June 24, 2015

COVERING THE CARIBOO CHILCOTIN COAST

Casual COUNTRY

t f h o e p H i T at A

2015

Celebrating 47 years of people and places in our region

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 3

Welcome readers to the Williams Lake Tribune’s 47th Annual Casual Country publication.

As most business owners would acknowledge, I am fairly new to the long-standing Tribune family. Shortly after my arrival here I took a weekend to come down and organize my new office. The building was so quiet, so peaceful, so unlike it’s usual hectic atmosphere. After walking past the boardroom multiple times for various reasons, I finally ventured in and Kathy McLean, Publisher began reading the vast number of Williams Lake Tribune awards displayed on the walls and then I noticed boxes underneath tables, also full of awards. There were so many awards in so many categories I was truly astonished. I was also overwhelmed with how many Casual Country editions have won over the years as getting recognized for excellence in the media is very competitive. I plan to put on display, every single one of these awards soon.

The Williams Lake Tribune will be celebrating it’s 85th Birthday this October and I want to showcase all of them for this big celebration.

I feel very proud of this year’s 2015 Casual Country publication and so very proud of the extra effort and long hours everyone has done to get this massive publication completed on time. I thank the editors, reporters, sales team, production department, front office, circulation, press, carriers and correspondents. Your dedication did not go unnoticed.

The Williams Lake Tribune would like to thank the local businesses that support Casual Country and the many of them that commit year after year.

To the citizens of Williams Lake and the Cariboo Chilcotin, a tip of the hat to you. We all hope you will enjoy the stories and history you are about to read.

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4 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

Casual COUNTRY 2015 Stampede

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Index

People

Stampede Gets New Brand/Stampede Poster ........... Page 6

Peggy McKinlay ........................................................... Page 58-59

Outgoing Stampede Royalty has Memorable Year ..... Page 7

Paul Carnes .................................................................. Page 60-61

2015 Stampede Contestants/Ranching History .......... Page 8

Central Cariboo Search and Rescue ........................... Page 62-63

World Championship Bull Throwing Contest ............... Page 9

Gurbax Singh Nijjar and Surjit Kaur Nijjar.................... Page 65

Cowboy Hall of Fame Inductees .................................. Page 10-12

Bonnie Gavin and Donna Barnett ................................ Page 66-67

Fred and Paddy Thomas.............................................. Page 13-14

Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddle Society........................ Page 68-69

Bob and Shirley Breitkreutz.......................................... Page 17

Anime Costume Fun..................................................... Page 70

Marge and Jack Butler ................................................. Page 18

Buddhist Nun Works for Peace.....................................Page 74 and 76

Business

Only in the Cariboo

Arty the Art Walker ........................................................ Page 21-22 Crazy Horse Energy Drink ........................................... Page 23 Yellow Umbrella/Thyme for Tea ................................... Page 24-25 Business Excellence Awards ....................................... Page 26-27 Gerry Bracewell ............................................................ Page 28-29 Signal Point Gaming .................................................... Page 30

Out West Field Naturalists Society ............................................... Page 32 Nurse Practitioner Patrice Gordon ............................... Page 33-35

Kiwanis Park Gets New Gazebo ................................. Page 80 Sheppard Family .......................................................... Page 81 Lived Experience .......................................................... Page 82 Kelli Granger and Horse Whiskey................................ Page 86-87

On the COVER A Tip of the Hat

Chilcotin Lodge ............................................................. Page 38-40 Anahim Lake’s Carey Price .......................................... Page 41 Loretta Williams ............................................................ Page 42 Xeni Gwet’in Carve Own Path ..................................... Page 43

Bella Coola Valley Coast Mountain Heli Skiing .......................................... Page 46 Nuxalk Nation raise Sputc Pole ................................... Page 47-48 Bella Coola Music Festival ........................................... Page 49 Bella Bella Grocery Store ............................................. Page 50 Copper Sun Gallery ...................................................... Page 51

Alvin Mack..................................................................... Page 54-55

Celebrating 47 years of people and places in our region

COVERING THE CARIBOO CHILCOTIN COAST

Museum Digital Heritage Project ................................. Page 52 Bella Coola Rodeo........................................................ Page 53

2015

Casual COUNTRY

Ranching in the Cariboo Chilcotin................................ Page 36-37

Quilting Keeps Traditions Alive..................................... Page 78-79

Angie Mindus photo

Dressed in all his western gear, little Reid Rife tips his hat to the people of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast in recognition of the Williams Lake Tribune’s 47th annual Casual Country edition. We hope you enjoy it.

