Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Ian Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996. Marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate, you'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Rockin' Rhonda: Here comes Peter. Here comes Dave. Oh, listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing, spinning tales in the hot podcast cave. So laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat.

Peter McCully: Welcome back to the PULSE Community Podcast. I'm Peter McCully. The springtime calendar is ticking along as the Easter weekend is now behind us and here on mid Vancouver Island gardeners are among the busiest people around.

Dave Graham: Tell me about it. I'm Dave Graham. Some call me Farmer Dave now.

Peter McCully: Really?

Dave Graham: Well, no, but they might once they get a look at my back forty.

Peter McCully: You don't have a back forty, Dave.

Dave Graham: Those are just distracting details. Peter and I can't be distracted from my job, my focus as a mint farmer.

Peter McCully: You're getting maxed out caring for a pot of mint, Dave.

Dave Graham: Are you kidding? You have the pot and then there's all the mint and I suppose there's some water and dirt and stuff. There's a lot going on. Plus I have another project going. I'm working on cultivating something else altogether.

Peter McCully: Are you finally going to start that pot of rosemary?

Dave Graham: Even better. I'm cultivating a whole pile of goodwill with my neighbour who has planted an entire veggie garden. Raised beds, trellis, the whole production. Oh, I can almost taste her carrots now.

Peter McCully: Well, good luck with that, Dave. Today in the podcast we have a couple of remarkable guests. First, Dr. Anne Herdman Royal, a pathologist now practising at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. She's one of more than 400 American healthcare professionals who have made the move to British Columbia in the past year.

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: I think it's a misconception that in the US it's completely different and every single person has access to care, including primary care. That is true if you have money or if you have insurance. The only place that has to treat you is the ER. Otherwise, you can absolutely be turned away from anywhere else if you can't pay. Much of the care that's given there by physicians and other healthcare providers is uncompensated.

Dave Graham: Well, that puts things in perspective when we talk about healthcare challenges here. It's a very different conversation than what's happening south of the border. I'm glad Dr. Herdman Royal is here and I'm glad she's talking about it.

Peter McCully: Also joining us today, Greg Adams. He grew up in the Cowichan Valley, laced up skates in the NHL and after retirement, built something that nobody saw coming — a world-class music festival right here on Vancouver Island. Greg Adams is the founder of Lake Town Ranch and Sun Fest, and believe me, he doesn't sit still very long.

Greg Adams: We're just about ready to start our next big phase, which is going to be an RV park up the hill. We're also doing small homes — park model homes — up the hill as well. That whole community will also share a swimming pool, hot tub, water slides, and a splash park for kids. It's going to have a clubhouse with a bistro and a gym, so that the year-round residents and the park guests will have a place to gather, but also a place to be healthy.

Dave Graham: A bistro and a water slide. Now that's giving me ideas for my backyard, although that means I might have to give up on mint farming. So Peter, one of the big partners in our community is the SOS, the Society of Organized Services. They have a new initiative.

Peter McCully: That's right, Dave. When families are supported, the whole community thrives. That's what's behind the SOS for Our Families campaign. You can donate through the SOS website and you can support them by teeing off at the first ever SOS for Our Community Golf Tournament. June 6th at Morningstar Golf Club for $180 a person, you'll get the driving range, 18 holes of golf, a cart, buffet dinner, on-course challenges, and a chance to win a brand new vehicle from Parksville Chrysler. Plus there's a silent auction with great local items.

Dave Graham: That sounds like a great time at the championship golf course in Parksville. That's something we golfers value. Yes, I consider myself a golfer, just as I'm a farmer — I go in with lots of enthusiasm and otherwise I generally don't know what I'm doing. Wait, that describes my whole life.

Peter McCully: I am looking for Troy Atchison of Black Creek. Is this Troy's phone?

Troy Atchison: Yes, speaking.

Peter McCully: Troy, it's Peter McCully calling from the PULSE Community Podcast.

Troy Atchison: How are you doing today?

Peter McCully: Good. I'm calling because Dave and Marilyn just pulled your name from the draw drum and you have won a four-day pass for two to Sun Fest.

Troy Atchison: Fantastic. That's great. I was actually thinking about just purchasing single-day tickets, but now that's off the plate.

Peter McCully: And it's superb entertainment. If you had to just go for one day, who would you be going for?

Troy Atchison: I was thinking about going to see Jon Pardi.

Peter McCully: Yes, he's pretty good.

Troy Atchison: Riley Green's pretty good as well.

Peter McCully: And now you can go and see Riley Green and the James Barker Band and Hannah McFarland and Tyler Joe Miller and Tyler Hubbard.

Troy Atchison: That's fantastic. I'm really thrilled about winning those tickets. Thank you very much.

Peter McCully: You're quite welcome. And I happened to take a peek at your Facebook page. You're a motorcycle guy, right?

Troy Atchison: I've got a Harley. Because of all the traffic and stuff going to those events, it's easier to get in and out with a Harley.

Peter McCully: And you'll have somebody on the back, obviously.

Troy Atchison: I hope so. I probably will now that I've got tickets to it. Thank you very much.

Peter McCully: You're quite welcome. Drive safely. Keep the shiny side up.

Troy Atchison: Cheers.

Fireside Books: There's exciting news for book lovers. Fireside Books in Parksville now has a second location in Port Alberni. The Bookwyrm — used books are just $5 or less. The Bookwyrm on the corner of Redford and Anderson opens seven days a week from 10 to 5, building your personal library for less. Fireside Books at 464 Island Highway East in Parksville is a book dragon's dream come true. Browse their extensive collections seven days a week. Both locations make growing your personal library easier than ever. New and used books and so much more. Order online at firesidebooks.ca and pick up at either location. Ask about returning books for a book credit — Fireside Books and the Bookwyrm, two locations, one amazing adventure in browsing.

Peter McCully: On a future edition of the podcast we'll be chatting with Brad Merritt of 54•40. The band will be playing for the inaugural Rock the Range in Qualicum Beach.

Dave Graham: We'll also chat with Aaron Culley Drake. He's an author who can tell us the ups and downs of writing a book using artificial intelligence. I tried to use AI to help me plan out a garden and it suggested that perhaps I might prefer a nice game of chess. I don't know what to make of that.

Peter McCully: We'll hear from Sarah Ronald about what's coming up at the Parksville Museum, including a live music concert series.

Dave Graham: Chris Buck of the Chris Buck Band will be stopping by to tell us about the Boots and Boats Singer-Songwriter Festival in the news.

Peter McCully: Stay tuned to the podcast, our website, and social pages for our upcoming giveaways. We have a whole summer of prizes planned.

Dave Graham: Yes, there will be tickets for 54•40, April Wine, and Beach Fest Rocks. It's going to be a busy time for our prize department, so be alert. Right now it's time for our first guest. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Dr. Anne Herdman Royal is a pathologist now practising at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, one of more than 400 American healthcare professionals who have made the move to British Columbia in the past year. She came from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a mass shooting at the hospital where she worked became the moment that changed everything. She's here today to talk about that decision, what she left behind, and what she's found on Vancouver Island.

Peter McCully: Thanks for joining us on the podcast today, Doctor.

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: Thank you for having me.

Peter McCully: You moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma to work in Nanaimo. How did you hear about Vancouver Island and Nanaimo in particular?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: My husband and I have always loved the Pacific Northwest in general — Oregon, Washington state, the weather, the vibes. My husband is really into outdoor activities and nature. He had heard about Vancouver Island in some of his outdoor magazines, so when we first started talking about Canada, that was his first go-to place. We thought we were going to be interested in Victoria. When I was going through the process, a friend of mine — a pathologist — had taken a job here in Nanaimo, and she said, yes, Victoria's nice, but please take a look at Nanaimo. It's really beautiful but it's not as crowded, the traffic's not as bad. I'm so glad that I did.

