Steveston Community Society

The Steveston Community Society is a non-profit association formed on May 18th, 1944, for the development of playground and recreational facilities in Steveston. On July 1st 1944, the Society held it's first sports day, as a substitute for the Dominion Day celebrations in Vancouver which were inaccessible due to gasoline rationing imposed by the War Measures Act. The purpose of the first sports day was to celebrate the recently completed landscaping of Steveston Park, to raise money for future park development, and to provide a community focus during World War II. The celebration became an annual event and has served as a central social event for the community, as well as to publicize the sustaining salmon fishing industry and to raise funds for the construction and operation of a community centre. In 1946, Anna Rolston, whose husband Pete was Society president, suggested a Salmon Queen pageant be added to the celebration as a way to raise additional funds. The pageant became an annual event and continued until 1986. In 1946 the Society purchased a 3.5 acre property adjacent to the existing playground to which additional swings and playground equipment were added. The Society began proposing a community centre be added to the park by 1950. In September of 1956 a municipal bylaw contributed $88,000 to the $40,000 trust fund accumulated by the Society, the Steveston Judo Club and the Japanese Canadian Community Association, for the purpose of building a community centre. On November 2, 1957 the Society opened the Steveston Community Centre on Moncton Street, which became the first community centre in Richmond. The Society subsequently influenced municipal council to purchase approximately 20 acres adjoining the original park, for the purpose of expansion and development; an outdoor pool was added in 1970, the Martial Arts Centre in 1972, renovated lacrosse box, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, and fitness track in 1979, a BMX track in 1980, and a $1.2 million renovation and expansion of the original community centre in 1988-90. The Society continues to host the annual Steveston Salmon Festival, maintain joint control of the administration and operation of the Steveston Community Centre, and serve as a community voice in matters of heritage, recreation and industrial development in Steveston.