The Shoreline Arts Society does a great job of running one of the most popular events in Campbell River.
And their enthusiasm and energy is an inspiration for us all.
However, their activities in the past week have been a little curious. First off, an organization that creates carvings during their annual festival is looking for city money to buy a carving from Nanaimo? That doesn’t sound like a worthwhile expense, albeit a minor one.
And, secondly, the group also wants to carve a salmon statue that will be larger than the one our supposed arch-rivals in Port Alberni have. That’s because, you know, ‘we’re the Salmon Capital of the World and so, therefore, our carving should be the biggest.’ There are three claimants to the title of Salmon Capital: ourselves, Port Alberni and Ketchikan, Alaska. While all this rivalry is all in good fun and helps with tourism promotion, we do have to conduct ourselves with a little bit of dignity. Is this “mine is bigger than yours” stuff not a little…childish?
Maybe a display of Transformations on the Shore winning carvings might make a better welcome to Campbell River than a copycat salmon statue.
