergoing another metamorphosis as Maggie O’Scalleigh takes the reins of the Salt Spring Theatre Alive Society.

Chris Humphreys had been artistic director of Theatre Alive since late in 2019, with a Jan. 1, 2020 staged reading of The Importance of Being Earnest the first show under his helm before facing the pandemic shutdown and the slow return to live performances of any kind.

When O’Scalleigh heard that Humphreys was unable to continue leading the organization, she jumped at the chance to become its artistic director.

O’Scalleigh was the producer, administrator and an instructor for StageCoach Theatre School from 2008-2014 and says her life passion has primarily been for musical theatre. She studied classical voice training in Toronto for five years before moving first to Victoria, and then to Salt Spring with her husband Jaysun and their then three-year-old child Kane in 2004.

The Theatre Alive society has deep roots on Salt Spring, first created by Diana Hayes and Yvonne Adalian in 1984 to bring innovative literary and theatre events to local audiences.

Humphreys, who just published his 22nd novel — Someday I’ll Find You — said he is so busy with writing and travelling, and “being a one-man band” with Theatre Alive was a lot of work, though rewarding.

“I felt fresh blood, with all the enthusiasm that Maggie brings, will allow more shows, a wider remit and lots of thinking entertainment for a hungry audience of Salt Springers,” he said.

O’Scalleigh plans to diversify Theatre Alive offerings and to hopefully increase revenue for ArtSpring at the same time.

“I want to see if we can find more programming through Theatre Alive that will get more bums in seats; people who wouldn’t necessarily have gone to ArtSpring before.”

As well, O’Scalleigh wants to present more stories from Black, Indigenous, people of colour and immigrant writers.

“There’s more playwrights coming forward, more stories being told, and readers theatre is really enacting a story,” she said.

O’Scalleigh is inviting participation and ideas from community members interested in theatre and story telling. The society’s annual general meeting will be held via Zoom on Sunday, July 23 at 6 p.m. Contact O’Scalleigh at jaynmags@gmail.com to get the link and for more information.

Updated: Body found at Long Harbour

Robb Magley
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Updated: Body found at Long Harbour

A multi-agency search for a missing man ended tragically Thursday morning as a body was recovered from the shoreline in Long Harbour.  

Salt Spring Island Search and Rescue (SSISAR) joined efforts that would include Salt Spring RCMP, Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR) vessels — as well as a CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue helicopter from Comox — by 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 12. The search for a presumed missing boat operator began shortly after a vessel was sighted underway without a pilot — and a dog who came ashore was recognized — that afternoon.  

Officials declined to identify the man due to pending investigations, but neighbours said both the dog — a black lab named Ninja — and boat belonged to islander Dinny Corcoran, who had been building a home on nearby Clamshell Islet since 2021.  

As boats and aircraft methodically searched the water, more than a dozen SSISAR members split into four teams on both sides of the harbour and scoured the shoreline until dark, according to SSISAR search manager Zeke Blazecka. He said the land-based search was halted due to safety concerns at around 9:30 p.m. and with plans to resume first thing Thursday morning with the low tide.  

But as SSISAR teams gathered at first light the next day, word came that a body identified as male had been located by a boater; a small team from SSISAR was sent to assist with transporting the body to a search vessel, which then brought it to a dock and the funeral director, Blazecka said.  

“We had a good team out, and they were well prepared and did what they were trained to do,” said Blazecka. 

The BC Coroners Service confirmed that agency had been notified of the death and had begun an investigation. 

Family members arrived on Salt Spring on Sunday, according to SaltyDog Retreat Kennel and Rescue’s Jamie Halan-Harris, who had cared for the dog Ninja in the interim. 

“He was pretty shaken up, but so excited to see the family when they came to pick him up,” said Halan-Harris. “He was practically smiling, jumped right in their truck. We were happy to help Ninja, it was a happy ending in a sad situation.” 

