This weekend marks 25 years of the community-driven disc golf tournament “Dawg Dayz.”

Brent Howieson and Liz Richardson moved to Linnaea Farm on Cortes 36 years ago, marking the beginning of disc golf traditions on the farm. Howieson brought the love of the sport from his previous time on Pender Island, which holds the largest tournament in the province, according to him. The disc golf enthusiast used reclaimed materials to make the first course.

“[We] started off using five gallon metal buckets for targets, because we didn't have any money. Once I set it up, people started to come. That's how we got it all started,” Howieson says.

CKTZ visited Howieson and Richardson in their fig-forested farm home, where Howieson shared several photo albums full of documented disc golf memories. The "Dawg Dayz" tournament was coined by disc golfer Sean Black, and the trophy is a brass sculpture of an English Setter, donated by another disc golfer Yvonne Kipp.

Howieson noted there are several, mostly private, disc golf courses on the island, and no less than five annual tournaments take place, usually associated with holidays like Easter and Halloween. Howieson notes the tournaments have a couple things in common: “they usually involve food and lots of fun. It's a great party atmosphere.”

To hear more about this island disc golf tradition, listen to the CKTZ News Update below: