Community
FEATURE RESIDENT
Courtney Baker by KRISTA TURCASSO Have you ever heard someone say, “if you want something done, ask the busiest person you know?” I have, and one of my people is Courtney Baker. I was once sitting in the Chamber board room with a group of people, trying to figure out how to get more people downtown during the summer months (yes, this used to be a struggle!). The focus was on shutting down main street to traffic to develop Sunday Socials, which would encourage pedestrian traffic. While this was great, I mentioned being interested in a mid-week evening concert series… and let me tell you, Courtney was the first person to get behind it. Quickly, we developed a team (with Vanessa from the Fix and Dawn from the Mountain Market) and the Wednesday Socials were born. Through the experience of running these socials, I learned something new about Courtney, whom I have known most of my life. She is dedicated to our community. Courtney was actually born in Seattle, moving to Spokane before settling in Fernie in 1985. “My mom met a Fernie local and we moved here,” she shares with me. “I went to school for a whole week in Jaffray before attending Ridgemont Elementary School.” The conversation takes a little detour, chatting about what it was like back then. “It was super easy to grow up here,” she says, and I agree. “It really was the childhood of when the street lights came on you had to get home, and our parents never knew where we were.” Memories of the sprint home to avoid persecution make us laugh. Then, we discuss how we both moved back to Fernie as it was not anticipated.
Vince Mo Photo “I never thought I would end up back here, not that I gave it much thought,” she says. After graduating from high school, Courtney travelled and then attended the University of Victoria. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I took Sociology and Political Science with a minor in English Literature and came back here for a ‘stop over.’ I started working and doing random jobs and when the assistant job at the Arts Station came up, I started there.” And she never left. This was Courtney’s first administrative community work, and it was something she really enjoyed. After a few years the current
Executive Director retired, and Courtney applied for and was awarded the position. She continued there, until 2016 when she took a position with the Fernie Senior Citizens Society as their Administrator. As this is not full time… (and Courtney gets things done) she also worked with Wildsight for a few years and works with the Fernie Pride Society. In addition to these positions and her involvement in the Wednesday Socials, Courtney has volunteered with many events and organizations including the Fernie Pets Society, the Role and Sole Festival, The Dumpster Project, Stag Leap
