For more than a decade, Cathy English, the curator of the Revelstoke Museum & Archives, has been regaling people with tales of the community's history through her Brown Bag History talks.
Launched in 2003, English has given more than 200 lunch-hour talks on Revelstoke history, covering everything from the town's founding to politics to business to sports.
Next week, the museum will be publishing Brown Bag History — Revelstoke Origins, a 144-page collection of 12 of these stories, written by English.
The stories focus on the early history of Revelstoke, from the original First Nations inhabitants to the development of the community. The stories look at how the town started out as Farwell, how a land dispute between its founder and CP Rail led it to shift to Mackenzie Avenue from Front Street, and why it was named after a British lord.
There's the absurd story of how rival police forces kept arresting each other's officers, and the story of the smelter on the banks of the Columbia River.
The book features many photos from the early days of the community, as well as four cartoons by Review cartoonist Rob Buchanan.
The soft-cover book will be launched at the museum next Thursday, June 25, from 3–5 p.m. You'll have the chance to buy a copy of the book, and get it signed by Cathy English. The Modern Bakeshop is providing a cake for the occasion.
The book sells for $20.
You can read an excerpt by clicking here.