Category Archives: Arts

Michael Keith (Part 2): on Cortes Island 

Michael Keith was ‘blown away’ when he visited Hornby Island twenty years ago.

“I was like, ‘Wow, imagine living in a place like that.’ I remember going back to Toronto and telling my friends, ‘they don’t even lock their doors there. It’s incredible!’”

He was enamoured by the spectacular seascapes at Tofino, when he played there a few years later. 

Keith went through a divorce, sold his house, and then hooked up with a professor at the University of Toronto.  

“My new partner who I’ve been with for 10 years,  introduced me to Cortes because she would come here for getaways from Toronto. I was gigging two or three times a week, and teaching in Toronto. She wanted to move here. I came, checked it out and just fell in love with the land. We were fortunate enough to get a tiny little place.”

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Grand Opening of the Outdoor Friday Market

The Grand Opening of the Outdoor Friday Market was on a warm summer day and hundreds of people may have passed through before it ended. There were 14 stalls clustered beneath the cedar trees and around the edges of the parking lot. I did not go inside the hall, which is always packed with tables. This was also the first of this summer’s live music performances at the adjoining Village Commons.

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Friday Afternoon Concerts in the Village Commons: Sean and Catriona

According to local musician Jemma Hicken, when the Gorge Harbour Marina partially shut down for renovations this summer, they also closed one of the most popular music venues on Cortes Island.

“Me and a lot of my musician friends have been playing at the Gorge and have been paid to play at the Gorge – which is amazing on Cortes. You don’t often find paying gigs here. Then the Gorge shut down most of its operations this year, and I think a lot of the community felt like there was a big hole left by the lack of live music. There’s been a couple of attempts at organizing live music around the island. I know that there’s live music happening at the Co-op on Saturday nights, which is awesome. We’re going to have live music for the Friday Markets as well.”

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Willow: New Beginnings

It has been more than three years since I interviewed Willow about the release of their EP ‘The Southend.’

Maureen Fox explained, “it was right before COVID when we spoke.  We’ve had a bit of an adventure and then about a year later, Noel had to move to Gold River to be with  her family. So we asked the beautiful Kelly Beamish to join us. Kelly brings this fabulous voice into the mix that has been really fun because her voice blends so well with ours.” 

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Recollections of an Aging Hippy

Originally published in the Cortes Island Seniors Society Newsletter

By Andy Vine

I was born April 1944 in Swansea, Wales. I grew up in Hoylake, a coastal town in Cheshire after my Dad was pensioned off from the Ministry of Food where he had worked during the war.

I had a happy childhood with one elder sister Sue and a younger brother Pete. We lived in a small hotel (big house) which my parents ran as a business.

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