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 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.
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.