Peter McCully: Tulsa is a landlocked mid-American city. What's life like there?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: It is landlocked for sure — no good seafood. I would describe Oklahoma in general as religiously and politically conservative. It has two city centres with Tulsa being one of them, a population centre of about a million people. There are certainly pockets of culture and community, but we had to look really hard to find them. I would describe it as the epitome of suburban sprawl. There's lots of shopping but it's a little lighter on cultural activities and certainly very light on outdoor recreation offerings.

Peter McCully: You're a pathologist. Could you take us through the education process and what exactly a pathologist does?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: We're medical doctors, just like your internist or your surgeon. Four-year undergraduate degree, four-year medical degree, and then a four-year residency covering anatomic pathology — tissues of the body — and clinical pathology, which is more oriented towards the laboratory: blood, urine, any body fluid tested. I'm more of an anatomic pathologist. I did two fellowships — one in surgical pathology and one in GI and liver pathology. Any tissues removed in endoscopy, surgery, a fine needle aspiration of a thyroid nodule — our staff turns those tissues into glass slides and we look at them under the microscope and make diagnoses. What we do helps not only with diagnosis but with guiding treatment and management of patient care, particularly in cancer diagnoses. We define the parameters of the patient's cancer to help the oncologist and radiation oncologist do their job. A lot of times people say the pathologist is the doctor's doctor, because we are the final arbiter of what is going on with the patient, and we're often able to answer questions that no other doctor can answer because we are right there in the heart of the problem.

Peter McCully: In reading your story, I understand that June 1st, 2022 was a turning point for you. What happened that day?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: Awful, awful day. At the hospital where I was working — a very large hospital — we got a notification that the hospital was on lockdown and there was an active shooter on campus. A patient of one of the orthopedic surgeons, unhappy with the outcome of his surgery about a week before, purchased firearms that day and came in and killed two doctors — Dr. Preston Phillips and Dr. Stephanie Houston — a patient, William Love, and a receptionist, Amanda Glenn. Four people, and then himself. It was terrifying. We had no idea what was going on or where the shooter was. We could look out the window and see 50-some emergency vehicles and police cars. When I was able to get out of there that evening, I went straight home and told my husband, this is it. We have got to get out of here. I cannot do this anymore. And he agreed with me.

Peter McCully: You applied for work in British Columbia the day after the shooting. How fast did things move from the application to arriving in Nanaimo? What was the credentialing and immigration process like?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: My husband and I had been halfheartedly talking about leaving the country before, so I had looked at some job listings previously. The day after I went straight to the listings and found one on Vancouver Island and emailed. That's how I found out about Health Match BC. I was told I had to register with them first, so I did that. We had a meeting a week later and got started with all the red tape, which is a lot. At the time — 2022 — the process was taking anywhere from 12 to 18 months. We thought it was going to be about a two-year process because we wanted to shore up retirement accounts on the US side of things before we moved. It turned out to be around two and a half years, a lot of that due to a bureaucratic requirement that has since been removed. I had to register with the Royal College on a federal level, and they only accept certain specialties during two-month windows twice a year. I had missed the window by two weeks, so I had to wait six more months for that letter to come. We would have been here May or June of 2025, but we didn't arrive until September 2025 because of that. The process now is much shorter — they've decided that if you've completed a residency including four years of post-graduate training, you're qualified and they don't require the Royal College stamp of approval anymore.

Peter McCully: And then you landed on an island in the Pacific. What was your first real 'where am I?' moment when you arrived in Nanaimo?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: I think it was actually on the ferry. My daughter and I were practically jumping up and down with excitement, just looking around at the beauty around us. We have three dogs — a greyhound, a whippet, and a little fluffy one — and people were coming up to us and starting conversations that weren't just passing pleasantries. People were really interested in what we were doing there. When I told them, they could not believe it. 'Oh, we're getting another doctor' — they were so excited. It just felt so Canadian and different from what we were used to.

Peter McCully: How has your daughter taken to life here?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: She loves it. She's ten, almost eleven. She was nervous leaving her friends, as one would expect, but she found a friendly, open, welcoming atmosphere at her school very easily. It's like she's always been here. She was able to integrate right into the curriculum just fine. She says, I don't want to be anywhere else.

