“GOABC at 60: Building the Future on the Strength of Our Story”
1971 Outfitters Ball:
A “grizzly bear” leapt from a giant “birthday cake”. The bear was quickly dispatched and skinned to reveal guide outfitter and member, Betty Frank.
Betty’s recollection of the event goes like this “I agreed the be the spirit of a bear coming out of a cake. Gerry Bracewell, the only other female guide outfitter in the association, made the five-foot cardboard cake and put five big candles on it and Paul Sissons make the bear costume. When I emerged from the cake as a raging grizzly, I pretended to attack Paul Sissons while Don Peck was roaring and growling into the microphone from behind the drapes. It was pandemonium. Some of the women climbed up on their chairs. Paul Sissons use a machete to kill me and I died with Don Peck gurgling and snarling and shaving cream coming out of my mouth. The bear costume was fixed with zippers in all the appropriate places so Paul could skin me. I emerged wearing white bikini, a Farah Fawcette wig and high heels while the band played when the saints go marching in.” From The Legendary Betty Frank – the Cariboo’s alpine queen published in 2011 by Caitlin Press
What a way to celebrate GOABC’s 5th birthday!
