
Our club meeting on March 15 had a busy agenda with two program speakers.
Townsite Jazz Festival founder and artistic director Paul Cummings attended our March 15 Rotary meeting and outlined the 10 ticketed concerts and guest musicians who will be attending the 2023 event.
The music educator has long been a jazz fan and loves to expose his students to that genre. His love of jazz began when he was in Grade 9 while studying trombone at Courtenay Youth Music Camp with the likes of Phil Dwyer and Diana Krall.
After growing up in this community and leaving for education and career opportunities, Paul moved home in 2000. He began teaching music at Brooks Secondary School and Powell River Academy of Music. He loves combining music with travel and has taken his choirs and bands on 17 international tours.
His enthusiasm for the jazz festival he created is shown in his statement “there is nothing like it on earth,” adding that it follows the Festival of the Performing Arts, Kathaumixw and PRISMA.
Three high school will have groups open for the professionals who will be in town April 14-16.
More details can be found at townsitejazz.com.
Powell River Community Foundation Alston Miller reported on the most recent Vital Signs report that was released recently. It was the third Vital Signs conducted after the initial one in 2011 and second in 2015. The third was delayed because of COVID-19.
Information is compiled from a survey of residents, organizations and Stats Can as well as other provincial and local studies and reports.
Population is 21,496 in qathet region with13.943 in the city of Powell River.
Alston presented some of the information from the report including the top languages spoken at home after English. They were Punjabi, French, Italian and Mandarin.
A living wage here is now $23.33 per hour, up from $16.31 six years ago.
Employment is highest in healthcare, followed by retail and construction.
There are 3,020 people living below the poverty line, including 460 under the age of 18. Some 28 per cent of seniors are impoverished.
70 per cent of people reported that have excellent health and wellness.
94 per cent were satisfied with arts and culture and 83 per cent were satisfied with the community’s diversity. 97 per cent were satisfied with sports and recreation activities available.
94 per cent shopped at Quality Foods, Freshco and Save-On. 42 per cent grew some of their own food. There are 50 farms that generate $3 millions in revenue.
26.4 per cent of all calls to police involve, thefts or B&Es, mental health issues, assaults for impaired driving. 18 people died in the last year from opioid overdoses.
The report is available online at prcommunityfoundation.com/vital-signs.
Service Above Self
Powell River, BC
Canada