Peter McCully: I'd like to get your perspective on the differences between the Canadian system and the American system for patients and for health professionals.

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: I would first say that the quality and standard of care is very similar to what I am used to in the US. The delivery of healthcare has some big issues in the US, but the quality of healthcare there is known to be pretty good, and I think it is excellent here in Canada. I have been impressed with the offerings of tests and specialists available in Nanaimo. I haven't seen any major gaps in availability of care. Access to care — that's probably a different story, and I think that's well known to be a problem people are frustrated with in Canada. For serious things like cancer or other very serious conditions, I don't see any difference in the timeline of patient care. There are definitely long wait times for things considered non-urgent or elective. I will say that in the US it's a misconception that every single person has access to care, including primary care. That is true if you have money or insurance. There are so many uninsured or very underinsured people in the US who don't have access to primary care either. The only place that has to treat you is the ER. Otherwise, you can absolutely be turned away from anywhere else if you can't pay. Much of the care given by physicians and other healthcare providers is uncompensated. It might be different in the way access is challenging, but it's just as challenging for people in the United States to get healthcare, particularly primary care.

Peter McCully: You've spoken about women's rights and bodily autonomy as one of the factors in your decision to move here.

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: Absolutely. I have a daughter. What has happened in the United States over the past several years — but especially the last couple of years — has become frankly dangerous, in my opinion, for anyone with a uterus, especially in some of the quote red states, where religious and political conservatives have made it nearly impossible to get care when it's needed. People are dying in emergency room parking lots because they have an ectopic pregnancy that is not viable under any circumstances, but it still has a heartbeat, so they're turned away. That is unconscionable to me. Where we were living in Oklahoma, if I myself had an obstetric emergency, or certainly if my daughter ended up having one, it would be a six-hour trip to get to the nearest place where I would be sure we'd be taken care of. That's absolutely unacceptable in the United States, the richest nation in the world. It felt threatening to me all the time. I just did not feel comfortable or safe there anymore, and certainly not for our daughter. We have to do better.

Peter McCully: Are you hearing from American doctors and nurses asking how to make the same move?

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: I hear from people all the time — people I know and strangers who've heard my story. This past week, three people reached out: one nurse and two physicians interested in Canada and BC in particular. I feel it is an obligation of mine now that I've made it to reach back and help more people. It helps Canada and it helps disillusioned physicians. Now that I've stumbled through it, I have a lot more insight into a better way to get through the process. I try to figure out who is really serious and the ones that are, I send them as much information as I can about how to get started and how to bypass some of the unnecessarily complicated red tape. I have a pathologist friend interviewing next week for a Campbell River job, and she feels so much more empowered because she knows that I've done it.

Peter McCully: There are over 400 American healthcare professionals who have now moved to BC, and about a hundred of them right here on Vancouver Island. The way you talk, you're pretty happy with the move.

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: It is the best thing we've ever done as a family, as individuals, as a married couple. Vancouver Island is incredible — it's got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. We're constantly delighted. It's like living in a fairy land sometimes — the vistas, the forests. Nanaimo is a great community. There's so much to do and nothing missing. The people are so friendly. My husband regularly talks about how easy it is to get out there and find people who share common interests, and he spends so much time out and about now with people. He's pretty introverted, so it still makes me laugh. Something about this place just makes it easy to talk to people. I have so much more time in my non-work life to get out and enjoy the surroundings. I'm just so happy. It's been the best thing.

Peter McCully: Dr. Anne, thank you for taking some time to chat with us today and talk to us about the differences in the systems. I hope to bump into you sometime, maybe for a coffee — certainly not professionally.

Dr. Anne Herdman Royal: Yes, absolutely. That would be great. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.

Dave Graham: Dr. Anne Herdman Royal — and a story that puts so much into perspective. Her path here was not easy, and yet here she is contributing to healthcare on Vancouver Island and building a new life, and we are glad she made the trip.

Peter McCully: We appreciate your feedback on anything you hear on the PULSE Community Podcast. Our website has the contact links as well as links to our growing community of podcasters, including Cindy Thompson of Parksville, encouraging us not to just survive but to thrive with her podcast, A Resilience Project.