Published by Black Press Group Ltd. 188 N. 1st Ave., Williams Lake, B.C. Publisher - KATHY MCLEAN Editor - ANGIE MINDUS

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 5

STAMPEDE

ROPIN’, RIDIN’ AND LOVIN’ IT

Fifth generation cowboy from Charlotte, N.C., rodeo clown Austin Stewart ducks for cover from a C+ Rodeos bull during the 88th Annual Williams Lake Stampede.

Photo by: Angie Mindus

ROPIN’, RIDIN’ AND LOVIN’ IT

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STAMPEDE

Williams Lake Stampede gets branded Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 During the 89th Annual Williams Lake Stampede Association will unveil the Stampede’s first-ever brand designed by one of its own directors, Ellie Seelhof.

Designed in the style of a traditional cattle brand to represent the connection between the roots of rodeo and working ranches, the brand features a rope curving under a W and up over an L. “It resembles a typical cattle brand,” Seelhof said of her design, which was one of six submitted for consideration.

“It’s nice and plain with simplified lines and shows our identity.”

When the board decided to pursue a brand, the directors held a contest during the winter inviting artists to submit designs for a brand that would represent the “greatest show on dirt.”

“We needed some-

Image submitted

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

The Williams Lake Stampede Association has unveiled its new, first-ever brand, which it will use in its marketing in the future. The WLSA chose the new logo from entries submitted in a brand contest.

Williams Lake Stampede director Ellie Seelhof designed the first-ever Stampede brand.

thing simpler to mark things,” Seelhof said of the board’s decision to pursue a brand.

“Most Stampedes

things the new brand will be put on them,” Seelhof said.

Seelhof and her husband Louis of the

have a brand and we already have a beautiful and colourful logo, but it is expensive to reproduce it on merchandise

and other things.”

During Stampede weekend this year, June 26 to 29, the brand will appear on some cloth-

ing, merchandise, signage, banners in the arena and even on some trash barrels.

“As we are replacing

Woodjam Ranch in Horsefly have been volunteers at the Stampede for 10 years. She has been a director for four.

Willie Sure inspiration for this year’s Stampede poster This year’s poster, named Bull Fighter, was done by artist Marlene Pegg of Quesnel.

It is a salute to those who courageously put their lives at risk to protect the lives of others, all for the love of rodeo.

Willie Sure of Williams Lake was the inspiration for this year’s poster.

Sure was born in Williams Lake and grew up at Springhouse and Sugar Cane, coming from a family of rodeo competitors.

Sure started a boys’ steer riding career in his early teens. While living at the Sugar Cane reserve he and his friends would round up cows to practice riding, while Sure would “cow fight them cows.”

Sure later moved on to bull riding.

His love of rodeo and his innate ability to connect with the bull in front

of him changed direction and he became a bull fighter.

Bull fighting for the next seven years was one of the most amazing parts of his life.

Sure was often voted to be the bull fighter for the finals by his colleagues and there are many tales floating around of those days.

Bull riders would tell their stories of how Sure could jump over a bull in order to free a bull rider from trouble.

Sure’s favourite story was, no matter how big the crowd, he could always pick out his mom, Marta Sure’s voice, as she screamed at him in terror.

Sure retired to raise his family and to pursue his career as a journeyman parts manager, and he continues to work and live in Williams Lake.

Poster artist Pegg raised her family on the

Pelican Lake Ranch, and also worked as a horse trainer most of her life In 2008 she began to work more seriously, mainly in acrylic and in pencil.

She is now retired from ranching and horse training but her passion and training for these things live on in her hobby that has turned into a full-time profession.

Image submitted

This year’s 2015 Williams Lake Stampede poster.

