According to local musician Jemma Hicken, when the Gorge Harbour Marina partially shut down for renovations this summer, they also closed one of the most popular music venues on Cortes Island.

“Me and a lot of my musician friends have been playing at the Gorge and have been paid to play at the Gorge – which is amazing on Cortes. You don’t often find paying gigs here. Then the Gorge shut down most of its operations this year, and I think a lot of the community felt like there was a big hole left by the lack of live music. There’s been a couple of attempts at organizing live music around the island. I know that there’s live music happening at the Co-op on Saturday nights, which is awesome. We’re going to have live music for the Friday Markets as well.”