The public is invited to turn out for a grand re-opening celebration of the fully renovated Watch Lake Community Hall on Sept. 20 from 1 to 4 p.m. at 6453 Little Green Lake Rd.
The Watch Lake and District Women’s Institute (WLDWI) and the Watch Lake/Green Lake Community Association (WLGLCA) jointly manage the hall and collaborated on fundraising for the renovations. They will also co-host this celebration.
WLDWI secretary Lynda Krupp says there will be hot refreshments, appetizers and tours of the new environmentally friendly heating systems, larger kitchen, indoor washrooms and other updates.
The event will showcase and mark the completion of the hall renovations after four years of work by the two groups, with support from across the broader community.
Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett will perform a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m., and some appreciation awards will be handed out at the gathering.
In 2013, the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) allocated $12,000 in Community Works Funding (CWF) toward the installation of a radiant tube heating system for one side of the hall and new awning windows.
This year, $9,600 of CWF was granted to the WLDWI to install other energy-efficient, under-floor heating in the log portion of the building – the final step of the renovations.
"We are so grateful to the CRD," says Krupp.
The hall now meets modern heating standards, which reduces the utility bill and the carbon footprint and provides a more comfortable environment for its community users, she adds.
Other renovations included a 14- by 57-foot building addition with a larger, commercial kitchen.
Major funding contributors include the CRD, Williams Lake and District Credit Union, BC Hydro, Kamloops Foundation and other grants and in-kind contributions, Krupp notes.
She adds the two Watch Lake groups also held fundraising activities and the community helped out through donations.
A "wonderful thing" happened the first year (2010) when the CRD was funding three halls under a total budget of $15,000, Krupp explains.
"We didn't have too much money. Well, the Lone Butte Community Hall and the Roe Lake [Interlakes] Community Hall passed on using theirs, and allowed the Watch Lake Community Hall to take their portion of the money.
"We had to give it back, but that's how we got it going. The other halls have helped us – and they did that more than once."
Thanking the folks who contributed is a large portion of the reason for the re-opening celebration, Krupp says.
"We owe a lot of people a lot of things."
She notes the WLDWI was founded in 1939 by pioneering families in the Watch Lake area, and proceeded to build the Watch Lake Hall and much more for the community, hospitals, schools, and the Second World War effort.
This included holding annual fall fairs, dances, bridal showers, community dinners, teas, various seasonal parties and many other events for decades.
Back then, its members wrote letters to authorities to lobby for improved highway conditions and hydro power service.
Today, the members of both of these Watch Lake groups continue to support their community and perform other good works.
For membership information on the WLDWI, call Helen Eagle at 250-456-2413, and for information on the WLGLCA, call Tanya Richards at 250-456-7783.
