Originally published on qathet Living
March is National Quilting Month, and qathet is breaking out the fat quarters like never before. You can see quilts, watch quilts being made, make a quilt yourself, or get some of the skills to start you on your quilting journey.
Here, Nina Mussellam of the Timberlane Quilters Guild, explains the local quilt scene.
Continue reading When the long arm is the lawBy Ruth Perfitt, originally published on qathet Living
You might say I worked in my Grandfather’s footsteps. My maternal Grandfather, Ray Olsen, was one of the first employees at the mill. The family lived around Powell Lake (Olsen’s Valley) and he started with the mill in the grinder rooms. He and another fellow would travel by boat from Olsen’s Landing down to the mill, often staying the week in town at a place on Poplar Street and rowing back up on weekends bringing supplies for the family.
Continue reading IWD & Memories of the mill: One Woman’s Work
“One of our mandates is to create good employment for Islanders who are here full-time year round. And for our youth returning in the summer as well. It’s a great place for people who move to the island to start out and get to know the culture of the island by working with us.” –– Mary Lavelle
The Cortes Natural Food Co-op is one of the top five or six employers on the island, an attraction for tourists and visitors, and the go-to grocery store for many year-round residents. Active members enjoy several benefits, but membership is not required to shop there — so the store serves many times more people every year than its approximately 360 active members.
Employing 20 people even in the off-season, and with over $2 million in sales each year, the Co-op is a significant island business. But it also makes a conscious effort to be a good neighbour. As General Manager Mary Lavelle put it during our interview, “Staff, board, management — we’re always considering the community. That is one of the factors that we always consider in our decision making: our community. And I think that’s part of what makes us so special.”
Continue reading More Than Just A Store: Cortes Natural Food Co-op
“The Cortes Island Senior Society, as it is now called, was registered in 1987, but previous to that there were seniors groups. I think mainly they called themselves the old age pensioners. They eventually became a seniors group. At some point when they wanted to build, someone told them that they weren’t even called a building society, so they decided to become the Cortes Island Seniors Building Society, which they were for a number of years,” explained Sue Ellingsen, Vice Chair of the Cortes Island Seniors Society.
Continue reading About the Cortes Island Seniors Society
Originally published on qathet Living
By Sandy Dunlop
Memories of the old Lund Hall linger happily in the mind of anyone who lived in Lund before the rotting building was condemned in the early ‘90s and demolished in 2016.
Construction on this legendary building began in 1928-31, presumably not long after Fred Thulin, the owner of the Lund Hotel, offered the property to the community.
Continue reading The old Lund Hall is hallowed ground; time for a new gathering place
