• A group of 4H-ers had a woolly good time at the 109th Cobble Hill Fair on Aug. 25. The fair attracted a good crowd in spite of cooler temperatures and the threat of rain.
•Cowichan Therapeutic Riding Association’s biggest fundraiser of the year was a success. The Ride-a-Thon raised $17,500.
Showing off jockey “silks”, as well as their skills, riders got to challenge themselves in a Steeplechase-themed obstacle course and pose in the winner’s circle during Ride-a-Thon week June 16-22. All through the Spring 2 Session, participants raised pledges, gathering over $17,500 towards CTRA’s programming.
“On June 23, we celebrated with a big picnic featuring food, fun and fanfare!” said the CTRA. A big thank you to all who took part, as well as our sponsors for helping us put on a great event: A&W Duncan, Alexandra Hamilton, Alf Pink, Buckerfields Duncan, Cal Kaiser Real Estate, Clement Real Estate, Cowichan Petroleum Sales, Creative Custom Services, David Coulson Design Ltd., Drillwell Enterprises, Elmworth Construction, Experience Cycles, Joann & Colin Champoux, Just Sew Custom Embroidery, Lake’s Marine Supply, LMG Insurance Services, Norm Fraser, Pacific Energy, Stone Pacific Contracting, Top Shelf Feeds, and Woodworks Renos.
• The Union of British Columbia Municipalities presented its 2018 Community Excellence Awards at the UBCM annual convention in Whistler on Sept. 11.
The awards showcase municipalities and regional districts that have implemented projects and programs that demonstrate excellence in meeting the purposes of local government in BC. The awards are designed to profile promising practices and to create successful pathways and incentives for others to follow. UBCM has offered the Community Excellence Awards since 2004.
This year, the Cowichan Valley Regional District has won an honourable mention in the Excellence in Government category for its Cowichan 2050 Regional Collaboration Framework.
• The Lake to Lake Walk and Marathon on Sept. 8 was a hit, with people hitting the trail for a variety of charities and causes, along with personal fitness goals.
The top two finishers overall were also the top male and female finishers. Cory Ramstead finished first in a time of 3:40:40.9 to be the top man in the event, while Emily Solsberg finished right behind him in a time of 3:41:30.2 to be the top woman.
Rounding out the top group were Peter Schuttinga, Angela Anderson, Ben Marrs, Brandon Kirk, Janet Green, Robin Taylor and Lisa De Lusignan who finished in a tie with Kelly Schellenberg.
• This year’s BC Thanksgiving Food Drive for local food banks was a resounding success, report organizers.
The Cowichan Valley’s food banks are in great need at this time of the year as donations do diminish over the summer, and the massive food drive has filled the shelves.
Donations are still being picked up at some of the community supermarkets as well. This year almost 14,000 pounds of food was collected on Saturday, Sept 15 from the more than 5,500 residences in the Valley. This is over 2,000 lbs of food more than last year.
“We wish to thank the over 200 volunteers from the area, including some wonderful sponsors like Island Savings, The Old Farm Market, Home Depot, Coast Capital, The Rotary Club of Duncan, Country Grocer, Cowichan Towing, Superstore, Rona, Shopper’s Drug Mart, Best Buy, Save-on-Foods, Pemberton Homes — all who provided bags, boxes and even sent teams for collection,” said organizers. “We also want to thank the great people of the Cowichan Valley who so willingly donated so that those who do need the help will not go hungry.”
Beneficiaries were the Cowichan Valley Basket Society and the Mill Bay Food Bank.
“This is the first year the food drive was done in Mill Bay and the support there was wonderful as well as the food collected there went straight to their food bank in Mill Bay,” said organizers.
“We are so thankful to all who helped make this such a successful event each year,” said Colleen Fuller, director of the Cowichan Valley Basket Society. “It is by far the largest amount food that we get each year and the most well-organized food drive. This food drive gives us enough food to feed the many families and individuals that come to the food bank for help.”