March has to be one of my favourite months of the year, it seems magical. Nothing is on overload and we get little bits of everything - lots of blue skies, beautiful sunsets, northern lights, some light snow and even a bit of rain! More animal life is around plus different varieties of birds. A neighbour of mine, Jeff Arsenault, reports having an exciting visitor not 20 feet from his deck – nice looking moose feeding on bushes and trees.
The nice thing is that the snow in the downtown area has pretty well melted or evaporated whereas folks up in these hills still have some in their yards. It is going pretty fast though which is good in my case as my camera has finally been found, spotted peeking out of a snowbank, can you believe that? It rolled off the seat while hubby was snowplowing.
Has anyone noticed that the pond is back between the natural gas building and the arena? I saw some ducks swimming and enjoying themselves in there yesterday. Last year that pond created all kinds of havoc around Easter time with flooding and ended up getting pumped out.
The arena is now closed for its season. The elementary school children had a blast on their last skate on March 10. The bingo dabbers came out and artistic abilities were displayed.
Running the arena is always a challenge, little things popping up keep the maintenance volunteers just hopping. We made it – there will be an open meeting about the arena at 6:30 p.m., an hour before the regularly scheduled community club meeting on Tuesday, April 18. Hopefully, some brainstorming can be done putting together some ideas of what can be done to whip the arena into shape on a schedule of sorts and perhaps some ideas for fundraising also.
The arena is a valuable asset to our community so all input will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks to the volunteers who put in mega hours keeping it running and to the people who graciously donate bottles and cans at the share shed or by private donations (Farrier Pub and Red Crow) as you know every little bit helps.
A truly amazing thing about our community is that it is loaded with very artistic people – artists, photographers, craft designers you name it, we have them.
The new exciting news is that Murray Lissner has had a book published called Dark Grey – congratulations Murray.
Another interesting bit of news is that a new resident, Lori Anne McKague, visited here, fell in love with the area, bought a summer house and has recently created a custom-designed puzzle featuring all the local wildflowers, etc. from our community - congratulations to you also Lori!
Another work to be happy and excited about is the superb job that Brian Henderson of BTH Contracting did on the Clark Avenue cleanup. All the trees were downed and rather than burn the piles, they were picked up and hauled away. Thumbs up Brian – that cleaned-up lot looks like a park now or will once the green grass shows.
The Spring Fling craft fair also was a huge success, 17 vendors had tables set up and enjoyed meeting with the 150-160 people that came through the doors. Another summer fling of homemade things is planned for May 27 and 28, stay tuned for more details as they become available.
Opening day of the Thrift Store (April l) was a super busy day, the parking lot was full at all times. Scores of folks came out seeking that special treasure or just browsing. Thumbs up to Judy and her gals for a job well done!
Mt Timothy Ski Hill closed for the season on April 2, it was a truly beautiful day and everyone enjoyed the fun activities. I have heard that the ski patrol was looking for volunteers for next season. If interested, contact Ken Day at 267-2474 or Heather Rolston 250-302-9083. Training will start on October 1 and advanced first-aid training will be provided.
The bingo has restarted as of April 5. It was like a huge family reunion, with lots of greetings and hugs for all. Attendance was good with 58 people, all hoping to win the cash prizes or the hams that were up for grabs. You just never know what you will see or what will happen. One of our volunteers, Fran Ellison, kept everyone chuckling with her cute Easter hat. A great time was had by all and the players were super excited that the season had started up again!
The Lac La Hache Community Club also held its third annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 8. It was exciting to see the kids running around with their baskets looking for the goodies and we are pleased that we had such a good turnout. Great job Brittany, Heather and Georgina!
Once we get going all the activities start happening! More events to mark down on your calendar that are coming are: Crib Tournament at 10:30 a.m. at the Pioneer Center on Saturday, April 15, Spring Craft Fair at the Community Hall on April 15 and 16, Community Club Meeting 7:30 p.m. on April 18 with the special arena meeting that same night at 6:30 p.m. Hopefully, you can attend any or all of these events – see you all there!
P.S. A little bird told me that Skookum Scoops will be reopening the first week in May, will be exciting to see what new flavours are coming.
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