Every Place Has a Story

Howard Fry and the Salt Spring Island Calendar’s 20th Anniversary

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Howard Fry spent three decades as a commercial photographer in Vancouver. In 1998 he retired to Salt Spring and became embroiled in a battle to save part of the island from development.

From the Salt Spring Island Women Preserve and Protect Calendar, 2001. Howard Fry photo
Salt Spring Island:

In 1999, Salt Spring Island was under threat. A German millionaire sold his holdings—roughly a tenth of the island—to Texada Land Corp. The company planned to log second-growth forest for development.

From the Salt Spring Island Women Preserve and Protect Calendar, 2001. Howard Fry photo.

Salt Spring Island residents may be laid back, but they are dead serious about their trees. They organized a fundraising campaign to buy close to 2,000 acres and turn it into a park.

Inspired by the Women’s Institute in Rylstone, Yorkshire whose members appeared nude in a 1999 calendar to raise money for leukemia research (think Helen Mirren in the 2003 movie Calendar Girls) the Islanders produced their own version.

Howard Fry photo, from the Salt Spring Island Women Preserve and Protect Calendar 2001. The calendar sold 10,000 copies. To put that into perspective, a book is considered a bestseller in Canada if it sells more than 5,000 copies.

The photos were taken by Howard Fry, a professional photographer who had retired to Salt Spring Island the year before.

Hastings and Carrall Streets, 1976 Howard Fry photo
The Calendar:

I had never heard of the calendar and originally called Fry to chat about a series of 1970s photos of Vancouver that have been circulating on Facebook over the last few weeks. It turns out that they were photos that never made it into The City of Vancouver, a book produced by Hopping/Kovac/Grinnell to coincide with Habitat 1976. Fry was one of the photographers joining Fred Herzog, Robert Keziere, Allan Harvey and Herbert Gilbert. He took photos of people in Stanley Park, Granville Island, Greek Days and the PNE.

Beach Avenue, West End, 1976. Howard Fry photo

Fry’s best photos though, sat in a cardboard box until they found new life on the Nostalgic/Sentimental site this year.

Stanley Park, 1976. Howard Fry photo

Fry studied graphic design in his native England. He was offered his  dream job shooting racing cars for a UK-based magazine, but the pay didn’t cover his rent. So when the opportunity came up to join a photography studio in Vancouver, he packed his bags and became part of John Howard Wallis in 1967. The partners worked for local ad agencies shooting booze and producing annual reports and moved onto fashion, working for companies such as Eaton’s, Woodwards, Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer.

Granville Street at the Birk’s clock, 1976. Howard Fry photo

The Salt Spring Calendar was a huge success.

Howard Fry photo, 1976
The Women of Salt Spring:

Thirty-five women aged between 18 and 74, including high-profile residents such as Andrea Collins, ex-wife of rock star Phil Collins, Birgit Bateman, photographer and wife of Robert Bateman, author and environmentalist Briony Penn (who also rode Lady Godiva-style through downtown Vancouver) appear tastefully naked in the calendar.

Taken at the dry dock at the bottom of Lonsdale Avenue behind the former Erection Shop, now the Shipyards. Howard Fry photo, 1976

Fry shot all the beautiful black and white photos and retains copyright. Calendar sales of $19.95 a unit raised over $200,000 in 2001 and received widespread media attention.

Vanier Park, 1976. Howard Fry photo

The price tag for the land was $15.9 million. The islanders raised $1.5 million and the provincial, regional and federal governments kicked in the rest.

Vancouver from Cyprus Mountain. Howard Fry photo, 1976

Sources:

  • The  City of Vancouver Book. J.J. Douglas Ltd., 1976
  • Michael Arnold’s Nostalgic/Sentimental Vancouver Facebook page
  • Globe & Mail, August 17, 2000, August 26, 2000, December 17, 2001
  • Times Colonist, October 27, 2000, December 14, 2003
  • Vancouver Sun, September 9, 2000

    Stanley Park lawn bowlers. Howard Fry photo, 1976

© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus

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23 comments on “Howard Fry and the Salt Spring Island Calendar’s 20th Anniversary”

This throws me back to my youth. Biking out to Wreck Beach to check out the view/scenery from North Vancouver. The summers are always amazing here. Kudos to everyone that worked on saving Salt Spring Island, at least what matters the most. Really enjoyed this story. The unsolved murders and stories like this are what captures my attention.

SSI . Never a fan of bcferry corp and even with a yacht not the same when the city bacons urgently.
My Aunt Vi raised her PNE ribbon winning sheep on Burke mt . Her two daughters have them now in Bisthcarth Manitoba and South Pender Is When I asked her about SSI’ so famous lamb , her reply surprised me but not he reason. That man wouid buy hers then call them his own! I commented she should be getting money but she couldn’t card less which was grand of her. They sold Burke for $$$$

The gentleman peeking through the fence at Georgia and Granville is likely looking at the crater left from the demolition of the Birk’s Building. Birks had other locations in 1977: Harbour Centre, Oakridge, Park Royal, Surrey Place, Guildford and Richmond Centre. They are presently at the former Bank of Commerce Building at Hastings and Granville, Oakridge and Park Royal.

Our summertime neighbours at the cabin community of Pierre’s Point on Shuswap Lake left the interior for Saltspring in 1968. He was a small-scale contract logger named Ralph Magee and moved there for the amount of uncut timber.

Ralph Magee ended up setting up a small sawmill on Beddis Road on Salt Spring years ago. It used to be a good place to go to buy wood to make garden beds.

Hi Eve. So great that Howard is getting this retrospective exposure. Regarding the top shot. Howard Fry may remember Terry Logan, a Yorkshireman who was the art director of J. Walter Thompson in Vancouver in the 70s. Eventually, Terry, a landscape painter, longed for the moors so much that he went back to the UK and opened an art gallery in Skipton. . It was Terry’s missus, Lynda, who organized the very famous “Calendar Girls” which became the subject of a feature film starring Helen Mirren. Terry did the calendar photography. Looked a lot like the top protest shot.

I do remember Terry, in fact he called me after seeing the SS calendar and was extremely complementary.
Initially I was just helping the SS ladies with their project and they wanted to do something similar. I did one shot that was influenced by Terry’s pictures, but realised there was an opportunity to produce something quite different. I was pretty upset
that the beautiful Island I called home was being subjected to industrial logging, so I decided to shoot pictures showing the Salt Spring I love.
I was pretty proud of this series of pictures as i was used to working with a team of very talented people in my line of work. This was the first time in years that I found the locations, carried most of the gear, set up the lighting etc. Ruth Tarasoff took care of finding willing subjects. A wonderful effort by all involved.

My fault, original is a slide and I scanned it the wrong way! I guess I didn’t look at it closely enough before sending to Eve. Good eye!

Thank you for this wonderful information. I remember seeing the calendar, as I grew up in Vancouver.
Retired to live on Salt Spring in 2012.
Is it possible someone could organize a reprint of the iconic Howard Fry 2001 calendar? I would love a copy now.

Love this site. I grew up in Japan Town in the 1940s & the stories and photos bring back a crush of memories. Thanks to whoever is responsible for sharing.

It looks like few posts since 2021, but I’ll hgive this a shot.
I have a friend on Saltspring and would love to give thema copy of the old Calendar.
Does anyone know where I may be able to find one or if there is anyone who is elling these still?

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