By Sam McBride

I am a big fan of libraries, and also a big fan of the small, but vigorous and amazingly scenic, community of Kaslo, on the west coast of Kootenay Lake in southeastern British Columbia.  That is why I am a strong supporter of the campaign to build a new Kaslo Library in downtown Kaslo to better serve the needs of the community for years to come.

In my ongoing research into my family tree, as well as my continuing interest in general stories of West Kootenay history, I often visit the existing Kaslo Library, which has a Local History section second to none in the region.   But it is obvious that they are cramped for space in aging quarters, which restrict the library’s ability to put on programs and special events in response to community needs.

Downtown Kaslo site currently reserved for a new Kaslo Library. Hard to beat the magnificent setting, and handy location across from the Kaslo Hotel, and between Front Street Park and the Post Office. The kiosk has a selection of books, as well as information on the library proposal.

The project has secured a terrific site for the new library.  It is right where the action is on Front Street, in land next to the Post Office, and across from the Kaslo Hotel and Front Street Park.  Details of the new Kaslo Library are at https://kaslo.bc.libraries.coop/new-library-project.

I am looking forward to participating in the big fund-raising Auction coming up in the last week of April.  I will be offering 10 hours of my service as a genealogist and family historian, as one of the items up for bidding in the auction.  I offer expertise from 30 years of experience of family history writing and research, as well as full subscription access to the records of Ancestry.com, Newspaper.com, ancestryDNA,  and other sources.  As a fourth-generation resident of the West Kootenay region, I regularly make postings in Facebook groups devoted to nostalgia and history.  For information on the auction — http://charityauction.bid/kdplFundraiser.

Here are other photos I took recently of the site for the new library, which now has a kiosk with books as well as illustrations and details of the new library.

View of the site looking back to the historic Langham Hotel

I started this www.thebravestcanadian.com blog in 2011 to help in communications associated with my book “The Bravest Canadian: Fritz Peters, VC, DSO, DSC and bar, RN — the Making of a Hero of Two World Wars” that was published in 2012 by Granville Island Press. After the marketing campaign for the book concluded, I have continued to do postings in the blog on family history and local history, which in my case tend to intersect over time.