Approximately 25 adults and their children staged a protest rally at Bowen Island Community School Friday, June 19. They had home-made placards decrying their opinions about various aspects of the artificial turf field installation, set to take place this summer.

One objection: plastic. At a time when there are many initiatives world-wide to reduce the use of plastics, such as plastic bags and water bottles, many question whether installing a synthetic grass field is backward thinking.

Another bone of contention – cutting a dozen trees on the playground to make room for the field. Some expressed emotional attachment to the trees; others feel that the tree removal will compromise the beauty and comfort of BICS' playground.

Use of public money is also a major issue for some opposed to the project. They feel that ongoing maintenance as well as replacement and disposal costs are better spent keeping the grass field well-tended.

One sign read "is the soccer club running the muni?" voicing the opinion that the strong support expressed by the Bowen Island Football Club membership during the public process has influenced council's decision to go ahead with the project.

Rael Abbondanza, one of the children taking part in the protest, convinced her mother, Amanda Euringer, who didn't feel strongly against the turf field initially, that artificial turf is bad. "Grass is a beautiful thing," said Rael. "Why aren't we putting money into the grass field?"

Rael's friend Zoe Schubert started a petition and collected "20 or 30 signatures," she said.

Bowen Island RCMP's Corp. Simon Campbell was at the rally at the request of BICS principal David Langmuir, who says his primary concern was safety. He asked that petitioners leave school ground property until dismissal was over (some complied, others didn't). The protesters planned the rally to take place at the time when children were being picked up by parents at the end of the day; this was intentional in order to maximize exposure of their message. Corp. Campbell assisted by keeping people off of the roads and in the parking lot where dozens of cars were coming and going.

Dr. Langmuir said that, while he respects the right to freedom of expression, such events should be scheduled with Community Recreation Services to avoid creating an unsafe situation.

Councillor Doug Hooper attended the event as acting mayor. He said that he was concerned because anti-turf messages had been spray painted on public and private property. "It's the confluence of vandalization to the community that bothers me," he said.

Heather Woodall quite simply doesn't approve of plastic. " ... and it's such a grand scheme for such a small community. It's a sham."

Yvonne McSkimming said that Bowen is too small to support the anticipated rental of the space to user groups. "Where do you see an island where 3,500 people have a synthetic field?" she asked.