Dave Graham: Then we have Parksville councillors Joel Grenz and Sean Wood offering a behind-the-scenes look at how municipal politics works in the Non-Partisan Hacks. Plus, we've added Vancouver Island webcam links to our website, as well as links to all of our podcasts, events, and contests, all at thepulsecommunity.ca.

Peter McCully: You can find us on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. We're also on Facebook and Instagram.

SOSD69: When families are supported, our whole community thrives. That's why SOS launched for Our Families — a campaign dedicated to keeping essential and enriching SOS Child, Youth and Family programs open, accessible, and vibrant. You can make a donation through the SOS website and you can help by teeing off at the first ever SOS for Our Community Golf Tournament. June 6th at Morningstar Golf Club for just $180 per person. Enjoy the driving range, 18 holes of golf, a golf cart, buffet dinner, on-course challenges, the chance to win a brand new vehicle from Parksville Chrysler, and other great prizes. Bid on great local items in the silent auction. Support local children and youth, strengthen local families. Learn more at sosd69.com.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Ian Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996. Marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate, you'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Dave Graham: I wanted to mention my thanks to all the volunteers at Milner Gardens for the work that they do. I got to the gardens over the Easter weekend and it was such a delight — the sights and sounds of all the families and the kids as they searched for the bunnies. As I wandered about, I wondered how many visitors knew that royalty had stayed there, and then I got to thinking about how many people who live nearby have never even visited this gem in our midst.

Peter McCully: When we travel, the attractions we visit feel special, but it's easy to take for granted something that's just a few minutes drive away.

Dave Graham: It reminds me of when I lived in London, England as a kid. When we found out we were going to be returning to Canada, there was this mad dash to take in all the sites and attractions we'd never bothered with before. A reminder — just get out there and enjoy what our local attractions have to offer. All right, our next guest is behind one of the island's biggest annual musical attractions. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Greg Adams grew up in the Cowichan Valley, laced up skates in the NHL, and then came home and built something nobody saw coming — a world-class music festival on Vancouver Island. Greg Adams is the founder of Lake Town Ranch and Sun Fest, as well as the Lake Town Benevolent Society, which has now donated over a million dollars to community causes.

Peter McCully: Thanks for taking time for us today, Greg.

Greg Adams: It's nice to be here. Glad to meet you.

Peter McCully: We really want to talk about a couple of your babies — Lake Town Ranch and Sun Fest. But I'd like to talk a little hockey first. You played 545 games in the NHL, undrafted, which is virtually unheard of today. When you were growing up in the Cowichan Valley, how realistic did a professional hockey career seem? And who were those folks who believed in you before you actually believed in yourself?

Greg Adams: When you're young — eight, nine, ten, twelve years old — you're always fooling yourself thinking you can play in the NHL. It usually starts to get real around fourteen or fifteen. I was a bit of a late bloomer because I didn't play hockey for two years when we moved to Campbell River when I was ten and eleven. I didn't have a rink yet. Starting about fifteen I started to catch up. I've got a brother and a sister who always believed in me, and my parents. But it's a long shot when you're sixteen or seventeen. By about nineteen or twenty I knew I had a legitimate shot at a career.

Peter McCully: You played alongside and against some genuinely legendary Vancouver Island hockey names — the Courtenall brothers, Geoff and Russ, both from Duncan. There's a funny story about another Greg Adams who played for the Canucks at the same time you did. Could you untangle for our listeners what it was like to be part of that generation of Island-raised NHLers?

Greg Adams: I was a little bit ahead of Geoff and Russ and some of the other guys that broke in. We had a few guys from the island in the NHL — it's a small community, so we're all friends, all alumni, and we see each other fairly often. The other Greg Adams — I like to tell everyone, the good-looking, talented one. I'm the other one. He's from Nelson originally, and he landed the nickname Gus because his dad's name was Gus. My fault because we both ended up on the same team at the end of my career, on the Canucks together for a short period of time. There were lots of misadventures over the years — my skates got sent to him, his paperwork got sent to me. He's definitely higher up the food chain when it comes to hockey cards, but he's a good friend.