Photo submitted

Quesnel artist Marlene Pegg accepts a framed copy of this year’s Stampede poster from Williams Lake Stampede director Ellie Seelhoff.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 7

STAMPEDE

Royal time had by outgoing Stampede Queen and Princess Michelle Ball Casual Country 2015 Right from the opening of the arena gates to this year’s coronation, it has been a busy action-packed season.

Stampede Princess Matina Durfeld and I covered a lot of ground from B.C. to Alberta and across the border to Washington.

Rodeos included grand entry, autograph sessions, many photo opportunities, playing with children and meeting people from all around the world.

Some of the highlights would be spending the day with disabled children at the midway in Calgary and at the children’s hospital in Spokane, visiting the Apple Springs Senior Living in Omak, Washington (great stories from my table), sharing the bus to Edmonton with Willy Crosina’s group to attending the Canadian Finals Rodeo and watching the speeches and fashion show at the

Miss Rodeo Canada contest.

There are many people who helped allow this year to be as successful as it was. I would like to thank my grandma Dana Ball for not only sponsoring me but for driving and chaperoning Matina and I so we could attend the Spokane Rodeo in Washington.

Thank you to Liz and Mickey Crosina for all of their help and information in Edmonton while we attended the CFR. Thank you to our fellow bus guests for making the long ride enjoyable.

A warm appreciation to Clusko Logging for believing in me and allowing me to be represented under their name during the competition.

Thank you to all the local businesses that sponsored the Stampede Queen’s program prior to crowning.

I also need to mention the West Fraser Log Trucker’s Associa-

Craig Smith photo

Michelle Ball, the 2014/15 Williams Lake Stampede Queen

tion for not only supporting the Queen’s competition, but again for contributing for our reign.

We would not have been able to attend the functions we did without your generous support.

A huge thank you to C+ Rodeo for generously allowing us to use their horses at all the rodeos that we attended together.

Thank you to the Stampede Association for continuing this event and allowing young ladies like Matina and myself to

Photo submitted

2014/15 Williams Lake Stampede Queen Michelle Ball takes part in the parade at Omak, Wash., during its annual rodeo. grow and gain selfconfidence while doing something we love.

Thank you to Jamie, Penny, Devana, Julie, Ashley and all the ladies from the Trail Riders for your help, support and encouragement.

Of course, a huge

thank you to my family and friends for always being there when I need you the most.

I would have to say the three largest lessons I can pass on from my reign would be: take a hold of opportunities when they present themselves because

they may not be there when you realize how rewarding they truly can be; “never give up on your dreams” — no matter what others say around you — big or small they are a reflection of you and; always appreciate and show thanks for the things

you receive from others be it encouragement, support, donations or well wishes.

Thank you Williams Lake for allowing me to be your Stampede Queen! I hope everyone enjoys the rodeo and I look forward to seeing you there.

Year as Stampede Princess a dream come true Matina Durfeld Casual Country 2015 It came as quite a shock to me when Alexis Forseille sent Michelle and I the message letting us know that we needed to get started on writing our “Farewell Speeches.”

My year as Stampede Princess went by so fast, that it feels like just yesterday I was submitting my contestant form for the Williams Lake Stampede Queen competition.

Running for Stampede Queen was a dream that I had since I was a little girl, and last year that dream came true.

Although I can’t say being Stampede Princess was a predictable

Craig Smith photo

Matina Durfeld, the 2014/15 Williams Lake Stampede Princess

duty, it was definitely worth it. During my reign I got to meet so many different amazing people from directors and volunteers, to rodeo competitors, other rodeo royalty, and of course, rodeo fans!

Greg Sabatino photo

Matina Durfeld (second from left), the 2014/15 Stampede Princess, races during the first Wild Cowgirl Race at last year’s Williams Lake Stampede.

My experiences throughout my year were nothing short of

memorable and I have learned values I will keep in my heart forever.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped me

throughout my time as a contestant and Stampede Princess; my spon-

sors, Rene and Karla Leclerc from Minton Creek Ranch, my mom, my Grossmami, and all my friends and family.

Your support means the world to me, and I couldn’t have done it without all of you.

To my Queen, Michelle, we’ve had a great year of ups and downs and amazing experiences.

I’m happy to say I’ve made a friend for life in you and I wish you all the best with your future endeavours.

I look forward to watching the new contestants grow into themselves as they continue the honour of representing our city, and my home, Williams Lake.

