The following characters are interwoven through the set of twelve stories of Sunshine Sketches:
- Josh Smith, proprietor of Smith's Hotel, one of the leading citizens of the town.
- Jefferson Thorpe, owner of the barber shop, who engages in mining speculations.
- Golgotha Gingham, the undertaker, to whom people are less interesting when still alive.
- Dean Rupert Drone, reverend of the "Church of England Church", who has to deal with the debt from building a new church.
- Peter Pupkin, a bank teller who loves the Judge's daughter.
- Zena Pepperleigh, Judge Pepperleigh's daughter. She likes to read romantic stories.
- Dr. Gallagher, collector of Indian relics and student of Canadian history.
- Mr Hussell, journalist for the Mariposa Newspacket.
- Christie Johnson, captain of the Mariposa Belle.
- Henry Mullins, manager of the Mariposa Exchange Bank.
- Narrator, an unreliable narrator, whose descriptions of the town are biased or absurd.
Many characters are based on real-life people from Orillia, Ontario. Their names were only thinly-veiled in the original sketches that appeared as a serial in the Montreal Star. Out of an abundance of caution, Leacock changed many characters' names before the sketches were published together in book form.[1]