Salt Spring RCMP Sgt. Clive Seabrook thanked the Coast Guard, RCMSAR, SSISAR and the public for their efforts to help locate the missing man.  

“This is a tragic outcome,” said Seabrook, “and our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.”  

The search and recovery was only the second callout of the calendar year for SSISAR, according to Blazecka, with the first only days prior as they participated in a mutual aid search in Juan de Fuca over the previous weekend. But a third came right on its heels Sunday, July 16, as SSISAR members coordinated with Salt Spring Fire Rescue to bring an injured hiker down from a trail near the top of Mount Erskine. 

That rescue involved two teams from SSISAR, who met firefighters near the summit and brought the hiker to a waiting ambulance at the trailhead, according to search manager Conrad Bowden.  

Seabrook said Salt Spring RCMP are police are asking boaters ensure they possess basic safety items, which must include a manual bailer, a whistle and a fire extinguisher when applicable. Police also reminded the public to ensure their vessels are registered, in safe working order, and that boat operators possess a valid Pleasure Craft Operators Card.  

“The registration and card are often overlooked,” said Seabrook, “but the process of obtaining these things provides an educational component that helps to keep people safe. And above all else, wear your lifejacket.” 

Editorial: Testing the waters

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Testing the waters

It should go without saying, we see little chance of Ganges Harbour usurping the title of “best swimming spot on Salt Spring Island.”  

And if readers are bemused by the notion of Island Health and the CRD using recreational beach water quality testing to check whether the busiest harbour in the Southern Gulf Islands is suitable for swimming, just imagine how it felt for a newspaper to report it. 

Context, of course, is everything; in the context of the Clean and Safe Harbours Initiative (CASHI) making the request — and with that group’s oft-stated concern that liveaboard residents are dumping their wastewater overboard and polluting Ganges Harbour — checking for indicator bacteria whose presence suggests fecal matter in the water makes perfect sense.  

The question CASHI asked was answered: yes, there is likely pollution from human waste in the harbour. A low enough level was found that, in the context of an ocean beach where people actually wanted to swim, Island Health would give the green light.  

But the answer in this case is less illuminating than the question. 

Latin scholars will recognize post hoc ergo propter hoc — “after this, therefore because of this” — a logical fallacy that seems to raise its head whenever simple solutions are presented to solve complex problems. In context, CASHI’s question seems to carry an assumption: if there is pollution in Ganges Harbour, some must be from the liveaboards, and regulating the liveaboards will help solve the pollution problem. 

But Ganges Harbour’s environmental problems are complex, and the contributors to them myriad. Even taking the highest estimates for the numbers living afloat, their impacts are surely dwarfed by countless numbers of recreational and fishing vessels motoring in and out of the harbour year-round, and other activities there. 

Assigning responsibility is difficult, and complex. There is no practical way to determine the provenance of every sack of garbage. By the time a vessel becomes derelict and sinks, the owner is usually long gone. A transient boater dumping waste or garbage on their way in or out is nearly impossible to detect. 

The liveaboard population — often poorly resourced, and usually stationary — is an easy target. If we want to incrementally address pollution in the harbour, given the context of an affordable housing shortage, we should aim elsewhere.

Viewpoint: More than meets the eye

Contributed Article
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Viewpoint: More than meets the eye

By FRANTS ATTORP

Those who control the process control the outcome. For evidence, look no further than political machinations on Salt Spring.

As the Local Trust Committee (LTC) seeks to add potentially thousands of additional suites and cottages through proposed Bylaw 530, an unspoken battle is brewing over sections of our official community plan (OCP) specifying that growth must be “incremental,” changes “few and minor,” “eventual population” limited  and all densities considered, even those not yet developed.

OCPs are typically reviewed every five to 10 years. Salt Spring’s has not been reviewed since it was adopted 15 years ago, so a broad community discussion about the future is long overdue.

