This blog is an archive of past Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives' blog posts and articles. There are some great stories here, but please visit our current website and Facebook page for all things Sunshine Coast history. See you at the Museum!

A Walk in the Woods Photo Slideshow

Saturday, February 1st  - "A Walk in the Woods" with Byron Anderson   1pm - 3 pm
Admission by Donation
Take a photographic journey into the heart of the Chaster Creek watershed with Byron Anderson and see remnants from the founding of the Town of Gibsons, historic logging artifacts, plants, mushrooms and viewpoints.  Byron’s artistic photography and deep knowledge of the region will provide insight into the area’s natural and cultural history. The slide show presentation starts at 1pm sharp and will be followed by discussion.

Flywheel from the winch system used to transport supplies to first logging camp   PHOTO CREDIT: Byron Anderson

All Hallows Eve at the Museum

For the second year running, All Hallows’ Eve at the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives was a resounding success! Outside the museum, Mad Scientist Matt Smith created spooky ambient soundscapes as ghost, ghouls and goblins entered the  museum for a night of fun and fright.

 As people entered, Vampire Susan Rule spooked visitors from her coffin in the hallway- what a spooktacular delight!

On the main floor,  many of the younger children enjoyed a variety of craft stations while the Driftwood Theatre troupe led murder mystery tours of the upstairs exhibit. Here’s a taste of the mystery:  

THANK YOU to the community for participating in our All Hallows Eve event and supporting the work we do. It truly was a fantastic success with close to 200 visitors and generous donations at the door!

None of this would have been possible without the support from the event sponsors and donors. Thank you to our GOLD LEVEL event sponsors: SuperValu and the family of Jean Clarke (in memoriam). SILVER LEVEL event sponsors include the spooktacular Betsy Van Haldren, Elie Kozhaya, Mike Hoche, Bayview Terrace and Startek Restoration . Thank you to our BRONZE LEVEL event sponsors: Jon Carlow, Sharon Venechuk and Patra Pizza. Your generosity was greatly appreciated!

Again, without the volunteers, we wouldn't be able to do the work we do here. THANK YOU to: Amber Lidstone, Capt. Danny Dolen, Jen Stanway, Christa Banks, Melissah Charboneau, Codfathers, Celia Fisher, Bill and Nicole, Gibsons Youth Centre and Terrifying Tina Kirshenbaum, Taja Rivera, Claire Lyle, Miki Maeba, Nina Bell, Laura Piersol.

Last but certainly not least, THANK YOU to all of the Driftwood Theatre ghouls and ghosts!

Story Theatre Donors: J. Wayne Rowe Law Offices, Sunshine Coast Credit Union, Blackberry Shop, Dorice Tentchoff 
Actors, Actresses & Volunteers: Rosemary Thompson, Carole Carlton, Mark Benson, Joanne Bennison, Elizabeth Lyle, Irene Bradley, Abominable Bill Forst, Erika Bennet, Carrie Zadrazil, Maureen Shields, Annie Burns, Mike Barcroft, Stephen B. Archibald, Adam Crane, Kylie Sawatsky, Sandi McGinnis Radhika Samwald

Sechelt Festival of the Arts

Sechelt Festival of the Arts:

Heritage Time Travel Workshop

Saturday, October 26th, 2013

Sechelt Library Community Use Room

 (Council Chambers)

1^st Floor, 5797 Cowrie Street

2:00 pm      

 Step back in time with a set of short audio-visual historical presentations at the Heritage Time Travel workshop. The Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives will present its award-winning Time Travel Sunshine Coast smart phone app, showcasing videos from historic points of interest on the coast. This workshop is apart of a week-long celebration of the arts that also features the Snapshots: Our Coastal Heritage photograph exhibition with contributions by the shíshálh Nation,  Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Sechelt Archives and the Pender Harbour Living Heritage Society. The Museum will also be open for the Arts Crawl on Saturday, October 19- 20^th from 10:00am – 6:00 pm.  Come celebrate arts and heritage during the Sechelt Arts Festival!   For more information: Call 604-886-8232; email at scm_a@dccnet.comFor other festival news visit:http://secheltartsfestival.com

Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives' Silent Auction

The Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives is hosting a Silent Auction at Sunnycrest Mall from 10 am – 3 pm on Saturday, October 5^th. The auction will feature a wide variety of specialty crafts, goods and services donated by local businesses to help raise funds for the museum. We don’t want to ruin the surprise, but there will be some very valuable and unique items up for auction! Bidding starts at 10 am sharp; final bids will be accepted until 3 pm. Come on down and place your bid and support your local museum. The funds raised will be used for museum programming and events, including this years All Hallows Eve Halloween event. A big thank you to all of the generous businesses and individuals who have donated items and services!

For more information call: 604-886-8232; email: scm_a@dccnet.com  

Going once....going twice.....see you at the auction!

Terri's Journal: Final Entry

Today is my final day at the Museum -- it’s been fourteen unpredictable and wholly enjoyable weeks since I started way back in May.  

I try not to begin anything, much less a job, with the mindset of simply “getting through it” and instead try to find the challenge or joy in what I’m doing, but that can sometimes be very hard. I found no such difficulties in my time here. I am well used to jobs that have a set timeframe, but this is the first job that I’ve left feeling that I could get more done with more time. Still, I can quantify my contributions to the museum and that’s a very good feeling. I feel a certain sense of accomplishment having completed my time here; I’ve finished what I set out to do.

A never ending stream of thank yous to Kimiko for giving me this opportunity and providing such a dynamic and wonderful workplace; to Matthew for making me laugh and never getting frustrated by my repetitive questions about the cash register; to Gary for letting me be his Vana; to all the wonderful board members and volunteers who gave me so much support. It’s been pleasure working with and getting to know you all.

I’ve learned a lot about our community this summer, met a lot of neat people, and gained some life skills and work experience. And I got paid to do it, too!

For the last time,

Terri

40th Anniversary Beachcombers Exhibit Launch

40^th Anniversary

Beachcombers Exhibit Launch

Saturday, August 17th, 2013
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

To celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the iconic series, the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives will launch a new and improved Beachcombers exhibit on Saturday, August 17^th from 1-3 pm. The centerpiece of the exhibit is the recreation of the Molly’s Reach countertop with a life-sized photo of the cast as seen in the image above.  Visitors are invited to “sit down and have a coffee” with their favorite characters and peruse archival photographs and scripts. There will also be life-sized cut-outs of Nick and Relic for photo opportunities and the continuous screening of 3 classic Beachcombers episodes (Save the Persephone, The Tray Tree and Voice of the People). Beachcombers alumni will be on hand to answer questions about the much-loved series. Funded by the Town of Gibsons, the new exhibit will celebrate all things Beachcombers and we hope to see you there! 

Terri's Journal: Week Ten

I don’t think it’s fair to say that summer is winding down given that it’s only August 7^th, yet I’m hearing it all over. Summer as a season doesn’t even end officially until well into September but, since our society’s year revolves around the school year, it’s true what they say: August is the Sunday of summer. I only have two more weeks at the museum now. Two weeks after that I’m back at school. When you lay it out like that, it really does seem short.

I always run a tally in my head of the earliest “Back to School” ads of the year. This summer I think it was Zeller’s at the beginning of June. I remember being tortured by that as a kid even though I enjoyed school. “Why must these foul reminders sully my freedom by announcing its imminent demise,” I’d think to myself (so I was a touch precocious and melodramatic as a child, does this really surprise?). The worst one I heard of was my friend’s story from many years ago. She got off the bus after the last day of school and opened the mail box to find a single piece of junk mail - you guessed it, a back to school ad.

