Dear editor,
Just a note of thanks to all the wonderfully talented performers on this year's telethon.
After 37 years I am still amazed at the Comox Valley's ability to produce homegrown singers, songwriters, musicians, dancers, actors and now even acrobats — some who go on into careers and win awards like the Junos, Grammies, and Golden Globe.
Others stay making their home and raising their families in the Valley with their sons and daughters performing on the show just as they did years before.
The arts are a $55-billion-a-year industry in Canada.
We host the world's biggest jazz festival (Montreal), film festival (Toronto), comedy festival (Montreal again) as well as tens of thousands of events from coast to coast.
Every year, over four per cent of the all the top recordings and many of great movies have major Canadian content.
But it all starts in the community. It starts with the music teacher, the dance instructor, the local theatre group.
Good Job. Keep up the great work and we'll see you again next year.
Edwin Grieve,
Comox Valley
Editor's note: Edwin Grieve is the stage manager-talent co-ordinator of the Comox Valley Child Development Centre Telethon.