Music and theatre provide an environment where, through collaboration, we are encouraged to celebrate diversity, ...
In the early morning hours of the winter solstice, December 21, 2021, my life and health changed forever. I was ...
Things are often done a little differently on the Gulf Islands. Partly by necessity, partly by inclination, these ...
The legend of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship doomed to never enter port, has been told and retold since the ...
I first became drawn to mead because of my Scandinavian heritage: mead plays an important role in many of the ...
While some of us were out celebrating Valentine’s Day this past February, Eugen Sushko was feverishly drawing at ...
Words by
Vivian Dean
Photos courtesy of
Supermod
Colin Garritty has an enviable job. Four days a week, all winter long, he gets paid to ski and snowmobile the ...
When we think about hunting and gathering, the season we usually think of is fall. For many of us, there’s nothing ...
My husband and I moved to the Comox Valley four years ago. From the start, we’ve enjoyed navigating our way around ...
When I was a kid growing up in the ’70s and ’80s in Montreal, stores were closed on Sundays. Every single store. ...
Laurie is a “late in life” painter who moved to the Comox Valley after retiring in 2015 from a busy career as a ...
Jim is a fifth-generation Comox Valley resident, born and raised here. His interest in photography began in junior ...
It is usually late May when I embark on the first mountain trip of the season. In this particular year I was ...
Words & photos by
Claire Gordon
Starting in 1888, a vast labyrinth of extraction tunnels was carved beneath the village of Cumberland, the old ...
Eating local is a popular concept in the Comox Valley, with its long growing season and wealth of farms producing ...
When I was a kid growing up in the northern boreal forest, my mother took me and my siblings out foraging for ...
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
– Søren Kierkegaard, 1843
I don’t ...
This past January, I received an email from the organizer of the BC Epic thanking me for my registration.
Which ...
Words & Featured Photo by
Dave Nowak
Gallery Photo by
Gary Egli
Opening up, embracing new ideas, and making time for wonder.
I spent most of my career trying ...
Hi, my name is Dakota Blomgren. I was born in the Comox Valley and I am nine years old. I am a proud member of the ...
Over a century ago, on a Monday in late September, crowds of young and old thronged Vancouver’s sidewalks. Mothers ...
My first home in Cumberland was on Camp Road, in a row of rough cabins that were built in 1888 when the coal mine ...
What an ugly night. It’s dark, pouring rain, and there are still remnants of slushy snow melting in the driveway, ...
Words & photos by
Kyle Hansen
You don’t need to be an oyster farmer or sport fisherman for the daily ebb and flow of the ocean to impact your ...
Decades ago, I was sitting in a cinema seat in Toronto, gripping the armrests as the tension heightened, and ...
Words by
Mac Newton
Illustration by
Ian Adams
When David and Angela Mackenzie open the door to their new home, they will bring with them an unwavering ...
Words & Photos by
Karen McKinnon
As I pull through the gates of Smith Lake Farm, I’m greeted by the sounds of chickens clucking and disc golfers ...
Words by
Sara Kempner
Featured photo by
Meredith Rose
Back in 2013, I started shopping around for healthy nutrition options to supplement my gym goals. I’d never given ...
Do you laugh when you hear the word sasquatch? Do you believe that sasquatches exist? Do you think that a ...
I’ve occasionally yearned to wear a Davy Crockett-inspired coonskin hat. The reason I don’t isn’t that I fear I’d ...
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon as I make my way through Alex Blais’ yard, following the sound of laughter toward an ...
Words & Photos by
Sara Kempner
Our new Cumberland home came with a view of the crisp Beaufort Range mountains, Mount Apps standing tallest above ...
The very first time I dipped my paddle into the Salish Sea, wedged awkwardly in the belly of a dragon boat, I was ...
On Friday, May 13, 2022, a group of paddlers from many backgrounds made their way, in two interconnected voyageur ...
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon as I make my way through Alex Blais’ yard, following the sound of laughter toward an ...
Words & Photos by
Sara Kempner
Like most woodworking spaces, Sandpiper Studio is an organized-but-dusty collection of equipment designed for the ...
I-HOS GALLERY
K'ÓMOKS FIRST NATION
Owned and operated by the K’ómoks First Nation, I-Hos Gallery showcases a ...
Hi, my name is Darragh Tormey, and this is my love essay.
Love can mean a million things, and it means ...
K’ómoks First Nation (KFN) members Sean Frank and Trevor Hardy, assisted by master carver Joe Martin of ...
The Comox Valley in the 1960s was remote, beautiful, and serene. It was also secluded, with no major highway ...
Glean (v.): Gather (ears of grain, etc.) after the harvest.
I recently attended an inspiring symposium hosted ...
Some of my dearest early memories involve water. My dad would tie a rope on my sister’s and my life jackets as we ...
Words & featured photo by
Erica Keen
Marianne Enhörning is a West Coast Canadian artist. Born in Sweden, she split her work life for many years between ...
As an adventure, wildlife, and sports photographer based in the Comox Valley, Nick chases the thrill of unique ...
Mastering the art of love starts with yourself.
Every day, we hear and say, “I love ...
In 2008, novice paddleboarder Norm Hann hatched a plan to travel by stand-up paddleboard (SUP), with boat support, ...
We’ve all done it. Bragged about how we used to go somewhere when it was still cool and undiscovered, before the ...
Deep in the heart of Utah Mormon country, in a place called Temple Square, sits an unusual statue known as the ...
The ferns have their fresh, feathery leaves and everything in sight is electric green. This is Vancouver Island in ...
Words & Photo by
Jennifer Jellett
Two “very pregnant” cats. That was the delivery at the door of the Kitty Cat P.A.L. (Prevent-A-Litter) Society at ...
In 1992, an eclectic group of local artisans joined together to form The Potters Place Gallery. “There was already ...
There is a natural intimacy to be found at the Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival. Readers, writers, ...
Land is on my mind a lot these days, as a dad and freelance journalist. I recently interviewed an old Findlay ...
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably driven past the community halls north of Courtenay along Highway 19A ...
My dearest Yarden, It wasn’t just one of your plants that snared me. Nor did my love for you hit all of a sudden. ...
Bark! Bark! Bark! We are an hour and a half into our wilderness validation search; Rudy has already found two ...
When LOVE was suggested as our summer theme, I jumped on it. I planned to write an inspiring intro that would ...
One of the most iconic locations in the Comox Valley is Goose Spit, a long finger of land that shields Comox ...
In 2021, I decided to travel across British Columbia with my bike and my skis—or, more accurately—with my skis on ...
Words & Photos by
Damien Jannet
“Restoring land without restoring relationship is an empty exercise.”
– Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, ...