It was a crazy day at the museum! There were suffragettes, flapper girls, a steamship captain, prohibitionists, loggers and a whole host of tie-dyed, loud, protesting hippies. If you did not know where the museum was before you will now. It was hot, it was chaotic and it was fun!
The museum hosted a “living history” fashion show. The models were dressed in clothing from the 1890s to the 1970s. Graham Ritchie made Bowen’s history come alive as the models strolled, strutted, sashayed and danced through the museum grounds. This event was the highlight of the opening of the summer exhibit “Hippies and Dippies, Dodgers and Codgers – Bowen Island 1960-79”.
The exhibit will be up for at least a year and our goal is to include the voices of as many people as possible. Were you here in the 60s and 70s? Did you live in the Orchard? Were you a summer visitor? Did you work on Bowen? Commute? Retire on Bowen? We recognize that not everyone wants to be interviewed, or contacted – but everyone has a story or two. If you would like to contribute to the recorded history of Bowen, you have many options. Contact us by phone 604.947.2655, email bihistorians@telus.net or visit our website and fill out the “memories of Bowen” page. We are still looking for photos to use in the exhibit.
A huge shout out to the fantastic models: Carol Fancy, Alison Morse, Barbara Wiltshire, Ron Woodall, Heather Woodall, Kami, Tom McComb, Nadyne and Lonnie Hindle, Barbara and Lance Weismiller, Nair Knipe, Nancy Lee, Angie McColloch, Tim Rhodes, Darcie Buzzelle, Irene Wanless, Nerys Poole, Cro and Sue Lucas, Daniel Broderick, Andrea Lucy, Debbie Wrinch, Katherine and John Lawrence, Deidre Farrah, Helen Wallwork, Shirley and David Wrinch.
Another big thank you goes to all the islanders who loaned us 60s & 70s related artifacts: Rob Forbes, Georg Helenius, Adrienne Lawson, Ines Ortner, Stephen Lock, Shari Ulrich, Carol Fancy, Joan and John Tennant, Larry Schmidt, Iris Carr, Mary Lynn Machado, Dawn Riley, Britta Lonquist, Don Cochrane, Sigurd Sabathil, Bill Leithead, Paula Alucema, David Wrinch, Ron and Heather Woodall, The Knick Knack Nook!
Thanks to Eddy Weismiller loaned us the pink Cadillac that transported the models in style.
Dorothy Lawson made the 50s DVD show possible by donating a Mac computer.
Thank you to Graham Ritchie for his usual wit and charm and Shael Wrinch for setting up the sound system.
And once again, a huge thank you goes to Shirley Wrinch, whose sense of humour, relentless energy and drive, and incredible treasure trove of costumes makes all things possible.
