One month ago I was busy getting prepared for another hectic Christmas season managing book sales at Harbour Publishing.
Then Myrtle called. Instead of placing her usual book order, she asked me if I wanted to buy the Harbour Spiel.
"You mean the Paper Mill."
"No. The Harbour Spiel!" she laughed.
I couldn’t resist. Besides the picnic tables at the Hamburger Stand, the Harbour Spiel holds a special place for most as the only source of local information and gossip. We have a "unique" voice here that needs an outlet. Myrtle realized that and her unique and quirky approach to journalism is what has made this little monthly so charming. I’m not going to mess with that formula and plan to carry on with that irreverent tradition of allowing the Spiel to be a soapbox for the extreme variety of opinions and concerns swirling around us. I’ll continue to rely heavily on community contribution for material we all want to read and welcome your ideas.
A lot of locals fear that the character and old style charm of Pender Harbour are slowly ebbing away. The unprecedented growth we’ve been experiencing will continue to put pressure on our water resources, our real estate, and on our traditional industries and way of life. New people are bringing with them ideas and vital energy to a comunity suffering from growing pains but there’s a fear that they also bring unreasonable expectations of what life in the country should be like. Clashes are inevitable and it’s the reconciliation of the old values with new ones that will continue to make my job exciting and, hopefully, the paper interesting to read.
I feel fortunate to have grown up in a place like this. I was able to get out for awhile but then come back during a critical moment in its colourful history. There’s a reason we want to live here but it’s more than the quiet beauty we see every time we look out our windows.
Like an old net shed, it just smells good.
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