Peter McCully: Weren't you involved in a trade that involved Geoff Courtenall?

Greg Adams: I was traded early in my career — 1982 or 1983 — for Torrie Robertson. He's from Victoria, a wonderful guy. I was in Hartford, he was in Washington. We got traded for each other. And then about five years later I got traded to Edmonton and Jeff Cardinal got traded to Washington. Not a lot of guys who've been traded twice for ex-teammates, but that's just how it works out.

Peter McCully: You were traded to the Oilers, I think that was the 1988-89 season — a team that had just won the Cup. They still had Messier, Curry, Anderson, Grant Fuhr. What was it like to walk into that locker room?

Greg Adams: Very different. I came from Washington, where I'd been for five years and had the most success of my hockey career. I get traded to Edmonton. They had just won four Stanley Cups. The average age on the team was twenty-five — the Messiers, the Curries, all those guys, but almost half the team was single. They were rock stars in that town. I come in, I'm married nine years with two little boys. The guys were wonderful. Mark Messier — I feel bad he takes such a hit in Vancouver. I played with him for three-quarters of a year and he is exactly what he is: a true gentleman. He can get nineteen other guys to go through a wall with him. But it was a tough fit. There was a funk over the whole team because Wayne Gretzky had been traded about a month before I got there. They'd just lost their big brother. What did they do? A year later, they won another Stanley Cup.

Peter McCully: Ten years in the pros took you all over North America. How did those years living in the United States, attending festivals, seeing how entertainment works, plant the seed for what eventually became Sun Fest?

Greg Adams: I remember once in Hartford, coming in after a road trip, we could hear concert prep going on — it was about eleven o'clock in the morning. I walked out and the arena was all set up and there was one guy on stage doing the sound check. He played guitar, then walked over and played piano, then drums, then bass — five or six instruments. I was mesmerized and I finally asked a security guy who it was. He said, I don't know, some guy called Prince, but boy is he ever good. We would overlap with entertainers so often. I'd always be out there with the guys who were rigging, asking questions, just learning. But where it really turned was when Judy and I took the three boys down to Florida in the spring of 1999. We went to Tampa and saw a little one-day festival in a park — three dog night. We just sat there on a blanket at a wine and rib fest and I looked at Judy and said, why don't we have this at home? That's where it started. I came back and phoned Brian Burke. He put me in touch with Bruce Allen. Bruce Allen gave me a name for the Feldman Group. Six months later, we had our first concert — 54•40 in a field at a wonderful little place in Duncan called Providence Farm. About 950 people. That was my first festival.

Peter McCully: Sun Fest moved from Providence Farm to Avalon Farm to the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds, and you eventually outgrew all of them. At what point did you realize the only way forward was to build your own place?

Greg Adams: From my perspective, not daunting at all. But from my wife's perspective, extremely daunting because she sees me leave for eighteen hours a day sometimes. Almost everything I've done I've just been interested in — I've started to have some knowledge and success, and then it just grew. We had a CEO of Tim Hortons, a wonderful guy named Paul House, and he said one day, one of the toughest things to do is survive your success. That describes what happened with Sun Fest. We had a small festival in the early two thousands — Canadian content, classic rock — and everyone was enjoying it. Then I had an opportunity to bring in Johnny Reid. It doubled in one year. This was when country was taking off in 2010. The next year I made it all country and it went up again. Then I brought in Alan Jackson and we sold out. We went from Alan Jackson to Tim McGraw to Keith Urban in three years. At each place we gave back a lot, helped a lot, raised their profile, but we were politely asked to leave three times. We just outgrew it. We found the land in the Cowichan Valley. With the growth we had to do it, and then when I did it, I built a facility I thought would be big enough for Paul McCartney or, like last year, Nickelback. The facility is wonderful — now you just have to find the artists and put all the schedules together.

Peter McCully: Mike Hahn, your festival coordinator, was telling us that getting big-name American artists to come to a remote location on Vancouver Island is genuinely difficult unless you can tap into the concert circuit those artists are already on.

