Tag Archives: Andy Ellingsen

Cortes Island’s Second Annual Gumboot Toss

By Roy L Hales

In the beginning, the Harbour Authority of Cortes Island (HACI) looked after three docks. Now there are five: Whaletown, Gorge Harbour, Mansons Landing, Cortes Bay and Squirrel Cove. While most of the traffic is pleasure craft during the summer, the docks are still home to Cortes Island’s flourishing aquaculture industry. From 11 AM to 2 PM on Sunday August 4th, HACI will celebrate 20 years of service with a nautical swap meet and second annual gumboot toss. 

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The 1960s & 70s – A Time Of Transition

This is the second in a series of broadcasts in which Andy Ellingsen describes the changes he has seen on Cortes Island. In this episode he talks about the 1960s & 70’s. 

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Andy Ellingsen Remembers Cortes Island Past – Part One: 1940’s & 50’s

His first memory of Cortes Island is of the Ellingsen family moving their log float home to Von Donop Inlet in 1945. His stories go back decades further. Michael Manson, whose name is preserved in Mansons Landing, was his maternal great grandfather. What was life like in the 1940s and 50s? In this morning’s program we start a series in which Andy Ellingsen remembers Cortes Island past.

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Vintage Vignettes #8-#14

Have you ever wondered what life was like in a small island community in simpler times?  Imagine: no ferries, no electricity, few roads or cars, no medical services, ambulance or firefighters. Back then life was what you made of it, with the help of your neighbours. Local self-reliance meant gathering and growing food, rowing and walking to get around, and generally having a great deal of practical knowledge and skills. And making your own entertainment. But that doesn’t mean life was dull. Not at all.

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Vintage Vignettes 1-7

Come on board for the first season of Vintage Vignettes, a joint project of Cortes Community Radio and Cortes Island Museum and Archives, brings you “radio snapshots” of local life in simpler times. These brief episodes feature dramatized voices from the past with archive recordings of music from the “Old Timers”, a dance band that played locally for several decades. In Vintage Vignettes 1 -7 we focus on colourful characters and memorable events, from the first drive across Cortes Island to the 1946 earthquake.

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