God bless.

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STAMPEDE

2015 Stampede Queen contestants introduced

Craig Smith photo

Gaeil Farrar photo

Outgoing 2014/15 Stampede Queen Michelle Ball crowned her successor, 2015/16 Stampede Queen Cheyleigh Sand, June 13. Cheyleigh will receive her rodeo crown during Stampede June 26-29. Under new Stampede Queen contest rules only a queen, not a princess, is crowned if there are three or fewer contestants.

Paige Brinoni Miss Titchener Contracting My name is Paige Brinoni. I am

18-years-old.

I have a passion for learning and sharing knowledge about horses, our community and the Famous Williams

Craig Smith photo

Craig Smith photo

Paige Brinoni, Miss Titchener Contracting

Cheyleigh Sand, Miss Daybreak Rotary

Stephanie Warnock, Miss Minton Creek Ranch

Lake Stampede.

My family has a long history of community involvement.

Since 1990 my great grandfather Ralph Overton has been a life-time member of the Williams Lake Stampede.

My parents and grandparents routinely volunteer for community and school events and have encouraged their children to give back to the community.

At age four I started dancing ballet and have danced for 12 years.

I participated in

the Fine Arts Festival and performed Shakespeare and poetry pieces.

I was involved in school through leadership, mentoring, and sports.

I started riding at age two and received riding lessons.

I have earned tons of experience helping train horses and working with children in horse camp programs.

I enjoy working with children and have volunteered with the Canada Day Celebration, street parades, Boys and Girls Club, mentoring, leadership,

the CDC swim and horsing around, and other multiple community events.

I am excited to participate in this year’s Williams Lake Stampede and feel that the skills and friendships I build here will help me become a more confident young woman, helping me reach my goals throughout life.

Cheyleigh Sand Miss Daybreak Rotary My name is Cheyleigh Sand, I am 17-years-old and was

born and raised in Williams Lake.

I am currently in Grade 12 at Lake City Secondary School and have worked part time at Warehouse One for nearly two years.

I love my animals, especially horses and dogs.

I have three small dogs at home; their names are Belle, Sophie and Baby.

My hobbies include horseback riding, relaxing at the lake, watching my favourite YouTube videos, listening to music and spending time with my family and friends.

My family has taught me the importance of volunteer work in our community and I have volunteered for several different community organizations starting when I was about 10 years old.

I love being part of community events and seeing so many people’s hard work all come together for the enjoyment of others.

I hope to one day work in the film and television industry and

travel to many different parts of the world.

Stephanie Warnock Miss Minton Creek Ranch My name is Stephanie Warnock and I was born and raised in Williams Lake.

I have an undying love for the country lifestyle of the Cariboo.

I got my first horse by trading my motorbike for her at age eight.

I bought my current horse, Trooper, as an unbroken twoyear-old when I was 15-years-old.

He is my greatest pride as I broke him to what he is today all by myself.

I have a genuine love of horses, the rodeo, and a desire to be involved in this lifestyle.

Stampede Queen is a position that gives back to the community in the way of countless volunteer hours at events and I am up for the challenge and demands of this offering of my time and energy.

Cariboo Chilcotin steeped in ranching history Diana French Casual Country 2015 Over the years, forestry, mining and tourism have taken starring roles in the Cariboo Chilcotin economy, but the cattle industry, which started it all, is still very much in the picture. Ranching has been a steady economic engine in this area for more than 150 years.

Williams Lake has been a major cattle shipping point for 96 years. The stockyards used to be in full sight on South Lakeside but now they are tucked away in the north part of the city, and out of sight seems to be out of mind.

Williams Lake has a varied history. For centuries it was a Secwepemc village. For three or four years it

was a gold rush town.

For a decade or two it was a large farm, then almost overnight it became a small cowtown which grew into the city it is today.

The first newcomers to the Cariboo Chilcotin were European fur traders who arrived in the early 1800s. They wrote a few pages in local history, but left relatively few footprints.

The Cariboo Gold Rush was a different story. Beginning in the late 1850s, hordes of prospectors and entrepreneurs swarmed into the area and changed it forever. They put an end to the fur trade and devastated the First Nations’ way of life. They also opened the way for settlers.

