When Pemberton resident Ben Davies was growing up riding at Blackcomb Mountain, there were two types of groms—brown baggers or hot-lunch kids. Being a brown-bagging youth himself, he and his friends would often see hot-lunch kids leave delicious food on the table before they went back to shred. Being savvy and hungry kids, they did the right thing.
“If a tourist left a plate of fries, you’re getting in on it,” he said.
Now, Davies is all grown up, but he still sees the importance of raising brown-bagging kids himself. Recently, his kids asked him to connect their ski passes with his credit card so they could buy food on the mountain.
“There's no damn way I was doing that. I told them, ‘We're garbage bears,’” he said.
The penchant for finding food where it’s available is a lesson he and other creatures in Pemberton share. As residents know all too well, black bears and grizzly bears, hungry before hibernation, will find any available source of calories and can get into improperly stored garbage.
Davies has reflected on his similarity to bears, turning the affinity into a T-shirt. The shirts are available for purchase, with a portion of proceeds going to Pemberton Secondary School’s (PSS) Sea to Sky Ski Bike and Board Academy.
Davies’ T-shirt features a bear holding an assault rifle protecting a garbage dump. Eagles and a Mount Currie-esq summit are in the background, and his wife created the logo. He’s aware some viewers could misconstrue the image.
“I thought it'd be funny. It’s a conversation piece," he said. "Some people look at it as a joke, and some people, for some reason, get offended."
What shouldn’t offend viewers is his goal of fundraising for youth access to sports.
Ten per cent of sales goes to PSS’ Bike and Board Academy, which Davies described as a “hands-on, guided experience,” that is available for youth in Grades 10 to 12 at PSS.
He prints the shirts in Vancouver, and a further play on the trash theme comes from the font, which is the same used for artwork on the cartoon by Art Spiegelman, Garbage Pail Kids (though this reporter had to admit she had no idea what that meant).
“It was just more of an idea to do something with the kids, and garbage bears just fit because I’m not hooking up my credit card," he said. "You can have a hot chocolate pack, instant noodles and a granola bar. Or, you can clean up what the tourists aren't finishing.”
It’s a lesson his kids seem to be receptive to, considering they’re proudly wearing the T-shirts.
To buy a Pemberton garbage bear T-shirt, reach out to Davies on Facebook.
