Driftwood Mall Turns 50 Years Old
For the community, this was front page news on May 5, 1976 in the Comox District Free Press newspaper: “The ribbon has been cut and the doors are officially open at the new shoppers’ mall in Courtenay.”
From the Archives: Photo of the Month April 2026
Here a four-horse team driven by Mr. Edwards and Tom Idiens works on ploughing the fairway of the recently formed Comox Golf Club, April 1924. This S.B.W. (Dusty) d’Esterre photograph appears on page 136 of Step into Wilderness: A Pictorial History of Outdoor Exploration in and around the Comox Valley.
From the Archives: Photo of the Month March 2026
Local members of the British Columbia Women’s Service Corps display plums picked for the “Jam for Britain” campaign, ca. 1941. Left to right: Pam Harvey, Mrs. Lucy Muir, Mrs. Clive, Mary Bell.
New Exhibit at the Comox Museum
The Comox Archives and Museum Society just opened their new exhibit, 80 Years Ago: A Comox Time Capsule. This display highlights a pivotal time in Comox — where the community rallied together after the war, pushed for incorporation, and even endured the island-shaking 1946 earthquake.
From the Archives: Photo of the Month February 2026
Comox District Women’s Institute making Red Cross Jam, 1941. Left to right: Effie Clowes, Evelyn Harmston, Maggie McPhee, G.W. Stubbs, Leo Anderton, Theed Pearse, Berkeley Grieve, A.H. Davidson.
Welcoming in the New Year
This eye-catching advertisement from the 1926 Comox Argus wished readers compliments of the season. Ernie Macdonald moved to the Comox Valley from Victoria in 1921 and opened Macdonald Electric in downtown Courtenay.
Season’s Greetings
The Courtenay and District Museum board and staff would like to extend wishes to all for a wonderful and safe holiday!
Festive Recipes
Museum staff searched the archives cook book collection to provide a couple of recipes for the holidays. Both are from a book of "Personal Recipes" likely produced in the late 1950s as a fund raiser by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Canadian Legion Branch 17, Courtenay.
In Memoriam: Lawrence Burns
Local heritage lost an invaluable resource person with the recent passing of Lawrence Burns. Mr. Burns, the former chair of the Courtenay Heritage Advisory Commission, was awarded Heritage BC’s Award of Recognition in the Distinguished Service category for his commitment to heritage conservation in 2020.
Archives Awareness Week
Guess who’s turning 80,000,037 this November! The museum is celebrating the Comox Valley’s very own Puntledge River elasmosaur Traskasaura Sandrae on Saturday, November 15 from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM.