The Fred Wells Show is a fascinating but little known true story from BC’s more recent past…

As the gloom of the Great Depression fell like a fog over North America in the 1930s, one tiny pocket of prosperity shone like a beacon of hope. High up in the foothills of British Columbia’s Cariboo Mountains an introverted yet charismatic prospector named Fred Marshall Wells had a hunch there might still be gold where the province’s great Gold Rush once boomed in the 1860s. And he was right. While the rest of the world struggled simply to survive, the Cariboo Gold Quartz Mine erupted into activity. Soon, thousands of people flocked to the area, and the next Cariboo Gold Rush began. Fred Wells saved countless BC families from the ravages of poverty in the “dirty thirties” and today the town of Wells, BC – 73 kilometres east of Quesnel – survives as his legacy.

The Fred Wells Show is a 60-minute humorous and dramatic monologue that presents the innermost thoughts of an industrious “man of few words.”

All Weekend Long:

• Visit Historic Barkerville and receive a free admission by showing your Reunion ID.
• Enjoy 2-for-1 ice cream or coffee at BNC Mercantile with your Reunion ID.
• Walk along our ever-expanding trail system in the meadows (formerly known as the swamp).
• Reminisce and explore old (& new) Wells, such as the Wells Museum, Wells Hotel, Sunset Theatre, Amazing Space Gallery, Bear’s Paw Café, Frog on the Bog Gifts, Island Mountain Arts, BNC Mercantile and the Jack O’ Clubs.
• Forget-Me-Not Wall. Bring your photos of loved ones who cannot be with us and place them on the wall. Write your memories there, too.
• Displays at the Community Hall banquet room by District of Wells and Barkerville Gold Mine
• If you have a camera and like to take pictures, you are needed! Roam the venues and events, document the meeting of long-lost friends, video old-timers telling stories.