Tag Archives: Squirrel Cove General Store

Arts

The Blues Barn

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A new music venue is coming to Cortes Island. The Blues Barn will open its doors, beside the store in Squirrel Cove, on Tuesday, October 31. 

“We notice there’s a lack of opportunity for community involvement on Cortes. We figured that since the last event we hosted, volleyball, is starting to die down, we need something new to bring to the community and to bring entertainment back to this side of the island. We figured that for the colder season, the Blues Barn would be a great opportunity to bring the community together and to have some fun,” explained Chase Cunningham, from the Squirrel Cove General Store.

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Arts

Last Minute Updates from Lovefest

Four days until Lovefest, at Linnaea Farm on Saturday August 12. 

Rex Weyler has a couple of updates:  

“One thing that’s new is Amber from Klahoose is going to sing us a couple of songs early on in the show.”

“The other thing, that I just heard from our community action bus driver. is that people can actually flag the bus down anywhere on the route between Manson’s Hall, Gorge Hall, and Squirrel Cove Store during the day. If you go out on the road in front of your house or whatever, or walk along the road, you can flag down the bus.”

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Farming, Food

This year’s blueberry harvest on Cortes Island

This started out as a story about the incredible blueberry harvest in the midst of this year’s drought. 

One of the seniors picking at Sunnybrae Farm gave Cortes Currents the tip, which Mike Manson subsequently confirmed.

“We are seeing what we think might be the biggest crop ever. In terms of pounds per bush, and the fruit is ripening differently. It’s ripening in a more condensed manner, which is good for picking. The big crop is probably due to favourable conditions for pollination in the spring. Whether or not that had anything to do with dry weather, I’m not sure. Maybe the bees were glad it wasn’t raining and cold and wet, but certainly pollination was key, without that you don’t get a crop. For whatever reason, conditions were favourable for bees to be flying and doing their job,” he said.

“We’ve never seen a dry year start so early.  This year, the dryness started mid May. I remember May 13th was 30 degrees Celsius.  I think  the early heat this year has affected  the way the fruit has ripened. I haven’t seen it ripen in this fashion before.” 

However, there are three blueberry farms on Cortes island and, as I was soon to learn, they are in different micro-climates. 

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Arts

Better than ever: Lovefest 2023

Lovefest will be returning to Cortes Island on August 12. 

“Lovefest just has its own momentum. It exists because the community wants it. There’s nothing political about it. We get to enjoy some good music, have fun together and just be with each other as a community,” explained Rex Weyler, one of the key organizers. 

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Waste

No Sani-dump on Cortes this summer

Cortes Island will not have an RV sani-dump this summer. 

The matter was brought to Cortes Currents attention by former Cortes Museum President Lynne Jordan, who has been living in Duncan for the past four years.  

“The closest RV sani-dump is at the Shell station on the upper highway above Campbell River, two ferries away!  There is no public one on Quadra Island either.  I had planned to visit Cortes this summer for about three weeks to continue doing some more research for the history of Whaletown I am in the process of writing.  With my camper van which has small holding tanks, I will only be staying three or four days at the most,” she wrote.

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