Are you someone interested in history or in contributing to the Sunshine Valley community?
Until Feb. 15, the Sunshine Valley Community Recreation Society (SVCRS) is seeking expressions of interest for the use of their historic pole barn.
“The barn itself is spectacular, with 1880’s era building materials including rough sawed log timbers,” said Ann Phelps, a SVCRS Board member, in a press release. “We are looking for a tenant partner with a vision and creativity to work with the Society to restore this beautiful structure and make it a place for gathering by the local residents and the tourists who visit Sunshine Valley from around the world annually.
“Our intention is to work in partnership and obtain grants to assist in the restoration of the barn.”
SVCRS is a long-standing, registered, non-profit organization in Sunshine Valley. According to the non-profit, it “maintains and provides members and guests with access to over three acres of recreational and social activities.” This includes offering sporting, recreational, and cultural experiences for the benefit of the Sunshine Valley community and its visitors. The purpose of the society is to “establish, maintain and operate a non-profit community centre society in Sunshine Valley that is accessible to all, regardless of financial resources, culture, age, sex, sexual orientation, or mental or physical abilities.”
According to Laura Ballance, who is another member, the barn, which is located next to the big barn where Sunshine Valley’s community events are held, dates back to the 1800s and includes the building’s original beams and structures.
Because of its potential and significance as a community asset for Sunshine Valley, Ballance said they are looking to rent out to or form a partnership with businesses, artists, Indigenous organizations, brewers, distillers, societies, film companies, event operators, not-for-profits and cultural groups for the use of the historic pole barn.
Ballance said that they do have creative people within the Society and Sunshine Valley who can assist “in things like grant writing or support for a person or organization or business.” Unfortunately, they don’t have enough volunteers or the capacity to restore the pole barn themselves. Or use the space.
As such, SVCRS hopes restoring the barn will helping Sunshine Valley grow into a place with more opportunities for artists, musicians, and cultural events.
“It’s so beautiful, or could be, inside,” Ballance said. “ It sat there unused, other than for storage, for quite a long time. There’s obviously some restoration that needs to be done on the building, but we could work collaboratively on that as well. We’ve also talked about an artist in residence program. And we’ve talked about a cultural space or a music space.
“I think collaboration is is such a powerful tool these days,” she said. “And so we’re really excited about that, and hoping that we hear from some people that have some great ideas, because it’s a community asset.”
Expressions of interest can be emailed to Directors@SVCRS.ca. For more information about SVCRS readers can visit SVCRS.ca.