I thought I’d share some back to school ads from yesteryear with you in this post so that I may join in the cruelty (although I’ve heard that these ads have quite an opposite effect on parents. Strange that.) These are from the Coast News …

… in 1964 …

… in 1958 …

… and 1970.

You may want to click on the images for a better view.

Do you want to know the strange part about all those ads? I found them all in late August and early September issues. I suppose in our present culture that tries to get us out Christmas shopping shortly after Valentine’s Day, Back to School Advertisers need to jump the gun a bit too. Personally I’d prefer if no one told me school existed until the last week of August.

Terri

Terri's Journal: Week Nine

This last weekend I marched for the Museum in the Sea Cavalcade Parade and I couldn’t help noticing how little the event differed from any archival photograph we have of community functions.  

Usually, if I were to say that an experience was like ‘living in history’ I’d mean that whatever was happening was so important and profound that I could tell in that moment that it would be taught in schools in years to come. That’s not the case when I say the same about a parade. In fact, I mean pretty much the exact opposite.

I should make it clear right from the beginning, I am not condemning parades. I love parades with every facet of my small-town soul. But you have to admit: parades, by all accounts, should be an entirely outdated form of entertainment. With the increasingly impressive technology available to us at ever-decreasing prices it would not be strange if parades had long since been extinct. But somehow the tradition has persevered.

I cannot tell you with any authority why people are still interested in parades, I can only express my own opinions so adamantly that you assume they are facts. This is what I shall do.

1. Parades, above anything else, promote a sense of community. Let’s be honest, sitting in the hot sun for a couple hours and watching decorated cars drive by really slowly doesn’t actually sound like much fun. The appeal is in the people you watch with: family, friends, neighbours, strangers. Add in the local businesses and organizations to cheer for on the floats and then you have something. In this small a community it is bare minimum that you will recognize the family across the street and live next door to someone in the parade -- Guaranteed.
2. Candy. I’m not joking. Now, I’ve been past the accepted age of running for the candy thrown out at parades for a good number of years now, but a funny thing happens when you unwittingly cross that age line – the joy in the candy throwing does not subside, it shifts. I was awarded a single piece of candy at this year’s Canada Day Parade in Sechelt and I traded it for a smile from the cutest little girl you’ll ever see. Watching the sugar-fueled delight in all those children (especially at the Sea Cav Parade this year where the numbers were incredibly high) is very special and you won’t see it anywhere else outside Halloween and Easter.
3. Ceremony. If it can be nothing else, the Parade is the ceremonial opening to Sea Cav. Without it, all the smaller events might not have the same sense of connection to each other. Beyond this particular parade, though, the concept itself is ceremonial in nature. There’s no real point to a parade, it’s not a race, or a journey, or a fundraiser, it’s about the ceremony of the march. Similarly, the concept is not one anyone would dream up in this century; it’s done because it’s been done before. Parades are a tradition and as such they are a piece of the past living in the present.

There are certainly arguments to be made for and against the rapid advancement of technology, but to my thinking, if we can still find joy in the simplicity of a parade then maybe we don’t need to worry so much either way.

Terri

Terri's Journal: Week Eight

The opening of the Chatwilh exhibit on Saturday went swimmingly. We had around 40 people join us for the event. Chief Ian Campbell and Mayor Wayne Rowe were here to speak, along with other members of the Squamish Nation, and members of our Museum Board. It was an honour to share in that experience.

Coming up this weekend, of course, is Sea Cavalcade. Watch for me in the parade on Saturday, I’ll be the one absolutely melting from the heat. I’ve never been to the Sea Cav parade before, I’m looking forward to joining in. I was also asked to write the museum’s article on Sea Cavalcade in the Local. It comes out this week so keep an eye out for it.

Have fun this weekend, and don’t forget your sun protection!

Terri

Edit: Apparently I lied - my article is not in this week's Local. Take another look for it next week!

Terri's Journal: Week Seven

You might have seen on facebook that we’re having some trouble in finding appropriate photos to make into our life-size cut outs of Nick and Relic from The Beachcombers – boy, are we ever!

