Folklife Village
The high point of Folklife Village overlooks what has become the village center and is an integral part of the island's character.
When Vancouver hosted Expo ’86, British Columbia constructed a pavillion to represent the province to the world. The “Folklife Village” was concieved and built to show off some of BC’s fine timber and no expense was spared to put together a masterpiece of post-and-beam construction. The architect was flown over the forests of BC to personally pick the trees to be cut to make the largest of the beams that support the unique structure. The ‘village’ created at Expo included two main components - the best of which is now the centerpiece of the village of Gabriola.
After Expo ended, the folklife village pavilion was sold, dismantled, and barged off into storage. It next appeared a couple of years later in drawings at an Island’s Trust meeting on Gabriola. An artists rendering of the village – shown nestled in the trees at the intersection of North Road and Lochinvar Lane was presented, along with a proposal to rezone the land from rural/residential to commercial.
Naturally there was dissent, but the Trustees of the day saw the opportunity have a beautifully designed and constructed commercial center – right there in what was already becoming ’downtown’. The existing commercial architecture was less than inspiring. The local restaurant – ‘D’Pizza’ (now ‘Roberts Place’ ) – was in a house that had been expanded, and the cement block strip-mall-gone-sideways that wanted to be ‘Gabriola Center’, didn’t have much style at all. Here was a rare chance to have an expensive post and beam showcase as a focus for Gabriola’s commercial core. At the time, given the population on the island, that type of architecturally designed commercial construction was unaffordable, since there were not enough prospective tenants with enough hope of making the rent required to pay for it. It was only because the ’used’ structure was sold at such a bargain that the developer could afford to put the project together. The other factor that made it work was the timing. The island’s growth was at a point where there was a demand for more local services and therefore more commercial space. It certainly took courage - and a big mortgage no doubt - to take it on. The owner of the land offered the community a portion of the acreage as ‘park’, and the deal was soon done despite the omnipresent opposition.
The project to reconstruct the ‘folklife pavillion’ took about two years. The site was prepared and the barges landed in Descanso Bay. It took at least 20 huge truck-loads – winding along some pretty narrow stretches of road – to get the huge timbers and accessories to the property. Putting it all back together – adapted for commercial use and able to pass local building codes – was no mean feat. It was the work of Bill Kristofferson – who had worked on major parts of the original construction, and Jay Friesen – with hands- on experience in post and beam construction and things architectural, that managed to get the giant puzzle back together.
The first tenants included the grocery store, a real estate office, and the fashion boutique. Within a few months ‘Folklife Village’ was pretty well fully leased and soon fulfilled it’s promise to focus commerce in the village, and set the bar high for future developers.
About The Author
Gabriolore
Long-time Gabriola Island resident over 21 years of age.
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Re D’Pizza- It was never in a house. It came to be as the evening shift in the old bakery, which is now G&S meats.
At that time the addition, which is the medical-dental part of the plaza, wasn’t built.
I remember this because Paul Spencer, the original baker, was looking for someone to open a takeout pizza place after bakery hours , and I introduced my friend Dennis Deakin to him. Thus, D’Pizza was born. Ironically, I’d met Paul a year or so earlier, and introduced him to Marianne Christiansen, the builder of the plaza, who told me she was looking for a baker.
Everyone made money but me!
Hey Rick, thanks for the earlier history of D’Pizza and it’s beginnings in that small bakery when Marianne’s strip-mall was the only building there. However, the house I was referring to, was the one Tony Nunes built at Lochinvar and North Road in 1985/86. That house soon evolved into a restaurant when D’Pizza moved from the old bakery location and shared the converted house with Tony’s small woodworking shop – and an auto mechanic named Rick Jackson. Know him? (heheheh) That expanded building is now Roberts Place and The Roxy – but it still looks like a converted house. It is a far cry from the architecturally designed commercial buildings that are being constructed now, but it does have a history – a very colourful history if you ask Tony. (Actually, all of Tony’s history is pretty colourful…)
That mechanic was me. I was the first one to move into Tony’s building- other than Tony. Dennis followed a year or so later.
Re: Folklife Village
It’s interesting how we all remember the past differently. As I recall the property was not rezoned for the present owner. It was rezoned in May 1988 for Brenda Huxley who was proposing to operate a craft assembly and retail enterprise. After it was zoned for commercial use, she sold it to the present owner. The Trustees of the day had already zoned the property commercial before it was sold, the Folklife structure moved and a mall created.
The original proprietors of the grocery store met when we sold our video store located on the corner of North rd. and Lockinvar in the wine supply building; Don was the real estate agent selling the business and Dave was buying it.
Indeed it was zoned for Ms.Huxley – who was zoning it specifically for the prospective buyers. Trustee Jack Sickavish unrolling the drawings for the proposed retail ‘village’ at an APC meeting when the zoning change was imminent. Her ‘donation’ of a portion of the land was part of making the application more acceptable…which it did. The proposed ‘folklife village’ part was not publicized for fear of making it less acceptable…which it may have. It’s part of the landscape now.
Gabriolore, reflect for a moment on your last post. What you’re saying is that the APC met with Jack Sickavich and was shown the “folklife village” mall plan while the rest of the community was left in dark as to the real plans. We were told and believed that Brenda Huxley wanted to move her craft business there from Peterson Rd.
What kind of way is that to do business? This is a perfect example of the “ends justifying the means” way that the public’s business was being carried out on Gabriola for years before the Weldwood fiasco when the public woke up.
I worked in the original cement block mall built by Marianne Christiansen. Before that strip was built, I was her secretary in her office at Silva Bay. S
Lots of fond memories of islanders wanting to transfer vehicles but rarely having the original owners’ signature. We got pretty creative trying to get correct signatures back then, sending people next door to the bakery to find the original owner and get a signature. Sometimes the signatures were even the right ones.
That cement building was an arctic outpost in the winter and a sauna in the summer. Marianne had it built from cement blocks because it would never burn down and her insurance was cheap.
Rick (the mechanic) – you kept many of my old clunkers running. Thank you!