STRATHCONA 
STORIES

One way to get to know a community is through it's stories. This is a collection of stories, told by the people who live here, that reflect what makes Strathcona such a vibrant community.

If you have a story you'd like to share, please send it to stories@strathcona-residents.org. If you'd prefer, I even help you get it down in writing. Enjoy!

The Free Table

December 6, 2024

One of Strathcona’s most endearing and enduring institutions is the Free Table, located midway down the 700 block of Union St. It was started over a decade ago by Hugh Tayler, who lives in the co-op. This is its story, told mostly in his words. Somewhere between 2007 and 2011, Hugh was working on a…

The Day They Stole The Free Library

August 16, 2024

  One day somebody stole the Free Library. For two and half years, the Free Library stood on the corner of Keefer and Hawks, across from McLean Park and kitty-corner to the Wilder Snail. It was a small-scale replica of a mid-century modern bungalow, built of bright aluminum with a silver chimney and painted glass…

The Pirate Ship in the Park

August 16, 2024

The day after I moved to Strathcona in 2011, someone built a pirate ship in the park.  It was made from pieces of torn cardboard boxes shaped into a crude thirty-foot hull, with children’s bed sheets spread over top. The mast was two lashed broom sticks from which rigging ropes, decorated with small, multicoloured flags,…