My work requires that I travel a fair bit, and during my travels I’ve spotted numerous celebrities at the airport. I’ve never had the compulsion or desire to walk up to them and engage them in conversation. They do what they do, and I do what I do.  Besides, I think it’s a Canadian thing to be respectful of other people’s privacy, and we allow them to be.  But there’s something about Donald S. Cherry (aka Grapes) that makes the rational part your brain freeze, and a voice in your head says go over and say hello. So, that’s exactly what I did.  I was at the Vancouver airport walking to the gate to catch a flight to Toronto. In the corner of my eye I spotted Grapes talking to few people and they were getting their pictures taken with him. I’ve seen Grapes in airports many times, and I’ve always find myself walking over to say hello. This time was no different. With the one exception that after I shook his hand, and told him I was fan of his work on Coaches Corner, he said thank you very much and would like a picture. Ah, yeah, sure. So out comes my Blackberry, and another man standing close to Grapes says I’ll take the picture.

After the man took the picture and was handing my blackberry back to me, I realized it was Ron Maclean who took the picture.

I think the uniqueness of Grapes is that people view him has the every day man.  He came from a humble background, and there’s nothing pretentious about him. He’s always honest and speaks straight from the gut. At times that offends people but his attitude is too bad, deal with it. That’s so refreshing. Today it’s all about carefully crafted messages, and god forbid if you’re not politically correct. I admire the fact that he puts it out there, and let’s the chips fall where they may.

What’s also interesting is that this is the same man who will shed a tear on national television when honoring our brave men and women in the armed forces who sacrificed their lives for Canada. I’ve seen him choke-up on many occasions on Coaches Corner.  His reaction is sincere and that’s why he connects with the viewer.

By the time Grapes made it to the gate to catch his flight, I would say at least 100 people stopped him to get their pictures taken with him. Not once did he say no. He smiled, he shook hands and he gave his famous pose for every picture, the thumbs up. The man gets it, and so did Dominion Lending Centres.

Until next time.

Cheers