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Reunion to mark decade since pulp mill closed

Former Woodfibre employees and families invited to Sept. 24 event
The Woodfibre pulp mill town site, which was disbanded in 1973, included a swimming pool. A reunion is being planned for all former employees and their families on Sept. 24.

reunion is being planned for September for former Woodfibre pulp mill employees and their families. 

Francine Erickson lived at the former Woodfibre township site until she was 18 and remembers an idyllic childhood.

“It was beautiful,” she said. “We had everything over there. We had a bowling alley, we had a store, we had a café, pool, tennis courts, movie theatre, community club.” 

Children went to elementary school at a community school on the site and then took a ferry to attend Howe Sound Secondary. 

Erickson’s family was the last to leave Woodfibre when the township was disbanded in 1973.

In its prime, about 100 families lived at the Woodfibre site, about six kilometres south of downtown Squamish on the shore of Howe Sound. 

Erickson also later worked for 29 years as a clerk at the company, which closed a decade ago.

About five years ago a reunion was held for those who lived at the township, and this year’s reunion is for anyone who lived or worked at the mill and their families. 

Erickson is organizing the fall reunion, which will be held Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park. Telling stories over food and drinks will be the highlight of the event, she said. “People just want to talk.” 

For more information, go to the Woodfibre Reunion page on Facebook or email woodfibrereunion@gmail.com.

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