Can you believe it? It is September already – my most favourite time of the year! I remember telling everyone how pretty my driveway was with the flowering wild rose bushes, well you should see it now, nice red rosehips, the bushes are just loaded with them. One year I picked an ice cream bucketful, cleaned them up and then dehydrated them and kept them handy for adding them into a pot of tea during wintertime for that extra vitamin C.
August was a month of hot weather, beautiful sunsets, northern lights and of course the dreaded thunderstorms but pretty rainbows. The day before the garlic fest was one of those thunderstorm days that cooled everything right off and made the first day of the fest incredibly wet. It did not stop the folks from coming out though and doing their shopping and enjoying all the wonderful things happening there. This year was the biggest garlic fest ever, the greatest number of vendors by far. Close to 7,400 people passed through the gates, sounds unreal, doesn’t it?
There simply are not enough words to thank our director Teresa Wager for all the challenging work she put in working on the details for at least seven months prior to the fest. She organized all the work bees, found the substantial number of volunteers required to fill all the positions plus kept things running smoothly. To each volunteer who helped and participated a huge thank you goes out to you, without all your help this would not have been possible. Teresa already has some ideas brewing towards next year's garlic fest and a few projects in mind to improve the grounds even more.
The Community Club looks after all kinds of things here in Lac La Hache, the Thrift Store, Bingo, the arena, and the garlic fest. Volunteers are valuable and help look after these things. We are always looking for people to help, so if you have any interest in either of these operations, please let us know, we will gladly accept all help and put you to work.
The grader came to fix up Spout Lake Road again in mid-August and we were so grateful. The washboard effect made travelling so difficult with the vehicle shaking, rattling and rolling. When the grading was finished the Dawson work crew came and filled all the holes in the paved part of Timothy Lake Road which also made for a smoother ride.
Looks like there is an opportunity for the folks up in these hills to get some changes. I spoke with the two fellows doing the surveying on Spout Lake Road for Telus fibre optic lines, an opportunity for cheaper faster internet and TV. Have not heard the results yet but have seen equipment working cutting down trees along the power lines and mowing down bushes, so that sounds positive to me.
We were fortunate not to have any fires start up with all the thunderstorm activity in August, but my notes say that we had a grass fire on Highway 97 at Gunn Road. There was a great response by neighbours, the community, passing by drivers and the 70 Mile Volunteer Fire Department and the fire was put out rapidly with no further damages.
With fall approaching some businesses are changing their work hours and starting to wind down their season. Skookum Scoops will be open Friday, Saturday, and Sundays from 12 to 5 p.m.
Here are some dates to mark on your calendars – Sept.18 – Community Club Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Hall. Come on out and get caught up on all the news after summer break.
Cyndie Jones will be holding Worksafe BC courses at the Community Hall – Basic First Aid on Monday, Sept 23 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and then Transportation Endorsement on Tuesday, Sept 24.
The Pioneer Senior Centre will be hosting a crib tournament on Saturday, Sept 28, come on out and join in the fun plus enjoy the spaghetti lunch.
Flea Market will be held on Sept. 29 at the Community Hall from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m, come check out the vendors and grab a bit of lunch at the concession.
Bingo has been running well and will be ending the season at the end of October. There are five bingos in October, and we will be helping the local Volunteer Fire Department with their Christmas Hamper Campaign and will be collecting nonperishable foods every Wednesday. An early start for the Christmas campaign but the bingo players like to help, and they are very generous. There will also be a Thanksgiving turkey bingo on October 9, come on out and try your luck winning a turkey, cash prize or door prize. Come check it out, always guaranteed to be a great fun time!
The thrift store will also be closing for the season with a $5 and $10 bag day. Tentatively Saturday, Oct. 12 is the date, but it can change depending on the weather of course. If it remains warm it will stay open longer.
Pickleball will be over at the arena soon and it will be time to start putting in the ice at the arena once it cools down enough. Our director Russ has indicated that he will need help to do that, so if you have some free time, please feel free to contact him or meet up with him at the Community Club meeting on September 18.
