Brrr – it’s getting cooler out now, time to haul out the sweatshirts and jogging pants! We have had many frosty mornings with the first snow showers on Sept. 18 and tons of rain in the last week. The weather helped with the remaining wildfires and more communities have been able to return home.
Garlic Festival
Despite the cooler weather, the Garlic Fest was a success! Saturday we had 1666 paying adults through the gate. It’s so nice to see people out enjoying all the vendors and crafts and goodies on display.
Unfortunately Garlina was not feeling well and not on premises Saturday, we hope for a speedy recovery. P.T. the clown did a great job greeting everyone and making people laugh and smile with all her antics. P. T. was hard at it Sunday until a substitute for Garlina came in the afternoon. Thank you Desiree for stepping in on such short notice.
One thing of note, the youngest person in attendance was our own fire princess, Lainey.
A most pleasureful moment was meeting a firefighter from New Brunswick, a most distinguished gentleman in full dress who stopped on his way out from the Chilcotin. His comment was “First time I have been at a garlic fest. I did not know what it all was about.”
I encouraged him to buy a shopping bag, saying you can buy lots of gifts for your family back home. I think he enjoyed talking, he came back two more times to the Community Booth.
I thanked him for his help in the wildfire situation, he was coming out of the Puntzi Lake area. Most importantly I invited him back for a holiday next year, hopefully not under the same circumstances.For his service these long weeks, he won a free pass into the grounds.
Despite the rain, more visitors came through the gate on Sunday, at this time I do not have the exact figure, but there sure was a huge crowd milling around!
Lastly, thank you to all the volunteers for stepping up and helping out and another great job organizing Jeanette McCrea!
Turkey Dinner
The fall Turkey dinner was a huge success at the Pioneer Center on Sept. 23 with 100 sit-down dinners and 25 dinners served on takeout. Great job guys!
Thrift Store
The Thrift Store will be ending their season on Oct 14, come on out and have fun at the $5 bag day. Donations can still be made after that date, contact Judy at 250-396-7298 or Linda at 250-396-7118.
Ice returning
The arena is in the process of getting ready for the ice to be put back in and tentative start date will be second week of October.
Bingo
We have had some terrific crowds at bingo for the past month causing a couple of the larger jackpots to be won but we still have the continually growing progressive jackpot. Plans have been made for the Thanksgiving turkey bingo. It will be held on Oct. 4 and six turkeys will be up for grabs. We look forward to seeing you all there. It’s guaranteed you will have a great time!
Crib tournament
The OAPO will be having a crib tournament on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 10 to 4 p.m. The entry fee is $10 which will also include a light lunch. For more info contact Mary at 250-396-4093.