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Gorge Hall hosts first New Years event during pandemic, fundraises for hall maintenance

A green sign for the Gorge Hall.
The Gorge Hall is available to the community for events but not without its maintenance costs. Photo courtesy of the Cortes Island website.
Louis Belcourt - CKTZ - Cortes Island • BC | 29-12-2022
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Locals on Cortes are hosting an all ages New Years Eve event with live music and food at the Gorge Hall for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Whaletown Community Club (WCC) for the maintenance of the Gorge Hall. The organization owns and manages the Gorge Hall, the Whaletown Cemetery, the Louisa Tucker Library, the Old Schoolhouse Gallery building, and leases Avery Park from the government. The funds will be managed by the WCC board, the WCC President, and the WCC treasurer Izabelle Perry.

"The Whaletown Community Club needs to hire a consultant to look at our system, get estimates from plumbers, because the water system needs to be upgraded. This will require a lot of funds. It is not broken but it soon will no longer meet the requirements for new Island Health standards. We will be doing extensive fundraising in 2023 and this New Year's Party is the first event to help with this project." said WCC Treasurer Isabelle Perry in our email correspondence.

"Funding from events like this year's New Year's party are needed to pay for the maintenance of these assets because the grants we receive annually do not cover maintenance costs. They only cover the costs of keeping the hall open." said Gabriel Dinim, WCC president.

The "NYE on Cortes - Countdown to 2023" event will feature local live musicians and DJs from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. The community kitchen will also be open and serving hot food all night, courtesy of the Sunflower Food Truck and a team of volunteers.

A poster for an event called "NYE PARTY & FUNDRAISER."

The event will host a dinner at 7 p.m. and have music throughout the night. Photo courtesy of Eric Nordal.

"I think for a lot of us, a lot of our traditions and a lot of our celebrations have been on hold for some years. So I know, everyone I've talked to and the folks that we're coming up with are all very excited," said Eric Nordal, one of the organizers for the event.

Listen for more below from the WCC President Gabriel Dinim and from the organizer of the event Eric Nordal in a CKTZ interview:

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