Little was it realized that a one-time financial request in 1989 would produce one of Victoria's favourite events and lead to centre stage for Oak Bay's 100th birthday.
Murray Glazier, a former Victoria city councillor, approached the Intermunicipal Committee with an inspiring idea. Tow a barge into the Inner Harbour, put the Symphony on board, invite everyone downtown to picnic and listen, and make enough money to help retire the orchestra's debt.
Glazier asked for $10,000, half the Committee's yearly budget to sponsor one-off events. However, the members were so taken with the idea that they agreed to give the event their full budget and cancel any other requests for that year.
Fast forward to a glorious long B.C. weekend that August; the first 'test' Symphony Splash took hold. Picnic tables with white tablecloths, candles, and discreet 'vino' covered the legislature's front lawn. Conductor Peter McCoppin with his matinee idol looks and long flowing hair put a spell on everyone with the orchestra, and the event was a huge hit. The only misstep was they had forgotten to put porta-potties on the barge!
The intermission was extra long as musicians trudged into the Royal London Wax Museum and the Fairmont Empress, both very accommodating. That night Splash was born.
Seventeen years later Glazier and an Oak Bay mayor collaborated again. The idea was to celebrate the municipality's 100th birthday with a concert in Windsor Park on July 2, the day Oak Bay was incorporated by Lieutenant Governor James Dunsmuir. Then Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo was invited to let her hair down, which she did.
It was a perfect summer's day with little wind and warm sunshine. Most of the crowd turned up with their own chairs and enjoyed a pop-up Penny Pub, whilst volunteers made sure everything ran smoothly. The angel food birthday cake was donated by Thrifty Foods, then sliced into a thousand pieces with a ceremonial sword. The music was divine.
You could hear a pin drop in the park (if such a thing were possible) when Brian Jackson conducted Elgar's Nimrod. Fireworks that night from Mary Tod Island were so spectacular that they started a fire on the Island ... but that is a story for another day.
After a five-year hiatus, the Symphony plans on bringing back Symphony Splash under the new name Sonic Splash in August 2025 in the Inner Harbour.
A lot of people who were there in 1989 and 2006 will be enthusiastically supporting them. Let's hope they can pull it off and not forget the Sentry Boxes.
