When Ken Diamond was contracted to build a cabin on the Sunshine Coast in 1995, he promised himself he would one day find his way back. Two years ago, he and his partner made Lund home, but the timing could not have been be riskier.
For the past 20 years, Diamond has built a name for himself making high-quality leather footwear through a studio located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. While his primary focus was mocassins, Diamond has decided it’s time for something new.
“I’m just done with it,” he said. “I want to make something that’s way more me.”
The handcraft artist, who closed his Vancouver location to open his own studio at the end of the road in Lund, is now turning his to attention to bespoke shoes and turning to e-commerce to make his sales. Despite his recent move, changes to his business product and strategy, and settling into a rural community, Diamond said it is his dedicated following of more than 4,000 and online platforms such as Instagram that make him feel like it’s going to be fine.
“Since I already have the following,” he said, “I’ll be able to pull it off.”
Diamond’s story is becoming more and more commonly heard in Lund’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. As editor of the Barnacle, a hyper-local community-run newspaper, Sandy Dunlop maintains a section titled: “How in the world did you end up in Lund?” It features stories like Diamond’s and covers first-time visitors turned residents to bizarre cases like one individual who had nothing but a handwritten note and intuition.
Having been a member of the community since she was 27, Dunlop said she has also seen the ebbs and flows of businesses in Lund and how it affects residents. She recalls a time, before there was development on Finn Bay Road, when the area was nothing but wildflowers and creeks and how locals have responded to the changes since.
“We have to learn how to be balanced,” said Dunlop. “It’s about finding this strange combination between peaceful meadows and creating employment.”
In fact, Dunlop said she has seen businesses in Powell River that have achieved that balance before. She recalls Local Locos, an art and coffee shop on Willingdon Avenue that shut down in 1995. Paintings lined the old venue’s walls from the entrance to the bathroom and stayed open throughout the night to showcase live music.
“Nothing had ever existed like that here; it completely changed the demographic,” added Dunlop. “Not everyone attributes it to Local Locos, but I do. It was like night and day.”
Today, that attraction continues through the high season, when Lund’s economy is boosted by a sudden influx of tourists during its summer months. Dunlop, however, argues against creating a business that solely targets that market. In fact, since taking over the Barnacle, she has revived the publication through hyper-local advertising only, turning down businesses from outside of the regional district.
“Tourism is great,” she said, “but if businesses only thrive by trying to get the attention of people out of town, it will be as if the locals don’t count.”
When it comes to the relationship between Powell River and Lund, Nancy Jeakins says there is a one-sided necessity for Lundites to go into town to get groceries, hardware and other goods that Powell River residents don’t have with their regional counterparts. Jeakins said she hopes to level out that relationship with the recent opening of the Tidal Arts Centre, a forestry station turned art hub that hopes to accommodate artist-in-residence and artistic workshops.
Jeakins said she envisions writing, dance, yoga, painting, printmaking and a clay studio, among other things.
“I hope it’s an art hub,” she said. “Anyone who is based in Powell River or in the art world who wants to connect, build and work together can come. And maybe now the 20 to 30 minute drive is less of a mental barrier.”
Vancouver Island University campus administrator and Lund resident Greg Cran said he sees a potential link between the artistic activities of the regional district and the future Innovation Hub proposed in the historic district of Townsite. The new development is lead by the PR Creative Economy and Innovation Initiative, a joint project exploring the entrepreneurial potential on the Upper Sunshine Coast by the university, Powell River Educational Services Society, qathet Regional District, Tla’amin Nation, City of Powell River and funded by Island Coastal Economic Trust.
Where Lund and surrounding areas serve as a place for artists to grow, a future Innovation Hub providing mentorship and programming can provide an opportunity for artists to connect with other entrepreneurs and develop their business sense.
“Lund has influenced Powell River in all sorts of forgotten ways,” said Cran, pointing out the university’s history as Malaspina College started out in the regional district. “This is about strengthening those ties as much as it is creating new ones.”
Dunlop said she hopes the future brings new residents who don’t just work and live in the area but become “successors” to the community.
“You have the freedom to bring your personal vision to fruition here,” she added. “I’d like to see our successors build on the arts, no-trace outdoor adventures and make more spaces for good food and music.”
Powell River & Beyond takes an extended look at economies that make up qathet Regional District. For more information on how an innovation hub can impact Powell River, go to prinnovationhub.com.
