Editor,
I am happy to help with bear awareness by picking my apples from the trees, and making sure all the vegetation is gone from my yard, however, I need a bit more help from our garbage collectors.
I had put one can out (half full with apples), with a garbage bag on top of it. I was very surprised to see that only the bag had been taken. As a person with limited physical ability, it is difficult for me to pick up the apples from my yard. If I can haul 50 pounds of apples down my driveway, surely you can haul it another five feet into your truck.
If there's no fruit allowed on the ground, no composting allowed, and no heavy garbage pick-up, what are we supposed to do? It's not like there's a recycling depot for fruit!
I've done my part. Help me by doing yours. Let's make bear awareness a community priority.
Ronaye Daly
Squamish
Last Summer Jam draws evening crowd
Editor,
Another summer comes another summer goes, and with this one I'm left with a feeling of satisfaction and hope. For those that made it down to the Downtown Summer Jam events throughout the summer you will know what I'm talking about. For those that didn't I'll enlighten you. For the months of July, August, and September the special events committee for the Squamish Town Centre Association (STCA) organized a series of live music concerts on the first Saturday of every month to coincide with great and ever growing attraction we have in the Farmers' Market, which all culminated last Saturday in 13 hours of live music featuring some of our finest local artists.
How refreshing it was on Saturday evening to close the shop at 8:00 p.m. stroll past the open lights that were still shining on Cleveland Ave. and meander my way down to the sounds of smooth jazz emanating from the pavilion. There I was greeted by a crowd (a crowd downtown after 6? No way!) of people softly lit by tiki torches with warm music washing over everybody, and a feeling of all right, all right in the air. It was something to see, and even better to feel, if only it happened every week seemed to be the whispers on everybody's lips.
As one of the organizers I would like to thank everybody that came out and supported these great events and the musicians who so graciously volunteered their time and talent to breathe a sense of life and culture into the heart of our community. It is contributions like these combined with a wish and a want for success that make the downtown great and an attraction unto itself. Once again a big heartfelt thank-you to all, and stay tuned for more great things to come.
Eric Armour
Director for the STCA, Owner of Trinity Romance Shop Inc.
A great GearJammer
Editor,
In the ten years I have lived in Squamish, there have been many changes. The one obvious constant throughout these changes has been the hard work of the people of Squamish in their support of community events. Without the dedicated army of Squamish volunteers, our town could not successfully host the events for which we have become known, from the Loggers Sports competition to the Kids' Triathlon. And without those events, Squamish would not be able to claim, with justifiable pride, that we are indeed the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada.
On Aug. 20, Squamish hosted the 2005 Provincial Championship Mountain Bike race, the Squamish GearJammer. The event was a great success in every way, due to the work and community spirit of Squamish volunteers. I am writing this letter to personally thank all of the people who help support our town's sporting events. To everyone - from the helpful (and patient!) people at the District of Squamish offices, to Squamish Mayor and Council, to the folks who stand for hours in the sun making sure competitors know where to go, to the people who come out to the finish line to cheer on racers, thank you. I want to offer special thanks and apologies to Laura Flynn, one of the people who helped organize this year's race. Due to my own proofreading incompetence, her name was left off our "Thank You" ad in The Chief last week. Sorry, Laura - and my thanks to you, as well as to anyone else that should have been named but was not. You know who you are, and I hope to see you all again next year.
Squamish rocks!
Curtis Roberts
Race Director, The Squamish GearJammer
Claws of thanks
Editor,
A huge thank you to The Chief for writing an article about Leroy The Lobster and Down By The Docks on tour in Alberta; it was greatly appreciated. After arriving home we noticed that we had traveled over 12,000km and performed in 29 different communities.
One of the interesting parts of our trip was learning about each community we performed in. Our hosts were more than happy to tell us all about their home and what fun things there were to do. Of course the many unusual sites certainly caught our eye like the Giant Perogy, The UFO Landing Pad, The World's Largest Mallard Duck and the many others were quite fun to visit. Having said that, thoughts of our Log Books came to mind and what a cool idea it would be to have them at the Adventure Centre (when it finally opens). If those attractions in Alberta were any indication it certainly would draw people off the highway. Many of the sites I mentioned were either connected to the Visitor Info Centre (such as the UFO Landing Pad) or in a park with the item (like the Giant Ukrainian Easter Egg in Vegreville).
At the same time we were meeting people who have lived in our area or other parts of B.C. who always wanted to know about our highway. Even those from Alberta have heard about the area and how the plans for the Olympics were going.
Our tour would not be possible without the many people behind the scenes and we thank them. Special thanks to Nadine, Carolyn, John and Karyle for without their efforts we would not have been able to leave. Also a special thanks to the Down By The Docks TV crew (actors and behind the scenes staff) as our show is aired in many stations in North America and on DVDs in Alberta homes.
We must not forget our Squamish fans and sponsors; we thank you and look forward to a new series of shows starting in September.
Daryl Robb
Talking Lobster Productions
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