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The Little Town That Did
Thursday, April 30th, 2009 by GetawayBC.com
It’s the eyes that grab your attention the instant they lock into yours from across the street.
Clear, sky-blue and aware, yet flavoured with an unmistakable warmth.
The face of Billy Thomas, the first European child born in Chemainus, is the perfect metaphor for his hometown, one of the must-see stops of any tour of Vancouver Island.
Like Thomas, Chemainus is one of a kind.
The Thomas story is one of 40 painted on the walls of this Vancouver Island pioneer town, a town that lived and died with the logging industry and was reborn thanks to a unique marriage of the past, the arts and a rare dose of community spirit.
Chemainus is Vancouver Island’s Little Town That Did, an outdoor art gallery that welcomes thousands of visitors every year to drink in its heritage and its hospitality.
Nestled five minutes east of the Trans-Canada Highway, less than an hour north of Victoria, Chemainus is, was, and may always be a mill town.
But that was seriously in doubt in the early 1980s.
A mill first perched on the town’s small, deep, horseshoe-shaped harbour in the early pioneer days of Vancouver Island – 1862.
A succession of replacements fueled the growth of a small village into a thriving town.
The mill built in the 1920s was one of the marvels of the coast – a massive operation that at its peak employed about 750 workers. It even attracted a planned visit from Queen Elizabeth II – a visit that had to be cancelled at the last minute when a strike closed the doors.
But by the late 1970s this once-proud giant had become old and outdated. It was losing money by the bucketful. Its demise seemed imminent.
With that threat raising a spectre of death above their entire beloved community, civic leaders banded together looking for something to keep them afloat.
They found it in their hearts and on the bones of their town.
Their past, the events that shaped the community would save them. They would bring this past to life on the walls of their downtown buildings.
The Festival of Murals was born in 1981. Within a year, four world-class artists had finished five huge murals in prominent locations. Each featured a story straight out of Chemainus history books.
By the end of the following year, the number of murals had swollen to a dozen, coupled with an aggressive downtown revitalization and beautification plan.
The marketing genius of mural guru Karl Schutz took hold and the world started to take notice. The tourists began to pour in and Chemainus claimed the international title of the Little Town That Did.
While profiting from its past, Chemainus also learned from it; No more would it be a one-trick pony. 1993 marked the opening of the Chemainus Theatre, a 268-seat downtown facility featuring professional live theatre, first-class dining and an attractive art gallery.
It, too, was a hit – churning out dozens of polished, family-friendly productions over the years and cementing itself into the culture of Vancouver Island.
In 2009, Chemainus Theatre expects to stage 366 shows – attracting more than 80,000 visitors to its six mainstage productions, plus three more aimed directly at kids.
Forestry still has a strong presence, as a new mill dominates the waterfront, built two years after the old dinosaur shut for good in 1983.
The mural population continues to grow. Some have gone three-dimensional, and the townscape is freckled with sculpture. Even the murals themselves are part of the painted history, as their birth was celebrated in a mural unveiled adjacent the theatre in 2007.
New subject matter – world-famous Vancouver Island artist Emily Carr – was added to the canon last year.
A horse-drawn carriage tours visitors around the town, explaining the stories behind the art. More depth and history is featured in the local museum. Musical entertainment is regularly heard at Waterwheel Park’s downtown bandshell.
Tour buses arrive daily. A new hotel – the Chemainus Festival Inn – has sprung up complementing an array of spas and bed and breakfasts.
Parks dot the area, along with an 18-hole golf course opposite the hotel. Nearby campgrounds are available for the outdoorsy types.
Work on a waterfront quay is underway aimed at providing a new link to an already thriving ocean playground that includes excellent opportunities for sailing, kayaking, prawning and diving.
A ferry connects visitors to idyllic Thetis Island, while another departs from nearby Crofton for picturesque and funky Salt Spring.
Gift shops and restaurants bustle under the summer sun as visitors indulge in the delight of old Billy Thomas – some of the best waffle cone ice cream anywhere.
For information, call the Chemainus and District Chamber of Commerce at 250-246-3944.