There’s a reason why the Sunshine Coast has one of the highest concentrations of artists in Canada. According to Linda Williams, cofounder of the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl, the region’s natural beauty brings out the creative juices in unexpected ways.

The seventh annual crawl takes place this year at 130 venues from October 21 to 23, stretching from Langdale in the south to Earls Cove in the north. Williams said that there will be more than 300 artists displaying their works in several communities, including Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Sechelt, Halfmoon Bay, and Madeira Park, which are connected by the Sunshine Coast Highway.

“We have everything that you would expect: visual artists, from contemporary to landscape, and we have a lot of glass artists,” Williams told the Georgia Straight by phone.

One of them is Chris Motloch, who owns Molten Spirit Glass Studio in Roberts Creek. Williams said that his specialty is making glass pumpkins.

“Kids sign up and he will have them blow a pumpkin and then decorate it,” she noted. “He’s got the kiln right outside and it’s just fascinating for everyone to watch.”

There’s also a blacksmith in Roberts Creek, Kelly Backs, who is going to show his creative side. In that same community, Williams said, La Petite Souris Chocolate founder and chocolatier Amber Stoby will hold workshops for people who want to learn how to make their own chocolates.

Williams said that there were 27,000 studio visits during last year’s Sunshine Coast Art Crawl, which is scheduled in the fall because room rates are lower and ferries are less busy. Because the artists’ galleries and studios are indoors, it’s not such a concern if it rains.

The art crawl helps boost the economy, and not only for restaurants and bed-and-breakfast operations. “Last year, one of our artists made $45,000 in two days,” Williams revealed. “That was from the sale of a few high-end paintings.”

This isn’t the only popular tourist event in the area. The annual Sechelt Arts Festival takes place from next Thursday (October 13) to October 23; this year, the theme is water. One of the premier events will be a presentation of Flicker by the Dancers of Damelahamid at Sechelt’s Raven’s Cry Theatre next Friday (October 14). Showcasing Gitxsan heritage, masked dancers enter into their ancestors’ spirit world.

The following night, Juno nominee Kinnie Starr will be at the Raven’s Cry Theatre for a water-themed concert, accompanied by artist Bracken Hanuse Corlett. These are ticketed shows, but several other events at the festival are free.

Mushroom lovers won’t want to miss the annual Sunshine Coast Mushroom Festival, which takes place from next Friday (October 14) to next Sunday (October 16). Events will take place at the Roberts Creek Community Hall and the Pender Harbour Community Hall in Madeira Park. There’s also a craft-beer festival taking place in Powell River on November 8.

Once upon a time, people in the Lower Mainland thought of the Sunshine Coast as extending from the town of Gibsons, near West Vancouver, to Earls Cove, and Egmont, as well as a popular tourist attraction, Skookumchuck Rapids, in Skookumchuck Narrows Provincial Park. In fact, this area is only one half of the region and known as the southern Sunshine Coast. The northern Sunshine Coast, which is connected to the south via a ferry from Earls Cove to Saltery Bay, includes Powell River, Lund and Desolation Sound Marine Park at the top. 

Langdale (near Gibsons) is accessible by ferry from Horseshoe Bay; another ferry from Earls Cove connects motorists to Powell River. For those traveling from Vancouver Island, a B.C. ferry from Little River in Comox will connect you right to Powell River's terminal at Westview.

Escalating housing prices in the Lower Mainland and Greater Victoria have prompted an exodus of people to this region. The marketing director of Sunshine Coast Tourism, Paul Kamon, told the Straight by phone that this has brought new creative energy to the area. He sees the region undergoing a major transformation, likening it to the shift that happened in Portland, Oregon, as it shed its reputation as an industrial hub and, thanks to its creative class, transformed into one of the coolest cities in America.

Kamon grew up in East Van and is struck by some of the similarities that he noticed when he first arrived in Powell River five years ago.

“It was like a time warp back to the ’80s,” Kamon said with a laugh. “I felt very comfortable when I got here, right off the bat.”

In his words, the old East Van no longer exists because the real-estate market has priced out many of the locals. But in Powell River, he was able to buy a house with an ocean view for just $204,000.

“The lifestyle we’re living up here is amazing,” he said.