SALT SPRING — Residents of this idyllic Gulf Island made it clear Monday that any attempt to remove a beloved “hitching post” outside Embe Bakery is an assault on local tradition and what makes their home special.

“Everybody loves that spot. It’s a staple spot for hitchhiking,” said Ezra Watson, 16, echoing a passionate response by hundreds of protesters at an afternoon rally outside the bakery at the foot of Ganges Hill.

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Concerns were aired about a Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure plan to place a barrier outside the bakery, effectively removing the popular hitching spot on Fulford-Ganges Road.

Hundreds of signatures were collected online for a petition to be presented to incoming Green Party MLA Adam Olsen and two senior Ministry of Transportation managers.

Putting a barrier in front of what one resident termed “Salt Spring’s bus stop” would encourage travellers to hitchhike elsewhere on the busy roadway into Ganges and risk being ticketed, protesters said.

The petition claims the RCMP is cracking down on hitchhiking and that it contacted the Ministry of Transportation about installing a barrier.

The issue is not so much about picking up hitchhikers, but safety concerns over where vehicles are stopping to pick them up, said RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Tammy Douglas. Since June 2016, there have been a number of visits by ministry officials to consult with police and the community about traffic safety issues on Salt Spring, she said.

Hitchhiking was a hot topic on a sunny Salt Spring afternoon in Ganges cafés, shops and outside Salt Spring Public Library.

“The locals are pretty up in arms about this. Hitchhiking’s a tradition here,” said Gabriel, 52, a tree faller who also dishes out soup in Peace Park each Thursday, and goes by just his first name. “There are designated pickup spots on the Island. Everybody knows why you’re there. You don’t even have to stick out your finger.”

Musician, piano tuner and teacher Sky Lintott, 50, said he travelled to his first job on Salt Spring, as a radio deejay, by hitchhiking. “There is an economy that moves with it. It’s like a social club in a way. It builds community,” he said, tickling the ivories on a lime-green piano outside Green, a “zero-waste, low-impact” grocery store.

Shaunna Wendover, 30, described hitchhiking as a “totally normal and essential” way of life for Islanders of all ages, including many single moms, who can’t rely on a limited transit system. “And there are a lot of seniors on this island,” said Wendover, who works at Leaf cannabis dispensary. “If there is no bus route for them, how are they supposed to get around?”

Katrina Armstrong, 26, her Victoria-based friend, said she finds hitchhiking is not just economical and environment-friendly but a great way to meet people.

While Armstrong said she finds Salt Spring safe, young women travelling alone always need to be smart.

“I carry a multi-tool with a knife, and I have a phone and you can take pictures of licence plates and send them to your friends,” she said. “It sounds hippy-dippy, but if you have good vibes, often times it will come back to you.”

Web designer and photographer Ken Fersht floated a possible hitching-post alternative. “I think we should have a gondola that goes right up the hill, then turns into a zipline down to Fulford,” he quipped. “It can be powered by hot air from the conversations and arguments at Ganges Café.”

— With a file by Andrew Duffy

mreid@timescolonist