Greg Adams: There's a lot of moving parts. We were already at deal points with the Foo Fighters. It just went sideways — they signed to do four stadiums in western Canada. You can't run a stadium tour and then downsize it. Our amphitheatre holds 16,000 people, but stadiums are built for 45,000. So that happens — you think you have something coming together, you're putting your energy into it, and it just goes sideways. Other times, boom, you put an offer in for Gwen Stefani and you land it. This year has been challenging, and in Vancouver in August and early September there are eleven shows averaging 17,000 to 45,000 people. I made the decision that if the right thing didn't come up, we weren't going to do it, and we're really going to focus on 2027.

Peter McCully: Have you had time, Greg, to appreciate the scale of what you've created here?

Greg Adams: That question gets asked a lot. Yes, in my own way, but actually no, because I've always been driven to what's next. I'm always excited about the next thing, always asking how I can make something better. That's just the way I'm wired. I did enjoy Nickelback — I spent half an hour walking around the whole site looking at how it was running, how we could do things differently. But I spent the rest of the time walking around to see what we could do better next time.

Peter McCully: Still, it must be a very satisfying feeling when you're sitting up at the top of the bleachers watching Nickelback — something you've helped put together for the folks on the island.

Greg Adams: It is. I've got a good friend who owns a Honda dealership here in town — big guy, six foot six — and he'll throw his arm around me and say, look at this, enjoy it. I will for a minute and a half, and then I'll see something I need to go check on.

Peter McCully: He's a great guy. Say hi to him for me. The funniest thing I ever saw was him trying to get into an old Corvette.

Greg Adams: He is a big boy. He's raced for years — 24 Hours of Daytona and all that. He and Ron Fellows have had some good success. I went down and watched him run in LA and the Indy cars were the pre-show. Pretty cool.

Peter McCully: One of the things I understand is that you source about 90 per cent of your supplies locally for Sun Fest and bring in up to 300 local workers and volunteers for each of the festivals. Has the Cowichan Valley community given that support back?

Greg Adams: The majority of it, absolutely. The size and scope of it can be a little intimidating for some, but it's getting better and better. We give a lot back and I think people realize that. I source 100 per cent if I can, but I can't get production — lighting, sound, and video — to the standard required for large artists from Vancouver Island alone. Once you get to a certain size, you have to meet the requirements of the artist or they won't play the show.

Peter McCully: I wanted to ask you about the Lake Town Benevolent Society. It's now donated over a million dollars to community causes — children's programs, health initiatives, scholarships. How did all of that come about?

Greg Adams: I've been in this community since 1965 — I moved to Crofton — so I've been here now for sixty years. I saw my father and my brother and sister giving back to sports and giving back to the community. It's just bred into us. In the festival business there are so many ancillary ways you can help. We hold a 50/50 — half the money goes to the winner and the other half we put out to charities, which raises $40,000 to $50,000 a year on its own. We take all bottles and cans and donate that back as well, which puts another $15,000 to $25,000 a year into charity. We donate tickets to charities throughout the year who raffle them or sell them — that raises another $40,000 to $50,000 worth of donations. We just did the Cowichan Valley Hospital Foundation and two of our tickets sold for $1,700. So between all of it, there's a lot of opportunity and a lot of ways we can help.

Peter McCully: Greg, what's the full build-out vision for Lake Town Ranch and the surrounding property, and how far along are you on the plan?

Greg Adams: Right now, probably about 25 per cent. The actual build of the amphitheatre is really close — we're always fine-tuning, making a few improvements. People will see some landscaping and redesign at the front end and a few more amenities. The second phase is the RV park up the hill, along with park model homes. That whole community will share a swimming pool, hot tub, water slides, and a splash park for kids, plus a clubhouse with a bistro and a gym. We've developed over 10 kilometres of hiking and biking trails on our 265-acre property. Early 2027, maybe fall of 2027 or 2028 at the latest, things will really be rolling.

