Squamish Days Loggers’ Sports Festival and the Squamish newspaper go together like the proverbial chocolate and peanut butter.
This weekend marks the 67th anniversary of Squamish Days.
The Squamish Public Library archives contain photos of loggers’ sports that appeared in the local newspaper, the Squamish Times, at the beginning.
Many loggers’ sports photos in the library archives were contributed by the beloved newspaper writer Rose Tatlow, who, the archive’s note, worked for the first Squamish newspaper, The Squamish Advance, starting in about 1945.
“We’ve always thought that loggers are pretty wonderful people,” wrote Tatlow in 1964.
She was in the Squamish newspaper business for 40 years, retiring at 70, and dying in 1998.
The Squamish Advance was bought out by Claude Hoodspith of West Vancouver, who also had a paper in North Vancouver. The paper’s name was changed to The Howe Sound Squamish Times and later the Squamish Times. It was published from 1957 to the 1990s.
The Squamish Chief has been published every week since 1991.
Newspapers and loggers’ sports have a lot in common, beyond our shared necessity for wood.
Both the sports and the local print paper predate many who live here now.
Both have had many locals come and go from their ranks over the years, all who shared a passion for their industries and this place.
Both helped build community over time and both harken back to a simpler time, but have evolved with the changes thrust on them.
Different from previous eras, many who participate in loggers’ sports these days, don’t work in the industry as their day job.
Similarly, newspapers have changed from the days when the stories were literally cut and pasted together.
Everything is done on computers and printers now, of course, just as the forest industry has modernized.
Both may be controversial to some and counted out as mere legacy industries by others.
If you want to understand Squamish and what locals care about, flip through the local paper and attend a loggers’ sports event. You will see us on full display there.
Happy Squamish Days.
~With a file from Sylvie Paillard
