Time flies when you’re having fun — or so the saying goes.
It was almost exactly a year ago, on a random run out to the Hogfish, that Ryan and I first saw a dilapidated fishing shack set back on a dusty lot in “downtown” Stock Island. A lonely for rent sign hung on the front door — one that, for all we knew, could have been there for a decade or more and whose phone number had once connected to an old rotary phone that had since been disconnected and forgotten. But there it was, still legible and staring me down as if to say, “pull out that fancy phone you got there and call. I dare you”.
Ten digits and some 30 minutes later and COAST was becoming more than the napkin scribbles I’d dreamed about for the past two years. Rick, the owner, arrived and told us that the old shack had some real history to it — a boatbuilding operation that his family had owned and operated throughout the 80s and 90s explained the fibreglass crust and cured epoxy puddles inside and outside the shanty.
More recently, he mentioned, it was a fisherman’s hangout. Something between a workshop, storage space for traps, and an evening speakeasy I’d imagine — especially considering the lot was littered with rusty green, Grolsch bottle caps that must have taken the better part of decade to accumulate so thickly. Though, knowing the beer-guzzling prowess of said fisherman, it could just as easily have been a few extended cold fronts the prior year that did the damage. Either way, they’d had their fun.
And, if we could work out the details, we’d have ours as well.
Details were sorted and our work commenced. A six month restoration project ensued and early into that, we found a second Billy — Mr. Billy Litmer — to join the crew. As an aside, Billy is without a doubt the most popular name on Stock Island.
But I digress…
From here on, ideas, paint and power tools swirled feverishly into the late night hours and the daydreaming of years past were formalizing beneath our sweaty brows and calloused hands. A magical (r)evolution was taking place in an often forgotten corner of paradise brought to life by our own inclinations, innovations and, perhaps, idiocy.
But an opening day party on June 1 that celebrated the last 5 months of work, unveiled the space and, more importantly, introduced the evolving vision for COAST to others started to quell the notion that we were working towards something that no one, except the three amigos on Front Street, could comprehend.
Out here, there’s still nothing set in stone and if things go to plan, there never will be a hard line drawn in the sand that says COAST is this or that. COAST is, and always will be, a work and an experiment in progress. What are we capable of, where can we take it, how can we involve others in the experience, how do we make it work? Unanswered questions that start to make more and more sense with every swing of the hammer, stroke of the brush, or evening of celebration.
At this point in the story, from June 1 onwards, evidence exists as to what we’ve been doing out here — posts, parties and posters have left a paper trail that shows the progress. And, if you squint your eyes or listen to the small voice inside your head that comes out when your head hits the pillow each night, you too can imagine and dream of where the good ship COAST and crew are heading.
So join us in celebrating our first year as we take a look back on the top 10 COAST Projects from 2013 while looking forward, eagerly, to voyage ahead…