The gold rush was huge while it lasted but it was short-lived and

Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin

Alkali Lake Ranch, pictured above in the 1930s, was the first to register a preemption in 1861, making it the oldest cattle ranch on record in Western Canada. most of the prospectors moved on. Among those who stayed were some of the cattlemen who drove huge herds of beef-on-the-hoof from the western U.S. to the Cariboo minefields. They were attracted by the Interior’s

lush green grass, open meadows and plentiful water. Land was easy to acquire, so they stayed to raise cattle. Others who originally came to mine, also stayed to ranch. When the gold rush waned, the market for beef went with it and

Cariboo ranchers had to drive their cattle many miles to market. The drives were brutal on men, horses and cattle and seldom very profitable. That changed after the First World War when the PGE rail line was extended to

Williams Lake. The access to rail meant cattle could be shipped to market by train, ending the killer cattle drives.

Williams Lake was ideally located in the centre of the ranching country. By the time the first train arrived in 1919 an instant village had sprouted in the former wheat fields and entrepreneurs had businesses ready to the ranchers.

A small stampede was held in the village that first year and stampedes grew with the city. What began as a contest between ranchers challenging each other to see who had the best horse or the best cowboy has grown into an industry of its own.

B.C. has claim to being the birthplace of the Canadian beef industry.

Certainly beef cattle were raised in other parts of the country early on, but they were mostly part of a general farm, not a ranch as is known now.

Ranches are acreages of land dedicated to raising one kind of animal. They come in all sizes and, along with having some of the biggest ranches in Canada, the Cariboo Chilcotin has some of the oldest.

Ranches established in gold rush days 150 years ago are still going strong. Many ranches have been in the same family for 100 years or more.

Is Williams Lake still a cowtown? Given the busy stockyards and a world famous stampede, it probably has a bigger claim to that title than any other B.C. community.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 9

STAMPEDE

Cariboo politicians sling the bull at championships Pat Skoblanuik Casual Country 2015 Throughout the years, Williams Lake has had a far-reaching reputation for its many unique traditions and customs. The World Championship Bull Throwing Contest tops the list.

The contest originated in 1972 when the mayor of the day, Jim Fraser, was in search of some lighthearted activity to kick off the annual Stampede. He wanted it to be as much fun as possible.

Stampede director Barry Plant came up with the bull throw idea. The annual Stampede usually attracted several wellknown politicians who appeared in the parade, officiated at some events and enjoyed the rodeo.

This seemed like the perfect event for local and visiting politicians to publicly display what they seemed to do best.

There would be no shortage of ‘cow flops!’ The first bull throw was held downtown on the corner of Oliver Street and Third Avenue.

Later it was held in the rodeo arena in front of the grandstands, the lawn in front of city hall and at some point the SaveOn-Foods (Overwaitea) parking lot.

It is not known for sure who created the bull. The body was fashioned from a gas drum.

A head, fabricated from metal with PVC pipe for horns, was attached to the body. A frame on wheels was constructed to cradle the barrel bull’s body, and a large hole was cut in the barrel to hold the cow flops.

The whole thing was painted black and the bull also sported a frayed yellow rope tail and yellow forelocks. It was loaded with dried cow dung and wheeled to the site of the throw. At the end of the contest, the flops were retrieved and returned to the bull and taken away.

The early rules for the contest were quite simple: • The contest is held in a BULL PARK • Contestants must be bona-fide politicians

One of the rules of the bull throwing contest is contestants must chuga-lug a shot of Cariboo Sasperilla over the shoulder.

Photos courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin

Then Williams Lake Mayor Jim Fraser gets down to business throwing cow pies at a bull throwing contest during the Williams Lake Stampede.

• Contestants must chug-a-lug a shot of Cariboo Sasperilla • Contestants must throw underhand • Contestants must use regulation Cariboo Bull Whoever threw the disc farthest was usually the winner, however, points could be given for form.

Barry Plant created a measuring tape with a piece of elastic inserted into the middle so no one could ever be sure of the exact measurement. There was no prize, just the honour of winning. The winner’s names were engraved on gold plates attached to a wooden plaque decorated with gilded cow patties. This plaque is now on display in the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin.

