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Society News

  • What Do Richmond’s Candidates Think About Heritage?

    We asked Richmond’s candidates five questions about local heritage. Their answers are now available for you to read.

    Notice of By-Election, June 24, 1967. Richmond Archives, MR SE 35, file 4569.

    For fifty years, the Steveston Historical Society has cared for and advocated for Steveston’s history. Decisions made by our elected representatives help shape what gets protected, whose stories get told, and whether young people can experience that history for themselves. We think those decisions deserve a place in the election conversation.

    We invited candidates for mayor, council, school trustee and MLA to respond, with questions tailored to the responsibilities of each office. We asked about protecting historic places, supporting the organizations that care for them, making local history accessible to students, and telling the whole story of our community—including the difficult parts.

    The replies are published in full, without editing, and can be read by candidate or by question. The Steveston Historical Society is non-partisan and does not endorse or oppose any candidate or party. Our role here is to ask questions and give you a way to hear directly from the people seeking your vote.

    Read the candidate answers

    Thank you to every candidate who took the time to respond, and to everyone who has put their name forward to serve Richmond. We encourage readers to approach the answers with curiosity and respect, and to take any follow-up questions directly to the candidates.

    We’ll continue adding replies as they arrive. Provincial candidates have until October 14 to respond.

  • October Popup Artists are Here!

    Each month the SHS features different local artists in our gift shop. Come by to view this amazing work and remember: a portion of all sales supports the work of the Steveston Historical Society.

    Micah Groberman

    Micah Groberman was born and raised in Vancouver, BC, and now calls beautiful Steveston Village home, where he’s raising his family surrounded by the Coast Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and the incredible nature and wildlife we’re fortunate to have right in our backyard.

    Fascinated by the beauty of our planet from an early age—after watching far too many episodes of Marty Stouffer’s Wild America and eagerly reading every monthly issue of National Geographic—there’s nothing Micah enjoys more than heading out with his camera in hand, searching for those unique moments in nature and creating photographs that capture the beauty he discovers along the way.

    For Micah, photography is about more than taking pictures. It inspires him to slow down, be present, and appreciate the natural world around us. His passion for storytelling has even led him to author a children’s book, The Book Bandit, which combines his photography with digital art to create a whimsical bedtime story for children.

    Artist Website: www.MicahGPhotography.com
    IG: @micah.g.photography

    Sarah Glen

    Sarah Glen is a multidisciplinary artist based in both Richmond (Steveston) and Parksville, BC. Her illustrative art is inspired by the sights, experiences, and natural beauty she encounters throughout her adventures in the Pacific Northwest, often exploring the region by canoe. Her work features playful and evocative motifs drawn from the landscape and wildlife around her, including sea otters, humpback whale tails, Gulf Island cliffsides, forest mushrooms, and more.

    Through her art, Sarah captures the character and wonder of the West Coast, inviting viewers to connect with the places and creatures that make this region so special.

    Artist Website: www.sarah.theglens.ca

    Bea Martin

    Bea Martin is a science illustrator, visual storyteller and the recipient of the 2024 Richmond Arts Award in Arts Education.

    With a multidisciplinary background as a character animator, theatre improviser, nature sketcher, certified medical illustrator (CMI), Bea merges arts with science and shares her passion for the natural world with her students.

    With genuine curiosity and enthusiasm, Bea thrives travelling with her sketchbooks, painting outdoors, and supporting the creativity, curiosity, and artistic development of people of all ages. And she bakes (and eats!) her own bread!

    Artist Website: www.bmartinvisuals.wordpress.com

  • SHS Supports Britannia Boat Restoration Program

    The Steveston Historical Society has written to Richmond City Council’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Committee in support of a staff recommendation to extend the Heritage Boat Restoration Program at Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site for two years. The committee considers it on Tuesday, September 29.

    Since 2024, the program has restored two heritage vessels and the site’s working slipways, and put a practicing shipwright in front of thousands of visitors. The extension would let the restoration of the Iona be finished and give staff time to plan the program’s future.

    We don’t write letters like this often, but we think it’s an important part of what the Society does. When the City makes decisions about Steveston’s heritage, we want the people who care about it to be part of the conversation, and we want our members to know where we stand.

  • Thank You for Our 50th Anniversary

    SHS board members and ED with Richmond Mayor Brodie

    On Sunday, July 26, the Steveston Historical Society marked its 50th anniversary with a celebration at Town Square Park, next to the Museum and Post Office.

    Several of the people who started the Society in 1976 were there, along with many others who have been part of it since. A few days later, Edith Turner, a longtime member and past president, wrote to the board:

    “While I appreciate being recognized as one of the many founders of the society, it was the connections to the other people who shared the vision of a historical society so many years ago that made the event most pleasant.”

    That was what we had hoped for, too.

    Despite the last-minute sprinkle of rain, our co-chairs, Linda Barnes and Joanne Teraguchi, along with the rest of the board and staff, kept things running. Volunteers like Diane Gronlund, Barry O’Rourke, and Anne and Ed Ikeda helped out through the day, and when a few volunteers had to cancel that morning, others filled in.

    Doug Masuhara and his students

    Doug Masuhara and his taiko students opened the program. Because of the rain they had to leave their biggest drum in the van and successfully reworked their set on the spot– people a few blocks away heard them regardless and followed the sound to the park. Angie Faith and John Watson played the last set of the day. Tarah Whitley made bannock with visitors, Paula Nishikawara taught the art of gyotaku (fish printing), and calligraphers De Liu and Lai Chun Wing took requests from guests all afternoon. Some of our partners and neighbours like the London Heritage Farm Society, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery and On This Spot set up tables next to ours.

    Clare Scott photographed the day, and many of her photos are on our 50th Anniversary page, along with our thanks to the businesses and organizations that supported the celebration. The page also has Around the Table: Fifty Years of the Steveston Historical Society, a short film by Alisha Weng and Gabriel Narciso of the City of Richmond’s video team, in which longtime members talk about how the Society began and what it took to keep it going. Thank you to them, and to the City of Richmond for supporting the celebration.

    On a Wednesday evening in July 1976, thirty people came to a meeting at the Steveston Community Centre because they thought the village’s history was worth keeping. Nobody was paid, and few of them had run anything like a museum before. What they started is still here. Harold and Kathy Steves, Bud Sakamoto, Kelvin Higo and Lee Boyko were at that first meeting, and on July 26 they were with us again.

    Harold Steves recieves keys for the Steveston Museum and Post Office building.
    Harold Steves receives keys to 3811 Moncton, the Steveson Museum and Post Office building, 1979.

    The Society is starting its next fifty years with more support than it has had in a long time. A multi-year pilot funded by the City of Richmond has let us bring on an Executive Director and start to think ambitiously. This fall that means a new events calendar, a monthly newsletter, a membership drive, and more happening in the village, from the Scarecrow Crawl in October to Songs in the Snow on December 5 and 12. We’re also following up on conversations from the anniversary, including offers of help and ideas for recording the memories of people who grew up in Steveston, and work on the legacy mural is continuing.

    Thirty people got this started. If you’d like to be part of what comes next, we’d be glad to have you as a member.

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