When the Sunrise Preservation Group's opera task force held a recent meeting -- its 20th since April -- member Beth Carpenter baked a cake.

But not just any cake. Perched atop the icing were the figures of two crows. And two other task force members, Doug Gill and Michael Price, were ceremoniously required to consume them -- or eat crow.

The reason: They had played the role of naysayers at previous meetings, predicting that "Tosca," the first live HD simulcast from the Met in New York, wouldn't sell out in Southern Pines, by far the smallest of the four North Carolina towns involved. But it did -- as anyone trying to find a parking place within blocks of the Sunrise Theater on Saturday afternoon could tell you.

"Tosca" didn't just sell out. It turned people away, prompting a recorded encore scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are also getting scarce for the next three live operas in the season. Who'd a thunk it?

Besides Gill, Price and Carpenter, others deserving credit for making this unlikely cultural dream come true in our unique little town include John Rudd, Ron Sutton, David Young, Lloyd Cutler, Loretta Aldridge and Ralph Jacobson. They and everyone else involved deserve to take a long, deep bow.