The contest got lots of coverage in the newspapers and television, not just locally, but also throughout the province.

A story about Premier Dave Barrett in The Westcoast News featured a half page photo of the premiere tossing a cow flop at the 1973 Williams Lake Stampede.

The story always made the 11 o’clock news on television. Most of the local politicians participated each year along with mayors and aldermen from towns and cities province-wide. Some well-known public figures included MLA Alex Fraser, author Paul St. Pierre, Senator Ray Perrault, MP Jack Pearsall, TV personality Jack Webster, Cariboo Chilcotin MPs Dave Worthy and Lorne Greenaway,

and PNE President Irwin Swangard.

The contest was dominated by men, but five women have their names on the winners’ plaques. Alderman Hazel Huckvale was said to have “grace, poise, positioning and stance, not to mention the bubbling personality of a winner and a great ability to manipulate the Cariboo Frisbee without spreading B.S. all over the place” — Williams Lake Tribune, July 2, 1981.

Hazel was judged the winner of the 1981 contest, if not by distance, by form. Some losers were overheard muttering about “elastic measuring tapes.”

Other female winners were Jannette Townsend, Mayor of Valemont and former Williams Lake resident,

The original bull barrel used during the bull throwing contest makes its home today at the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin in Williams Lake.

Maureen Thompson, Regional District Director for Fraser Fort George, Darlene Brecknock, Cariboo Regional District Chair, and Peggy Van Tine, 100 Mile House alderman.

Although the bull was the star of the show, he was rarely photographed.

The big black bull was a striking fellow, quiet and well behaved. He has never been known to charge or gore anyone with his horns.

The event was generally thought to be entertaining and fun, but

some citizens were not happy with the image of a politician swilling sasparilla (beer) on a city street, so the beverage was changed to a nonalcoholic variety.

The contest was a tradition at the Stampede for 20 years. The last “Cariboo Frisbee” toss was in 1992. It was abandoned in 1993, possibly because of complaints and questionable “political correctness” and the fact there was not sponsor that year.

Also, time constraints for the introductory act

were a concern for the Stampede Association.

So, the bull was put out to pasture and the cow flops were composted.

The bull-barrel languished at the Stampede Grounds for a time and was eventually re-united with his frame and found a permanent home in the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin where he is on display and still gets a chuckle from visitors when they see the story of the World Champion Bull Throwing Contest of the Williams Lake Stampede.

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STAMPEDE

BC Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee: competitor Bob Kjos Bob Kjos has spent his life on the back of a horse working and competing.

He has caught wild horses and broke them, he has been an outfitter and is an author. Bob, his wife, Maxine, and their two children came to Northern B.C. in 1966 from Alberta when they purchased the Toad River Lodge, Mile 422 on the Alaska Highway.

With the lodge came 100 head of cattle.

They took up a 380 acre homestead across the Toad River, cleared and broke the land to gain title.

Over the next years they worked hard to develop a ranch and a home in a beautiful mountain setting.

Eventually all the land was broken and Bob could grow enough feed for 100 head of horses and the cattle.

He jokes that he had the most northern cattle ranch in B.C. at that time.

They also had a huge hunting area and were

BC Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee Bob Kjos. able to run a successful outfitting business as well as ranching. Bob had his own pack outfit at age 16.

They sold the Toad River Ranch and moved to Fort St. John and started raising Corriente cattle.

Then Bob started team roping and saddle

bronc and qualified for the NRA finals 18 times and won the Team Roping Championship four times.

He hosted team roping events and supplied roping cattle to the Northwest Rodeo Association’s rodeos in the area.

When Bob was no longer able to rope or

Chevonn Haselhan photo

Every year the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees are treated to a luncheon in Williams Lake followed by a presentation in front of the crowds during the Sunday performance of the Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo in April. Posing for a picture together in Boitanio Park following the awards were: (left to right) Mark McMillan (president of the B.C. Cowboy Heritage Society), Kalee Billyboy (BCHSRA Princess), Bob Kjos (inductee), Michelle Ball (Stampede Queen), Charlie Coldwell (inductee), Pat Coldwell (inductee), Matina Durfield (Stampede Princess) and Danny Desmond accepting for his father, inductee Tom Desmond. fly his airplane, he began painting and writing the story of his life in the saddle.