We started out in our photo archives, Jackson Davies’ book “Beachcombers at 40,” and a Beachcombers booklet from back when the show was only 13 years old. By the end of that search we had several really awkward poses, one grainy photo of Bruno Gerussi in a great pose with his eyes closed, and the same silly picture of Robert Clothier contemplating a pair of fish that we had used in our grant proposal in the first place.

Next, I dug through a box of old Polaroid’s hoping against hope I’d find something worth considering. After I had been through all of them (which is over 800 I’d guess) I had … nothing. Most of the shots were for continuity and location scouting purposes, very rarely was there even a person. I know that image quality would have been a factor had I found something in there, but it would have been better than nothing.

One day, as we were discussing our problem, in walked Vene Parnell. Vene is a local photographer who came in to check the inventory of her cards we sell in our gift shop. She was also a photographer for The Beachcombers and the author of the booklet I mentioned. We snapped up the opportunity and Vene graciously agreed to lend us whatever shots she had. A few days later we were in possession of a good quality photo of Bruno in a great pose – with his eyes still closed! It’s a plight I know well – I too am afflicted with the “blink as the flash goes off curse” – but you’d think we could find a photo somewhere in which this was not a problem.

We branched out further from there, talking to whoever we could think of with connections to The Beachcombers. An email to the CBC has been our first real hit. They sent us all the photos they had that fit the criteria – and we got one! We have a great shot of Nick holding a paddle - his eyes are even almost open!

Now we just need Relic. While my vote is eternally on the silly fish picture, we’re sure there must be something that works a little better. If you know anyone who has the rights to this seemingly non-existent picture, let us know!

Terri's Journal: Week Six

I'd like to use this week's post to discuss a part of working at a museum that is perhaps a little more abstract.

When I say abstract, I essentially mean the feeling I get while in close proximity to objects of the past. Perhaps you know the feeling I mean: that sense of connection to lives that existed before your own. It can be found in old photographs of familiar places, in a story told so well that it creates empathy for people a hundred years dead. That’s the feeling that made me want to work here.

I’ve done some dusting around the exhibits since I’ve been here, and there is a strange thrill to be had in touching historical objects, even if it is underscored by a tense fear that I’ll break something. Part of it, I will admit, is the child in me that revels in touching things behind a sign that clearly reads “do not touch.” But, another part is that sense of connection to people of the past whether it’s “can you imagine having to cook with that every day?” or “I used a mailbox just like that when I was a kid.” 

Some people, to put it bluntly, see museums as boring. That’s a perception I’ll never personally understand. As my friend put it when I told him I had the opportunity to interview here, “That sounds boring – you’ll love it!” To me (and, as a writer, this is the most important thing there is) history is a story. Each day we add a little bit to the narrative. A museum’s job is to piece together the threads of that story, not to be the author, or the censor, but the editor.

Terri

Terri's Journal: Week Five

I’d say it’s safe to say that summer is finally here! The sun is shining, the kids are out of school, and the tourists are on their way into town. I’m about ready to hit the beach!

From what I’ve learned while sorting through the museum’s archives, summer on the Sunshine Coast has always been a pretty neat time. I’ve seen pictures of canoe pillow fights and trophies for swim races. There’s always been lots to do here in the summer.

You could even say Sea Cavalcade was the result of there being too much to do! Before Sea Cav started in 1969 each community on the Sunshine Coast had its own summer celebration at a different times – Sea Cavalcade was the result of bringing our communities and all their traditions together. Luckily we don’t need a time machine to attend! The celebrations are July 27/28 this year, don’t miss it!.

I’ve never worked in a position that deals so directly with tourism before. I’m a little excited to see who I will meet over the coming weeks. The Sunshine Coast gets lots of tourists over the summer months; I’ve always been curious about what brings people to our little seaside hamlets. Of course I know it’s beautiful here, and our summer events can’t be beat, but how the heck did you even hear about us in the first place? Whenever I tell someone in Victoria (where I go to school) that I’m from Sechelt the answer I get is uniformly “Where?” So, that’s what I’m excited about right now: the chance to hear some of those “what brought you here” stories.

What are you excited about this summer?

Terri

Installing a 500 pound canoe!

Have you ever wondered how to move a 500 pound dugout canoe from Whistler to Gibsons and then install it in a museum exhibit space? I certainly have.

When we first started talking about doing an exhibit exchange with the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, I was just so excited about the partnership opportunity that I agreed without hesitation. It was only once things started falling into place and the transfer of artifacts was being arranged that I wondered how we were going to pull this off.

Thankfully, there are experts in our community who know a lot about transporting canoes. I contacted Ed Hill of the Gibsons Paddle Club and asked if he had any suggestions. He immediately and enthusiastically offered the assistance of the Gibsons Paddle Club. The club supports community organizations and is actively involved in community collaborations. Ed offered two members to drive the club’s canoe trailer to the Centre in Whistler and pick up the canoe. Sarah Goodwin, the SLCC's Director of Development, agreed to coordinate manpower at her end. All we had to do was come up with 20 strong-bodied individuals to carry the canoe from the trailer into our museum space.

Through an act of synchronicity, Ed Hill and Fred Stark went up to get the canoe on a Wednesday and were coming back on an evening ferry. Wednesday evenings are when the Gibsons Volunteer Fire Department meets for practice. Where else can you find 20 strong-bodied individuals all in one place, at one time? Thanks to the quick thinking of museum board member Mike Clement, Fire Chief Bob Stevens was contacted and arrangements made for the volunteer fire fighters to help with the move. Member of the Paddle Club and the fire fighters converged on the Museum and it all happened seamlessly! In less than 30 minutes, we had the canoe installed in our museum exhibit space, looking as magnificent and impressive as ever.

A big huge “THANKS” goes out to the Gibsons Paddle Club and the Gibsons Fire Department. Their willingness to help and enthusiasm to get involved really confirms for me what “community” is all about.



Canoe being loaded by crane onto trailer.
Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre in Whistler.

Once the canoe arrived at the Museum, the Gibsons Paddle Club and the
Gibsons Fire Department  volunteer fire fighters arrived to help with the move. 

Ed Hill gives the crew a briefing on how the move will take place.

Heave Ho!
The 500 pound canoe is literally in the hands of the volunteer movers. 

At 28 feet long, it required some maneuvering to get the canoe through the door.

The space looks tiny with 20 guys and a huge canoe...is it going to fit?

Just fits...in fact, fits perfectly!

Here she is!
Red cedar dugout canoe carved by Ray Natraoro of the Squamish Nation.

Such beautiful lines!

The "strong-bodied" moving crew!
The Gibsons Fire Fighters and the Gibsons Paddle Club.

Thanks!

Heritage and Handcrafted Small Wooden Boat Festival

The Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives’ Heritage and Handcrafted Small Wooden Boat Festival is back again for Sea Cavalcade 2013.  It’s a one-day show on Sunday, July 28th from 10am to 4pm in Holland Park in Gibsons.  Don't miss it!  We will have canoes, rowboats, kayaks, dinghies, daysailers and other wooden boats hand-built by enthusiastic amateurs and skilled professionals.  Some of the boats on display will be vintage craft and some of them will be new creations using traditional as well as modern methods.  The owners and builders will be there to talk to you about their boats, and share their pleasure in their craft.  If you just like looking at beautiful things, this is the place to be.  And if you've been thinking you'd like to build a wooden boat yourself some day, you'll find a lot of encouragement and experience here - so come on down to pick our brains!

If you've got an old classic or "beaut-nouveau" small wooden boat that you'd like to show, contact the organizer, Larry Westlake at info@westlakeboats.com or 885-0744 for details.