Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old newspapers with the assistance of the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives so we can jog your memory, give you that nostalgic feeling, or just a chuckle, as we take a look at what was making headlines this week around Cowichan Lake in years gone by.
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This week around the Cowichan Lake area…
10 years ago
"Sunfest organizers hope to move festival to Cowichan Lake" was the only headline on the front of the Lake Cowichan Gazette of Aug. 12, 2015.
"Organizers of the Sunfest Country Music Festival want to bring the annual music festival, one of the biggest on Vancouver Island, to the Cowichan Lake area — but will residents be on board?
"The proposed venue, recently purchased by the owners of Sunfest, is located off the Youbou Highway, five kilometres from Lake Cowichan. Sunfest PR manager Emmalee Brunt said that the organizers have deemed the move necessary due to the growing popularity of the event.
"With 50,000 country music fans flocking to the festival this year, the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds, Sunfest’s current venue, is beginning to reach capacity. The proposed 65-acre site would give the music festival more breathing space.
"'We’d like to keep growing,' Brunt said.
"Though the application ultimately lies in the hands of the CVRD, Lake Cowichan town councillor Bob Day said that he’s standing behind the decision to move the music festival to Cowichan Lake, citing the economic boost the 50,000 Sunfest attendees could potentially bring to the town."
Another headline in the same paper was "Lake Cowichan adults drinking 320 litres of alcohol per year, topping Island rates".
"Adults in Lake Cowichan are consuming more alcohol than any other community on Vancouver Island, according to statistics released by Island Health. According to the Community Health profiles, the average adult in Lake Cowichan drinks 320 litres of alcohol per year, compared to the Vancouver Island average of 124 litres per year and the provincial average of 103 litres per year.
"Though the numbers are striking, Island Health’s medical health officer Dr. Paul Hasselback admits that the methodology used in gathering the data isn’t perfect. The numbers were reached through calculating alcohol sales (including liquor, beer, wine, etc.) at local liquor stores, without differentiating between the alcohol content present in the drinks. A common criticism, said Hasselback, is that Lake Cowichan’s numbers are being inflated by campers and other tourists during the summer."
25 years ago
"Youbou Regatta: a short parade, but long on melon eating" according to the Lake Cowichan Gazette of Aug. 16, 2000.
For years Youbou has bragged it has the world's shortest parade. After Saturday's annual summer festival, held in Arbutus Park, it may be able to brag it also has the longest watermelon-eating contest. It took more than an hour for two teams to eat their way through a truckload of the sweet, juicy melons. The watermelons were obviously a welcome treat from the sun and schedule of activities. Several hundred people, some from as far away as Scotland, packed the lakeside park to take part in the events or just to watch."
Also making headlines was "Publisher bids editor farewell".
"As many of you are aware, the Gazette newspaper celebrated its fifth anniversary in June of this year. While five years is not a particularly long period of time, the anniversary was a major accomplishment for all of us at the paper. The success of the paper — from humble beginnings to the status it now has in the community — has been very rewarding. A big part of our success is due to the hard work and dedication of our employees, many of who have been here since the start. As the paper changed throughout the years, our one constant has been the excellent writing, photography and layout skills of our editor Jim Zeeben.
"Without his dedication, work ethic and commitment to you, the readers, we would not be enjoying the success we now experience. For that, we will always be in his debt. However, time moves on and changes occur. This week, the Gazette will face its first major change. Jim has an opportunity to move on to a larger market and advance his career in the newspaper world. We wish him well. We are pleased to announce the appointment of Doug Marner as the new editor of the paper."
40 years ago
On the front of the Lake News of Aug. 14, 1985, "Some camps re-open" was good news for workers.
"At least one Cowichan Lake district logging camp has re-opened at full strength, following the lifting of an extreme fire hazard that closed local woods to both workers and travellers. B.C. Forest Products' Caycuse division started Monday and all workers were expected to be back on the job by today (Wednesday), according to a company spokesman.
"BCFP's Renfrew division will be slower returning to full operation because of construction still under way at the division's dry land sort at Honeymoon Bay. Truckloads of concrete have been poured to pave a section of the sort and the job is not finished yet.
And finally, "Real estate prices now appear to be holding steady in the Cowichan Lake district after a rapid ride and drastic fall in the early 1980s," according to a story titled "Real estate steady" on the front page.
"According to a check of residential properties offered for sale the Lake News' real estate section since January, 1982, price shifts have been regular but unspectacular. The price of a three-bedroom home in the district has fluctuated between $58,000 and $46,000 since August 1982, without appearing to follow any pattern."
Ah, those prices. Wouldn't it be nice?
