The Fun Centre in Harewood

October 21, 2025

The Fun Centre was the place all the kids in Harewood wanted to hang out.

They had pool tables. They had pinball machines. They had arcade games. They had old-school WWF Wrestling matches on TV screens.

And the place was full of cigarette smoke – lots and lots of cigarette smoke.

These days, it's hard to find any evidence that the Fun Centre ever existed. Luckily, I found this photo (above) I took sometime in the late 1990s, that shows its glorious orange sign, surrounded by lightbulbs, mounted out front at its former location at 210 Fourth Street.

After doing a little digging, I found the obituary of Robert G. Powell, former owner of the Fun Centre who passed away in January 2015. It states that he "worked at George W. Dorman's sawmill until 1985 when he, Mary Lou and their eldest son Mark bought their own business in Nanaimo known as 'The Fun Centre' which they successfully operated for 22 years until their retirement."

If I had a time machine, the Fun Centre would be the very first destination on my long list of Harewood spots to visit.