All posts by Melissa McKinney

Arts

Quadra Island Studio Tour 23 fever

Thirty-six artists. Twenty-seven studios. One weekend.

The Quadra Island Studio Tour returns for its 23rd year this weekend, June 5 to 7, offering visitors the chance to step inside creative spaces across the island and meet the people behind the work. Woodworkers, painters, jewellers, potters, photographers, fibre artists, printmakers and mixed-media artists will all be opening their doors. The range is staggering.

This year also introduces a new Friday evening preview from 6 to 9 p.m. at select locations, marked with a star and moon on the tour map. It is the official start of the tour and an opportunity to spread studio visits
across the weekend.

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Gardening

Midge Salter: When Math Becomes Beauty

Originally published in the Bird’s Eye

There are spaces you enter for the first time that feel, inexplicably, like you’ve always belonged in them. Kris Wellstein’s mostly finished greenhouse is one of those spaces. I walked in and immediately had an imaginary martini in hand, a good book, and the sound of rain on glass overhead. Then it became a cocktail party. Then I remembered I was standing in a greenhouse and that the garden part is probably the main point — though I maintain the party potential is significant.

Welcome to the sixth instalment of our Creator Spotlight Series, where we celebrate the artists, makers, and builders whose work shapes life on this island. This month we’re looking at something a little different — the art in building, and the magic that happens when the right person gets handed a vision, a scrim pile, and total creative freedom.

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Health

The Quadra Way: When It Matters, We Do It Together

Originally published in the Bird’s Eye

The Quadra Island Health Society (QIHS) and the Quadra Island Foundation (QIF) have joined forces to launch a community fundraising campaign aimed at securing a new physician for the Quadra Island Medical Clinic (QIMC).

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Business, Rivers & Oceans, Tourism

Area C OCP Meeting Happening THIS Wednesday – May 13

Originally published in the Bird’s Eye

The fifth of six community meetings in the Area C Official Community Plan (OCP) review takes place this Wednesday, May 13, at 6 p.m. at the Community Centre. The topics — aquaculture, agriculture, tourism, and economic development — cover some of the most visibly changed aspects of island life, and where the most active community planning work has been occurring in parallel. 

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Politics

Strathcona Gardens – How Many Dollars Count as a Meaningful Voice?

Originally published in the Bird’s Eye

Two communities, both alike in ocean views, in fair Strathcona where we lay our scene. From ancient boundary disputes to new taxation, where civic math… wait a second, this doesn’t add up. 

I’ve been debating whether to include this story since April 29. Is it relevant? Is it journalism? Is it just my own feelings getting tangled up in local politics? Or is it representation for the people that were there? Heart and ego occasionally arrive wearing the same outfit. You know I’m telling the story.

April 29, 2026 12:27 p.m. – Your Editor arrives at the SRD building. Air cast, cane, very little sleep, and even less snacks. Outside, an impressive number of Quadra folks and friends gathered with their handmade signs, chants at the ready.

Then the front doors swing open. “Is there any media here?” a staffer shouts out.

Startled, I raised my hand. “It’s me. I’m the media.”

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