By Christann Kennedy, Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery
The Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery is special. For more than 20 years it has served as a place for artists and art enthusiasts to gather, share new work, and build bonds of community around the desire to make, think, and talk about art. The 2026 Members Show, currently on exhibit at the Gallery, is a beautiful example of this art community in action.
Continue reading Last Weekend of the 2026 Members Show
Around 100 people packed into Mansons Hall on May 7, 2026, for a community meeting on the proposed expansion of the Island United Quarry on Cortes Island. While most appeared to be opposed to the project in its current form, some added that Cortes Island needed a smaller quarry more in line with the island’s needs
Neither Howard Nielsen, who owns Island United, nor his wife were present. Regional Director Mark Vonesch explained, “ It’s their 15th wedding anniversary and they’re on a trip.”
Mike Moore, who MC’d the event, added, “First of all this is a meeting that is for information. We’ll have a question and answer period at the end of a few little presentations. It’s not a protest by any means. No profanity (audience chuckled); no derogatory comments. We’re here to look at the Island United Quarry expansion in Whaletown.”
Continue reading Gleanings from the May 7 Community Meeting: Island United’s proposed Quarry Expansion
In 2019 and 2020, Cortes Currents ran a series of articles about e-bikes on the island, interviewing owners about the pros and cons of their electric-assisted rides. One of the featured bikes was quite unusual: an electric sidecar cargo trike, designed and built by local resident Gabriel Dinim.
It’s now four years later, and Currents checked in with Gabriel about his DIY personal EV. It has been his primary transportation for the last four years, and he’s quite satisfied. We asked him whether he’s ever found the trike inadequate and needed to borrow a car:
Continue reading Four Years Later: DIY E-trike Meets Builder’s NeedsThe only time I’ve borrowed a car, was when I had to go to the clinic for early blood work and they had to measure the cortisol — and I didn’t want to arrive there all stressed out from riding. And it was cold — so I borrowed a car to do that. Aside from that, No…
I mean, I did borrow a car sometimes to move firewood around — which I could do with the bike, but it takes so many trips, you know. I can put 80, 90 pounds of firewood in the bike. But it’s so much easier to borrow a van and put a thousand pounds of firewood in it and just transport it.
Otherwise, yes, it’s met all of my needs. In the winter, too, I’ve ridden in two, three below zero. Just long johns, wool pants — just lots of gear.
While there are Facebook groups on Cortes Island, they have largely been marginalized by a wiki style community bulletin board. The Tideline is not a place for personal webpages or a typical news website, but for the past 20 years most of island’s population have used it to post notices, community announcements, reports and advertisements.
Someone suggested that this may be a model for the rest of the country to emulate, now that Facebook has barred Canadian news outlets from using its pages.
This prompted me to ask a few people at Lovefest for their opinion.
Continue reading Why Cortes Island does not need Facebook
The ‘Creative Spaces Garden & Studio Tour’ returns on Saturday, July 8.
“This is a self-guided tour, and once you get your ticket, you can choose what gardens or artist studios you want to visit, in what order, and you can stay as long as you want at each place,” explained Nancy Kendel, a museum board member whose garden will be among those exhibited.
“We have 17 venues this year, 21 participating artists and gardeners,” added Managing Director/Curator Melanie Boyle.
Continue reading The 2023 Creative Spaces Garden & Studio Tour
