Tag Archives: Cortes Island

Arts

Sandcastle Day 2025 on Cortes Island

A hundred people turned out for Cortes Island’s Sandcastle Day on Saturday, August 23rd, 2025.

“It was a blast because all the families are so involved and all the kids are so involved. The day is absolutely beautiful. What’s amazing is to see all the cooperation that the children have with each other and the creativity and the enjoyment that comes from this,” explained Nancy Silver, one of the judges. 

“It is an another community building activity and what could be better and healthier then families creating together or children alone doing it and feeling so empowered.”

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Food

Cortes Food Bank Needs $35,000 For A More Perminent Home

The Cortes Food Bank is trying to raise the $35,000 needed to relocate their base of operations to two sea-cans in the Village Commons at Manson’s Landing.

Operations Manager, Angelica Raaen, explained, “We have raised $14,000 so far, and we have a generous donor who’s offered to match donations up to $10,000. So we’re hoping that by the end of this month we can get $10,000 in community donations to match the $10,000 this donor has offered.”

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Rivers & Oceans

Funding For The Whaletown Dock Facelift; Aug 30 Dock swap

Cortes Community Docks ( formerly called Harbour Authority Cortes Island) received the necessary funding to carry out needed upgrades to the 111-year-old dock in Whaletown. In today’s article Harbour Master Jenny Hartwick gives the details, and also talks about the upcoming August 30 dock swap. 

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Disaster

Purchasing an Early Wildfire Detection System for Cortes Island

Cortes Island is close to raising the funds for a wildfire detection system that identifies fires within minutes of their inception. In today’s interview Claudia van der Vorm explains what SenseNet is and Cortes Island Fire Chief Eli McKenty says why he thinks we need it. 

 Claudia van der Vorm: “SenseNet is a Canadian company based out of Vancouver. They work on very early wildfire detection, in most cases under the minute, they can detect a fire when it’s still in smouldering stages. So when we don’t smell it, we don’t see it, in areas hard to access. They have a combination of sensors, camera, satellite, and a platform that allows that early detection, prevention and mitigation.”

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Business, Community

First Days At The Nook; Final Touches

A lot has happened in the five months since Tommaso Biasiolo became the Outreach and Admin Coordinator for ‘the Nook’ in Cortes Island’s Village Commons. The Grand Opening was on June 27, 2025, but there are still small projects to complete. Two special small rooms need to soundproofed; the Nook’s kitchen has not been installed. The original vision was to create a space where nonprofits can work and hold their meetings, but these spaces are now available for individuals as well.

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