INSIDE COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 Co TERRACE STANDARD The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - BI MMUNITY-: SECTION B MOST RECENTLY home to the Action Coalition of Terrace, George Little’s house is part of a plan to welcome tourists arriving by rail from Prince Rupert. Heritage home could become tourist hotspot A LOCAL group has its eye on a heritage building to act as a train station and centrepiece for downtown. Brian Baker of the Terrace Econamic Development Authority says the now-vacant home of city founder George Little has great promise. Baker and others are behind a pian to move the home from its Hall St. location to alongside the CN. tracks - someplace near downtown. - Once renovated and restored, the distinctive heritage “home could act as the VIA passenger train service stop with retail-spaces inside and possibly offices, Baker said. - “That home is probably seven years younger than what Terrace is and it was built by the founder. Its his- torical value is immense,” he said. Baker added cily officials have toured the building , and have said it is a sound structure. © A handful of locations have potential as the home's ‘new-location, including the old Terrace Co-op depart- ment store.site to the Grand Trunk Pathway, “Tt could act as a centre for other, smaller retail - stores in a turn of the century motif,” Baker said. ‘While the project has gained momentum from recent efforts to include Terrace as a day trip for cruise ship -. _passengers stopping in Prince Rupert, Baker said its : greater promise rests in having the building become a -focal point for tourism here. “The concept of what we'd like to do is create a Cow Bay of Terrace,” Baker continued. It’s ironic that Prince Ru- pert’s tourist-friendly Cow Bay development — located beside the Atlin terminal docking facility - is popula- ted by businesses owned by Terrace merchants. Baker noted Terrace’s cur- rent VIA station is a small ] building located between a bulk storage plant and the former CN station behind ‘the Skeena Hotel. It’s a bit of a distance from the town and tourism offi- cials and operators here don’t regard it as an idea wel- coming spot for train passengers. . Baker has had some preliminary contact with VIA of- ficials who have told him the idea sounds attractive as long as the cosi to the federal crown corporation is mini- mal. ° “Moving and restoring the George Little building will ~be expensive, Baker conceded. But he hopes some of the expenses - as much as - $200,000 — can be covered off through in-kind donations. “And there's also the possibility of a grant from a fed- ‘eral’ heritage agency. “Joining with Baker in the quest are local tourism offi- _Cials, people from the city, federal Human Resources “Development Canada officials and people from 16-37 - Community Futures. ; ‘Baker, also hopes to draw in CN and wants greater “participation from VIA Rail. “The fact is, George Little gave a big lot of land to Brian Baker ““We don't want to leave it empty, a - beautiful house like that.” -the GTP. for a station here as opposed to Kitsumkalum,” - said Baker in referring to Little’s efforts to secure Ter- ‘ ‘race as a viable location. -The GTP, or Grand Trunk Pacific, was the forerunner “to. CN and VIA was created by combining the passengers services of CN and CP. ~~ Little’s house is now owned by Ksan House Society, which used it as a transition house and later the emer- ,- Beney shelter, but it’s been empty for some lime. Its last occupant was the Action Coalition of Terrace, a group: that formed late last year to- protest provincial budget cuts. Ksan's executive director, Carol Sabo, spurred the = thinking of Baker and others by first offering it to the city of Terrace some months aga. “We determined quite awhile ago in would take a fortune to bring the house up to code and there is no pro- " gram now we could use for that,” Sabo said, c= We don’t want to leave it empty, a beautiful house “like that.” The society does want to keep the land upon which -. the house sits for. an eventual housing project or some sort of other socially-beneficial use. If moved, the new Tocation would be the house’ 8 third sile in Terrace. “George Little had the: stately’ home ‘constructed on Lakelse Ave: ona site tow ‘oecupied by the Const tnn of ‘the West, LOCAL BARK carver Harold Braam has just finished his 1000th piece, which is as tall as a person. Braam says he's been carving work. A myriad of expressive faces burst out of the energetic cottonwood bark for over 20 years. Fantastic faces JOANNA WONG PHOTO No, he’s not the guy who carves the faces on Ferry Island. He’s Harold Braam — a prolific local bark carver who’s just completed his 1000th work. By JOANNA WONG BARK CARVER Harold Braam says he doesn’t look for inspira- tion — it finds him, The Terrace born. and raised Braam has been carving faces in pisces of bark for more 20 years. At last count he’d carved 1,000 — and he says not a single one looks the same. “I make a character to suit the wood,” he explains. “The face is in there - [ just have to find it.” Braam’s been working with wood ever since he can remem- ber. “EF always had a pocket knife as a kid,” he says. “I was always making small pieces of wood out of big pieces of wood.” He figures