Peter McCully: It sounds pretty exciting. Greg, I wanted to go back to something you mentioned about moving to Crofton in 1965. The mill closed in December 2025, putting 350 people out of work. As someone who understands resource industry jobs, what was the first thing that went through your mind when you heard that news?

Greg Adams: I could be totally offside on this, but I'll believe it's completely closed when I see it. Maybe in five years someone else will come in and look at the deep harbour and the assets. Obviously a major disruption to a lot of lives and I don't want to diminish that in any way, because it is very impactful to those 350 people and the subcontractors and suppliers involved. Having said that, we've diversified a lot in the valley over the last twenty or thirty years. My dad worked there in 1965 and there were probably 1,500 people working there. By the end there were three or four hundred. The good news — and it is terrible for those people — is that it doesn't have quite the impact it would have had ten or twenty years ago.

Peter McCully: Greg, looking back on the kid from Crofton who wasn't drafted into the NHL and had to scrap for everything, what would you say to him now?

Greg Adams: I've been very fortunate to grow up in a small community. I could name you twenty people who were so influential in my life. And I was fortunate that I played hockey in the era of the Pat Quinns and the Brian Burkes and the Brian Murrays, and I played with the Jari Kurris and the Darryl Sittlers. Just wonderful, influential people. I might not have made the money players made in the nineties and two thousands, but that's okay. I've done all right. I'd say, don't do anything different — go out there, you're going to have a great ride. I'm fortunate I grew up in a wonderful town, and I'm extremely fortunate I met a wonderful girl when I was seventeen years old. We've been together forty-four years. It makes every day easy when she's beside you, helping raise our kids and grandkids. It's going to be a wonderful ride. Just enjoy it. That's what I've been doing and I've still got a ways to go, I hope.

Peter McCully: Greg, keep the volume up and your stick on the ice.

Greg Adams: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Dave Graham: Greg Adams — genuinely one of those people who makes you feel like you should be doing something with your life. He played in the NHL and then he built a music festival and then started giving millions away. Meanwhile, I'm wondering if a pot of mint might have been too much for me to take on. Sun Fest is going to be incredible this summer, and if you haven't been, maybe this is the year. Details in our story notes on our website.

Peter McCully: That's where you'll also find Skookum Kid's Stories with Captain Dave and the crew of the Mellow Submarine and Peter and Gracie the Eskimo dog. Our stories now offer colouring pages to go along with each new episode.

Dave Graham: On this week's episode, Peter learns to ride a big bike and Gracie isn't left out. And then there's our Radio Archaeology classic radio series featuring original episodes of Dragnet with Sergeant Joe Friday and Marshall Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke.

Peter McCully: Follow all the podcasts — ours and our partners' — plus contests and events through our website, thepulsecommunity.ca. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter and stay informed.

Dave Graham: The way gas prices are going, keeping it local is going to become even more important. Get yourself a visitor's guide to the area. Come up with one or two or five places you've never been to or haven't seen in ages and lock in some visits over the next few months. Maybe the timing isn't great for a big trip to a distant location, so why not head out to a local or regional attraction? It means spending less on travel and keeping our dollars on the island.

Peter McCully: It's a big, beautiful spring out there, folks. Get out there and enjoy it.

Dave Graham: I'm wondering if anyone out there would be interested in adopting a pot of mint.

Peter McCully: You're giving up on the farm, Dave.

Dave Graham: Well, it's starting to grow and I don't know what to do. Do they need little stakes to keep them straight? Do I have to trim or groom something? Maybe the sun exposure's wrong, or I'm watering wrong. There's soil acidity to think about. Probably water alkalinity. CO2 levels. Plant food. It's a lot. It's a big responsibility.

Peter McCully: Dave, it's a pot of mint.

Dave Graham: Which I have known since they were little sprouts. Now they're growing up and I'm not sure I'm ready. I think I need to just peel off all my clothes and get in a good round of forest bathing.

Peter McCully: Now we talked about that. You get to keep your clothes on for that.

Dave Graham: Bathing with your clothes on. It's counterintuitive. I'll try to remember that for next time.

Rockin' Rhonda: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave. Oh, listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave, so to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere — what a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.