Tag Archives: FOCI

FOCI’s 2025 Broom Bash at Mansons Lagoon

March 27, 2025 Roy L Hales

Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) has been helping maintain Mansons Landing Provincial Park since 2016. They’ve been putting up railings to prevent further erosion of banks, putting up interpretive signage and maintain the trails. FOCI also holds a Broom Bash every year. 15 volunteers and staff showed up to remove this invasive species on Saturday, March 21, 2025.

Cortes Currents asked Helen Hall, FOCI’s executive director, “Is this a good turnout?”

Helen Hall: “We’ve got a lovely turnout of people this morning, all ages and we’re anticipating more people will turn out throughout the morning. We’ve also got BC Parks rangers coming out to help us as well, which is great news.”

Continue reading →

Development, Housing

Construction coming to the (Many) Common Areas of Mansons Landing

January 29, 2025 Roy L Hales

Close to 50 people turned up at Mansons Hall on January 24, for an update on the construction coming or already underway in the downtown Mansons area. The Cortes Housing Society, Southern Cortes Community Association (SCCA), Cortes Island Community Foundation and Cortes Island Pickleball Society were on hand to describe what’s taking place at Rainbow Ridge, the multipurpose courts and the Village Commons.

Regional Director Mark Vonesch exclaimed, “The big news here on Cortes is that the Housing Society is going to start building houses this year.”

Sandra Wood, who’s been at the heart of the Rainbow Ridge affordable housing project from the beginning, added, “It’s exciting to finally get shovels in the ground. We feel like we’ve been shovel ready for years.”

Manda Aufochs Gillespie, from the Cortes Island Foundation, described another focus of the meeting “More and more, it’s clear that the Village Commons is really this whole area and all the things that we gather in the heart of Mansons to do.”

Continue reading →

Education

Visit 2040 with The Cortes island Academy

January 20, 2025 Roy L Hales

The Cortes Island Academy’s third semester is wrapping up and in this year’s end showcase the students are taking the audience on an imaginative visit to the year 2040. It starts at 7:00 this Thursday, January 13, 2025 at Mansons Hall.

“A really important part of the Cortes Island Academy is our year end showcase where the students are given the task of finding a way to share some of the learning that they’ve gone through in the semester in a form that is digestible for the community at large. So they put on this big event which is supposed to be fun and compelling and also spark the imagination of the citizenry of Cortes and the surrounding islands. We are really hoping that a lot of people will come out. I’m quite proud of the way the students have really taken things a different way this year,” explained Executive Director Manda Aufochs Gillespie.

Continue reading →

Housing

The Cortes Housing Society looks back to things accomplished in 2024 and what’s ahead in 2025

January 17, 2025 Roy L Hales

The Cortes Community Housing Society will soon break ground on Rainbow Ridge. They are also renting out two houses, are about to explore the possibility of a tiny house village, and hope to launch a homeshare program this summer. There is also news about the aquifer study, more online housing forums, the Cortes Island Trade Directory and Cortes Island’s vacant homes.

“2024 was a banner year for us in many ways,” exclaimed Executive Director Sadhu Johnston.

Bruin Black, the Society’s new Project Manager, added, “This year is going to be a big year in terms of things happening. I’m just excited to see how things unfold.”

Continue reading →