32 YEARS AGO (1989): The second Chilcotin Rodeo Association amateur rodeo drew over 800 spectators and 130 participants. The event was sponsored by Big Country Outriders and featured 25 hometown entries. Club secretary Wendy Monical said the event attracted more people than the previous year and the weather was more favourable overall, barring the dust storm at the end that “blow everybody out of there.” The newly formed 100 Mile Kiwanis Club also took part by looking after the rodeo’s gates.
24 YEARS AGO (1997): A provincial government plan to help woodlot owners was met with scepticism by some in 100 Mile House. Despite increasing the amount of land allowed in woodlots from 400 hectares to 600 ha, Bill Hadden, president of the South Cariboo Woodlot Association, said it didn’t make owning one any more economically viable. Hadden said this was because it had come with no corresponding increase to their annual allowable cut. With more land comes more expenses and Hadden’s own woodlot near Ruth Lake would actually lose him money.
16 YEARS AGO (2005): The 100 Mile Airport received its first repaving since the 1960s. The airstrip was originally founded in the 1950s by Martin Cecil and Lloyd Meeker, an Emissary of the Divine Light Leader, for travelling between 100 Mile House and Colorado. To celebrate the new blacktop for the 2,250 feet airstrip, 100 Mile Flying Club President Michael Bleidistel planned an Airport Appreciation Day to generate interest in the airport. Club member Nick Christianson said the club wanted to put 100 Mile on the aviation map by attracting pilots from the United States.
8 YEARS AGO (2013): A wildfire in Centennial Park was nipped in the bud by the quick response of 100 Mile House Fire Rescue. Fire Chief Darrell Blades said the blaze was reported by residents and located just above the wooden bridge running across Bridge Creek. Four trucks and 11 firefighters responded to the blaze and quickly worked to attack the leading edge of the blaze, by forming a perimeter and moving in to extinguish hotspots. A request for assistance to the Wildfire Management Branch was answered by three firefighters, a response officer and a helicopter with a water bucket but they were not needed to extinguish the blaze.