Jeremiah Rogers' Logging Operation

This building, now the Jericho Arts Centre, was actually built during World War II as the RCAF Recreation Hall. It was a dance hall for officers and their guests.

Cameron Cathcart, from the Vancouver Remembrance Day Committee, talks about imagining the weekly dances happening right here 70 years ago. Airmen from the nearby barracks, which were across the rugby field where the forest is now, would meet women from the RCAF women’s division and young civilian women from the city. They'd dance all night, maybe to Mart Kenny and his Western Gentlemen, possibly ending with Kenny’s song "The West, a Nest and You Dear." Civilian orchestras weren't the only entertainment; the RCAF had talented musicians who formed pick-up bands from the Jericho Base for these dances. These were considered happy times during the war.

The Jericho Arts Centre itself was commissioned by the Parks Board in 1993 to give the local community more access to the arts. It's a 135-seat performance venue run by the Friends of Jericho Arts Centre Society, a non-profit group of users and volunteers. United Players of Vancouver is the resident theatre company, and other groups like Fighting Chance Productions and Ensemble Theatre Co-operative also perform here. When these companies aren't using the space, it's available to the community, and visual artists can display their work in the lobby.

Fran Burnside, from United Players, calls this place "The Little Theatre that Could." She says that having a resident theatre company that keeps upgrading equipment and maintaining the building, while also curating art shows in the lobby, helps ensure the Jericho Arts Centre continues its long service to the community and preserves a piece of the city's wooden history.