The audio version of this story starts with Michael Keith’s impromptu response to a car horn sounding off during his Friday, July 12, performance in the Village Commons Music Series.  

• “I don’t want to live in this crazy place, 
• all the horns are beeping all over the place. 
• Every time I try to play, I can’t – I hear another horn, 
• it’s probably someone shopping for corn.” 

There have been a lot of changes in what Manda Aufochs Gillespie calls the heart of ‘Mansons Landing.’ The big tent where Michael played has been moved  beside the Mansons Hall parking lot for the summer. Cortes Currents did not check to see if  Reef Point Farm is already selling corn at the Friday Market, but Sara Stewart was there. Her stall was involved in the realignment which now connects the Market with the Village Commons.

Manda Aufochs Gillespie: “The Cortes Island Community Foundation is really excited to be partnered with our neighbors in particular, the Southern Cortes Community Association (SCCA) and Manson’s Hall  to rethink the Village Commons and heart of Manson’s in a way that would be more from the neighbourhood user experience.”

“One of the first things we realized, when we started looking at this piece of land that we’re calling the Village Commons, is how separated the land right beyond the radio station and FOCI was. As if to say, ‘Who cares about that?’”

“What we want is to have interactive places where we can come together as a community, and flow between. The grants that came with the Village Commons, when CCEDA passed that land to the community foundation, provided an opportunity to do some revisioning taking onto account that has happened in the past with CCEDA and the deliverables that we have to do.”

“One of the things that came up again and again, when we were talking to the community, was that  people wanted to feel like there was less division between spaces. They wanted  to park their car, leave it for some period of time and walk between things.”

“As you can see now,  the parking lot here at Manson’s hall is starting to feel a little bit more organized. It’s a little less overfull.  Now there’s an overflow parking that’s tucked in near the skate park and the museum that is publicly accessible with  a short trail that goes right to the Friday Market, Manson’s Hall and the Village Common space.”

“There’s this little green space developing with FOCI at one end. On the right side is CKTZ, Cortes Community Radio Station and on the left side, under construction, is the Nook, which is the shared social profit workspace. This is a shared workspace for members of the community to use once it’s done. We’re not sure when we’ll have enough funding to finish this, but ideally this will also be set up so you can have hybrid meetings, etc.”

“If you walk beyond the village greens on this little path you can see where our Indigenous carved pole is going up in the Fall.”

“If you walk further into this kind of construction space, you can see there’s been some massive land changes. The tent used to be there last year. Now that land has been levelled and there are shared storage spaces that will be used by nonprofits and potentially vendors. Some of those items will include what we need for the pavilion, which is going where the tent was in the past.

That construction will start near the end of the summer.  We’ll have a permanent tent space that will be a pavilion.  This is something that we heard again and again. People want places to be able to gather, listen to music, do live shows like we’ve been doing on Fridays. Live radio shows,  to dance etc and be outside, but also under cover.  You’re not in the direct sun. You’re not in the rain when it happens.  There’s a wonderful indoor shared space at Manson’s hall, this is not repeating that.”

Cortes Currents: “I was told the pavilion is going to be more for the warmer months, not for the winter.”  

Manda Aufochs Gillespie: “I think based on the amount of people who asked for this,  that you actually can meet outside comfortably most of the time, if you’re not in the rain. That doesn’t mean that you want to sit and listen to a lecture for three hours outside in the middle of winter, but it certainly means that if you are trying to gather with a group of people for 40 minutes  to brainstorm or to talk or on one of those nicer days where it’s not so cold, even longer to dance, to move your body, to have  a dynamic outside exercise class: those things are really possible here.”

“You may have noticed at the market, things are just reconvening  in order to flow better with this new space that’s opening up in the Village Commons area. The idea is to blur the boundaries between property lines of these different community organizations, to enhance the neighbour experience. It makes sense for the market to go where there’s enough shade and the music going where it makes sense for the music to go, etc. All this realignment is part  of the phase 2 planning which has been led by our architect Bruce Hayden with involvement from the different community organizations that are  the stakeholders in that area., most especially the SCCA.”  

“The other thing that you noticed is that the tent is in a totally new place this year.”

“We’re still calling it the Village Commons tent, but it’s not actually on Village Commons land. It’s  between the parking lot and the skate park. You can hear it from the outside part of the market. This time, for the first time ever, we’re noticing people wandering over to experience the music before even going into the market. It’s just been feeling super vibrant and fun. That location really came from two things. One, the SCCA cleared out that space last year and was  like, Hey, let’s start energizing this space and seeing how it will work better with the market and everything else.”

“You can already feel the divisions breaking down and, once we have a pavilion, what will be the next future and need for the tent? Those are all things we’re still figuring out.”

“On the other side of the tent, just beyond where the construction, there are sculptures and beautiful pieces of driftwood art that you can engage with. You’re welcome to climb on, touch them, sit on, and engage with in other ways. Little meetings could happen there. People can escape into the shade of the trees, have their lunch, that kind of thing.”  

Cortes Currents: Is there anything you want to add?  

Manda Aufochs Gillespie: “It’s so exciting to see our shared community spaces expand a little bit and I would love to continue to hear from neighbors about what else they’re seeing in small communities.” 

We started this broadcast out by playing Michael Keith’s impromptu response to a car horn beeping during his performance. This is the song he actually started to sing:  

• “I don’t want to live on Easy street.  
• Crooked smiles on the faces of all I meet. 
• They’ve been pushing their strollers, walking their dogs. 
• Starting committees, and some have been writing blogs. 
• I don’t want to live on Easy Street.” 

This is Roy Hales from Cortes Currents, which is a bit more than a blog. good-bye.

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