creativity must be in his family’s blood. Braamn’s father, Casey, is well known in town for old time pen and ink drawings, and one of his sons has even begun carving. “He reminds me of me when I started,” Braam says. “We spend time together this way,” Braam first started carving ser- iously in the ‘80s, and began sell- ing work at local Christmas craft fairs and at the Red Raven Gall- ery. He insists his inspiration didn’t come from Rick Goyette, the art- ist responsible for carving the faces that hide in the forest on Ferry Island. takes his wife, children and dog out to log jams on the Skeena to help him lead up bark on his packboard, . -- - And while carving may tech- nically only be Braam’s hobby, he’s rarely without a piece of wood in his hand. “Carving is my diversion from “! make a character to suit the wood. The face is in there —1I just have to find it,” “IT enjoy his carving, It's really unique,” Braam says, “But I wish I had a dotlar for every time someone asked me, ‘Are you the guy who carves the faces on Ferry Island?” There’s a lot of other up and coming carvers that need to be recognized too.” Braam initially chose to use the bark from cottonwood trees as his main material because of the richness of the grain and the un- iqueness of the texture. Collecting the bark has even become a family event. Braam TV. Instead of watching the idiot box you sit on a park bench, you meet people and it becomes kind of neat.” “TV is a waste of a life,” he says. “I'm not a sit still kind of guy.” Braam estimates that so far his carvings have been taken home to at least 25 different countries. The ones he doesn’t sell he pives away as gifts at weddings or at other special occasions to fa- mily and friends. Braam's 1000th carving is his biggest and most ambitious pro- ject to date. It’s been carved into a piece of collonwood wood the size ofa person, wilh dozens of faces burst- ing expressively from the bark. Braam has even. carved female faces into the piece, something he generally avoids. “To make a face lock feminine is very difficult,” explains Braam. “It’s more natural for a snarley old man to make a snarley old man.” So far, Braam has no major plans for his masterpiece, but hopes to have it put on display somewhere prominent. In the meantime, there’s a stack of cottonwood in Braam's workshop just waiting to come alive, “What kind of mood [’m in is the kind of face I carve, If I come here in a bad mood I carve a mis- erable snarly old guy, If I’m all ‘whistling and happy I carve a smiling and boisterous guy,” he says. “T-try to make every face as unique as you and J.” Dance group is headed to world festival By JOANNA WONG FOR KEANE fait-Stewart, it’s music and movement that keeps his heritage alive. For the past five years, the 23-year-old has been the driving: force behind the Terrace Nisga’a dancers, a group that aims to help urban Nisga’a retain their traditions. “When you remain idle, or sit and wait, your traditions and culture will begin to fade and be forgotten,” Tait-Stewart explains. “We definitely do not want this to happen with the Nisga’a people who live off the reserve.” At last count, Gitlaxdax Say K’ilim Goothil Nisga’a had more than 120 members, with dancers ranging in age fram two to 80. “We include everyone,” he says, adding that many members are married to other na- tions such as Haisla, Ukrainian or Carrier who dance with the group as well, “We’re kind of like a support group because we live away from the rest of our family in the Nass.” The members are gearing up to perform al the First Anaual International Aboriginal Fes- tival in Vancouver Aug. 30-31 and Sept. 1. “We've been perfecting our program,” Tait- Stewart says. “We're all pretty tired, but we’re willing to be that tired so we can go.” The dedicated group haa been practicing more than seven hours a week to put together an impressive mix of soulful singing, hypnotic -dnim beats and dynamic dancing. - Fait-Stewart says Vancouver audiences will GENERATIONS are brought together in a traditional Nisga'a dance group. Above, Jade Bright, 9 months, and Meranda Mercer, 11, take a break at a recent rehearsal, be mesmerized by the group’s vibrant regalia, colourfully decorated with the designs of their respective Nisga’a clans — killerwhale, raven, eagle and wolf. “All you see is red black and white,” he says. “And the drums are so powerful — it makes your bones rattle.” For many of the children and youth in the group, it will be their first time out of Terrace. urban activities such as waterslides and the PNE. Normally, a trip like this would be out of reach for a number of the dancers because of the travel costs. Fortunately, the group has received a lot of help from the community, Final fundraisers in- clude a potluck and a big pep rally at the arena banquet room Aug. 24. “We're hoping for a really big turnout,” Tait-Stewart has been encouraging the younger—_says Tait-Stewart, who adds the pep rally will members to raise money to cover travel ex- penses by organizing car washes, bake sales and Loonie-Toonie drives. He’s hoping the youth will have the opportunity to experience feature a performance .and a big feast of _ smoked salmon and traditional foods. On the way to Vancouver, the dancers will perform in Prince George and in Chilliwack.