Snug Cove

A sense of history is what first impresses you when you enter Snug Cove, Bowen Island’s gateway and town-centre. One cannot overlook its picture-postcard entrance, with its Howe Sound vistas, colourful children’s murals and sailboats. But while many towns settle for streets lined with mismatched chain stores, Snug Cove maintains a historic look as a tribute to its romantic past.

From the 1880s to the 1950s, Snug Cove and the land surrounding it was home to a large resort. For this reason, Bowen Snug Cove’s beloved seaside ‘boardwalk’ bypasses gift
shops and cafes in the old Union Steamship
Company headquarters.Island was known as “The Happy Isle.” It was the destination of $1.00 Union Steamships day-trips from Vancouver and renowned for summer cottages and moonlit dances by the sea. Even the sand on Sandy Beach was shipped in from Scotland as a treat for holiday-makers!

That idyllic history could have been forgotten when, in modern times, the old resort declined due to tourists choosing to drive or fly to more distant destinations. After some initial demolitions, local residents rallied to honour their past. Today, most Snug Cove buildings blend in with the old 1924 Union Steamship Company store near the ferry dock, now restored as the Public Library. The same colourful heritage style dominates nearby shopping areas of Village Square and Artisan Square, up the hill from Snug Cove’s entrance.

You might even feel that you have landed in the 1920s if it were not for the SUVs lining Snug Cove’s main street, in continual wait for the next ferry. This being Snug Cove, those waiting drivers live on island time. Most park their cars to wander off and chat, relax in a café, or shop, stepping over the occasional dog sprawled on the sidewalk.

Dogs seem to be everywhere in Snug Cove. Sometimes there is even a dog on the community shuttle bus, entertaining teenagers on their commute to high school on the mainland, in West Vancouver.

Their commute may someday no longer be required, according to Dale Gagné, editor of the Bowen Island Guide and general manager at Doc Morgan’s Inn. “We’ll eventually have a high school,” she says, commenting on the many small children seen in town. “Bowen has the highest birthrate per capita in Canada. People feel this is a good, safe place to raise children.”

Snug Cove’s Marina overlooks the old resort grounds of the “Happy Isle.”

Certainly, the residential population is growing. A decade ago, there were only 3,500 people on all of Bowen Island, Snug Cove included. Now, there is a surge in real estate activity, with much new housing construction. Residents surpass 4,000 year-round and 5,000 in summer – and more are expected to fill the new homes going up.

Ironically, Bowen Island’s current house-building boom has led some long-time residents to move off-island, even though it was their work maintaining the historic buildings and ample green space that helped spark this building boom in the first place. Still, it was just a matter of time before location alone brought in newcomers. After all, Bowen is just 12 miles northwest of Vancouver and a 20-minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay. So it should be no surprise that the ferry is increasingly packed with Bowen residents commuting to the mainland for work or school.

Snug Cove can never substitute for city life, yet it does offer a surprising range of amenities. This seems largely due to the work of dozens of hard-working community societies here (covering arts, environmental, history, social services and recreation). If you wish to see what kinds of local events are available, residents will advise you, with a smile, to read Snug Cove’s unofficial notice-boards – the telephone poles.

Even with the recent residential growth, Snug Cove continues to maintain the old-fashioned look that makes it so appealing. Equally, a local aesthetic has been shaped by the large number of residents working in the arts, which is about 10 percent of the population, according to Gagné. Most Snug Cove businesses, for example, bear attractive, hand-painted signs.

The result is a town that surely offers visitors even more enjoyment now than was available in the old resort days. Today’s visitors can picnic, kayak or enjoy the softball rivalry of local teams. They can golf, hike to Lake Killarney or Mount Gardner, dine overlooking Howe Sound, stroll the seaside boardwalk, tour attractive gift shops or visit museums and art galleries.

Young children can also play at the beach or community school playground or watch swans and herons at the Lagoon. And there is plenty of family fun at such events as the Round Bowen sea-kayak race, Snug Cove’s summer-long Sunday market and Bowfest in August, with its live music, salmon feast and heritage games.

Thanks to the creative and community-minded residents of this island community, visitors can now find enough pleasant diversions in Snug Cove and its modern-day Happy Isle to fill not one, but many enjoyable day-trips!