The District of Sooke writes: “An OCP review involves significant public involvement from beginning to the end so that goals and policies reflect community concerns and hopes for the future. During an OCP update, the review process is open, transparent, and requires broad input from residents, elected officials, staff and stakeholders.”

What a contrast to Salt Spring where trustees are working to avoid a full and inclusive discussion of the big ideas — questions relating to growth, population, sustainability, settlement patterns and housing options — and where trustee Laura Patrick has creatively coined the expression “focused OCP update” as a cover for “strictly limited discussion.”

The previous LTC asked staff to proceed with Bylaw 530 despite a legal opinion from Trust lawyers stating it is a violation of the growth limits in our OCP. Now it is back on the table just before a planned OCP amendment (as opposed to a full review), and without an impact assessment. This means the public will be allowed to address details, but not concepts.

How is that even legal? As Trust lawyers have explained, it may not be. But who has the funds to mount a legal challenge?

The public consultation process was derailed three years ago when trustees decided to abandon a full OCP review and go with a fragmented committee approach that sidestepped a community discussion of the bigger picture (i.e. the vision).

The establishment of the single-issue Housing Action Program Task Force was particularly consequential as its recommendations are now being implemented. The chair of the task force speaks of “sustainability” and “protecting resources,” yet has no problem using the density shotgun to give property owners permanent, lucrative entitlement to more development while producing only a handful of rental units.

How is approving all that potential development without a covenant requirement and a long-term impact assessment “protecting resources?” And there’s more. According to the chair, “permitting accessory dwelling units is just one first step of many recommendations” designed to create “a diverse and healthy population with minimal impact per capita on the environment.”

Bylaw 530 is about much more than creating a few extra dwellings; it’s about using per capita calculations to focus on individual environmental footprint rather than total human impact, breaking free of Islands Trust restrictions, subverting nature and allowing Salt Spring to be developed like any other area. It’s a developer’s dream come true.

Radio noir mystery a fundraiser for CHiR.fm

Gail Sjuberg
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Radio noir mystery a fundraiser for CHiR.fm

The Gulf Islands Community Radio Society is close to achieving a $50,000 fundraising goal and hopes an upcoming radio play fundraiser at ArtSpring will ensure the CHiR.fm radio station can become a reality.

The Adventures of Tom Thumb, Private Detective is written by Sid Filkow of Salt Spring Hysterical Society and The Geezers fame in a classic 1940s radio noir mystery style. It will run at ArtSpring on Friday-Saturday, July 21-22 at 7:30 p.m.

As the title suggests, the lead character is the Tom Thumb from English folk tales, who is trying to figure out “the case of the forbidden fruit.” Other cast members are well-known fairytale characters.

“It’s sort of like Boston Blackie meets fractured fairy tales meets the Goon Show,” explained Filkow.

“It’s very funny,” said radio society president and Tom Thumb director Damian Inwood. “We laugh our way through rehearsals and it’s still funny even though we’ve read it loads of times.”

The cast includes Carlo Locatelli as Announcer, Emcee and The Huntsman; Charlotte Mitchell as Snow White, The Mirror and Shep Wooly; Mark O’Neill as Boy Blue and Humpty Dumpty; Charley Miller as Jill and Red Riding Hood; Sue Newman as The Queen; Eric Pollins as Tom Thumb, Wendy Beatty as Rapunzel and David Crone as the Sound Man. Filkow also has a cameo part as the Newsboy.

Filkow is a radio society member, and he and Inwood worked together on a past Salt Spring Community Theatre production. Filkow had pretty much written the play, which was sitting in a drawer, when he contacted Inwood to suggest it be produced as a fundraiser for the radio society.

The Tom Thumb event has since evolved into a full evening of entertainment, with live musical interludes from The Myrtle Sisters and The Regulars.

“There’s entertainment, there’s a variety show, and it’s got a theme and a play,” said Filkow. “It’s kind of a moveable feast.”

The sound effects are also terrific and often humorous, said Inwood.

Tickets for the show are on sale through ArtSpring.

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