The Southern Cortes Community Association (SCCA) estimate 500 people may have turned out for Cortes Day on Saturday, July 15, 2023.
Mike Manson, whose great uncle(1) and grandfather(2) were among the island’s first known European settler, remembers there were once two festivals.
Continue reading Cortes Day: Then and now
About 350 people* came to Squirrel Cove for Seafest on Saturday May 20. There was a flow-through crowd and not much more than a third of this number appeared to be at the six-hour long festival at any given time.
“I think Seafest is great, it brings a lot of cultures together and lots of different seafoods,” said Sharon Francis, a Squirrel Cove resident and member of the Klahoose First Nation.
Curt Cunningham, owner manager of the Squirrel Cove General Store which hosted this year’s festival, added, “They’ve done an incredible job. We’re going to have a good day, a good summer, and this is gonna kick it off!”
Continue reading Seafest 2023 At Squirrel Cove
The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) was talked about in the past tense, when Delores Broten and Don Malcom moved to Cortes in 1987. In the first of a series of posts about the origins of FOCI, Broten talks about the 1990 logging blockade that inspired FOCI’s rebirth, and led to the award-winning environmental magazine ‘the Watershed Sentinel.’
Continue reading Delores Broten: the 1990 logging blockade, FOCI and origins of the Watershed Sentinel
It was a beautiful time; you know, there’s these blips in history and you don’t realize that when it’s happening, how special it is. — Lovena Harvey
On February 9th 2022, Whaletown neighbours near the Robertson/Whaletown intersection were alarmed by an unusual sight: the old “Trude’s Café” building was on fire.
Continue reading Farewell To Trude’s Café
In the third instalment of Cortes Currents Reel Youth series, Mark Vonesh and Erica Køhn talk about Youth and Seniors programs.
“Our youth and senior film programs, or youth and elder film programs, are probably about 30% – 40% of the work we do. It’s one of the most powerful projects that we’ve done,” said Vonesch.
Continue reading Reel Youth – Youth and Seniors Programs
