The District of Coldstream greets visitors on entering the area with: Rural living at its best.
Suddenly and out of nowhere, the residents of this rural area are being asked to agree with a Kelowna-based society to install a amphitheater in a natural alluvial gulch below the community college.
The fact that this land borders on residential areas has obviously been overlooked.
When the potential neighbours objected to the proposal — issues being excessive noise, environmental damage, increased traffic, invasion of privacy, etc. — they were told not to be stupid at the March 14 meeting because the benefits would indeed outweigh any such objections.
The theatre could accommodate 5,000 people and would host 25 events per summer.
These events would, of course, not be quiet poetry readings, nor would they be tragic Shakespearian plays or humorous farces, or indeed soft choral music.
They would be fully amplified concerts, complete with drums, trumpets, steel guitars, crooners and announcers, all floating on the airwaves across the water to the residential areas east and south of the venue.
We live on that other side of the lake and we have to shut our windows and doors on hot summer nights to dampen the noise emanating from Funtastic concerts that take to the stage over the hill and far away at the Vernon Army Camp, and much further away from the proposed site below the college.
This happens once per summer, not 25 times.
It has been suggested that these types of open air theatres are popular all over Europe.
It is true, and attending concerts and plays there is truly a wonderful experience.
However, it has to be noted that these theatres are sensitively designed to fit into the landscape and away from high-density residential areas.
The Porthcurno venue in Cornwall, Britain fits naturally into rocky shore and lets the sound spread out from the stage into the open Atlantic Ocean, where only the birds and the fish frolic.
Glyndebourne Opera House in Britain has an idyllic setting in the country, seats 1,200 and disturbes no one. Penlee in Penzance seats 300 and fits in well into the surrounding landscape too.
In Germany, the concept of the waldbuehne, the stage in the forest, is embraced by music fans and totally accepted countrywide. The most famous stage is the waldbuehne near Berlin and it is surrounded by forest. The stage facing the audience seated in a small meadow. The acoustics are brilliant.
Another stage is situated high above the Rhein River and the Rock of the famous Lorelei, well away from the crowded town below. The music soars away into the sky.
Vernon has some great outdoor musical events going on already.
One is Paul Moore’s Opera in the Park. It has proven to be very popular in the past. It’s an afternoon event in Polson Park.
Our wonderful Vernon Performing Arts Centre can accommodate a large audience too and it's out of the rain and thunder storms.
Another issue is parking.
Added parking would be needed for up to 5,000 visitors. Sporting events at the new athletics park may well coincide with a concert in the bowl. Then what?
Traffic on to, off and across Highway 97 will reach a danger point.
Back to the Kelowna-based society and a plea to please be sensitive to the wishes of local residents: study the feasibility and study European prototypes. There must be more appropriate sites for your endeavour.
A perfectly suited site in the Kelowna area has been rejected only a few years ago:
On Highway 33, just past the sharp hair-pin corner before Joe Rich, there is the Heartland Ranch.
The owner’s application to host concerts, including a Rod Stewart concert, was rejected by the Regional District of Central Okanagan.
This could probably be reversed.
The site is out of the way and it’s beautiful with a view towards Kelowna and the famous wedding cake mountain cliff. Music could sing down the river valley toward Kelowna town.
How about that for a good suggestion.
Eva Impey
Coldstream