After 10 years he was able to get all his stories down on paper and now his book Horseshoe In

My Hip Pocket Lucky Again! is in its third printing.

Bob and Maxine are

now retired on their ranch in Montney, just northwest of Fort St. John.

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STAMPEDE

CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 11

Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee: working cowboy Tommy Desmond Thomas F. Desmond was a life-long cowboy.

Born in Kamloops, in 1927, he grew up on the family’s dairy farm and orchard.

He left the farming life to go work as a cowboy at the Diamond S where he had a friend who was cow boss. He worked at the Diamond S Ranch and Alkali Lake Ranch then tried guiding in the Spatzizi for one summer then returned to work at the Circle S Ranch at Dog Creek as a full-time cowboy. Tommy married Marian Pinchbeck and they began their married life working sideby-side moving cattle from the Dog Creek Ranch to Gustafsen Lake cow camp, a fullday trek through 30 miles

of swamps and creeks.

Tommy managed to drag an old washing machine the 30 miles to make life easier for Marian and their growing family of four children.

After 20 years as a working cowboy and cow boss on ranches the Desmonds were able to purchase the Purjue Ranch at the top of Pinchbeck Hill, where they spent the rest of their lives, later adding the neighbouring Felker Ranch to their holdings.

As well as operating his own ranch, Tommy rode for the Mission Ranch. He was in the saddle every day until his health began to fail. Tom died September 13, 2006 and Marion continued to operate the ranch until her death in 2010.

Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin

Tommy F. Desmond was inducted into the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2015 as a working cowboy.

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Stunning. Exhilarating. Welcoming.

I hope you also find your time here in the beautiful Cariboo to feel a little bit like heaven and a lot like home. #102 - 383 Oliver Street Williams Lake, B.C. Toll Free 1-866-305-3804 Phone 250-305-3800 • Fax 250-305-3808 email: donna.barnett.mla@leg.bc.ca

12 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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STAMPEDE

BC Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee: Century Ranch Coldwell Ranch inducted after 100 years in operation Charlie and Pat Coldwell are still operating the ranch at Jesmond that has been in their family for 100 years.

Originally the Mountain House Ranch, it was purchased in 1914 by brothers Harry and Robert Coldwell and A.J. Drinkell. While Robert and A.J. served overseas in the First World War, Harry and his wife, Louise, were deemed “essential workers” and stayed behind to raise cattle and other agricultural products for food.

The Mountain House was a working ranch as well as stopping place for the BX Stage from Clinton to Dog Creek and beyond.

In 1919 Harry became postmaster and was asked to rename the ranch. He decided on Jesmond, the name of a community in England near his birth place. Harry willed the ranch to his son , Pete, who was born in 1914 and grew up on the ranch. Pete and Joyce Coldwell raised their eight children on the ranch.

In 1992, their son Charlie took over running of the ranch when Pete and Joyce retired to Ashcroft.

Ownership of the ranch was transferred to Charlie in 1993 after Pete’s death.

He and his wife, Pat, still operate the ranch and run at least 100 head of cattle and 25 horses.

Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin

Charlie and Pat Coldwell still operate the family’s 100-year-old ranch at Jesmond, west of Clinton.

We welcome you to the Cariboo Chilcotin...

Come and Worship with Us. Cariboo Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

St. Andrews United Church

Hope & Healing For The Whole Person

1000 Huckvale Place (just off Midnight)

Enjoy Christian Radio VOAR 95.1 FM

Christian Music, Focus on the Family, Insight for Living, Voice of Prophecy & more. Full info: www.voar.org

Sunday Worship

Excellence in K-12 Christian Education

10:00am

Cariboo Adventist Academy 250-392-4741

Weekly Worship and Bible Study

Rev. Jenny Carter 250-398-6745

Saturday Mornings at 10:50am, 26 Woodland Dr., WL Full Info Call 250-392-1905 or email: cameron@caribooadventist.ca

office.uc_wmslk@shaw.ca

Sacred Heart Catholic Church Mass Schedule

Sunday Worship Service 10:00am Evangelical Free Church 1100 - 11th Ave., N. • 250-392-2843 www.wlefc.org

Saturday • 5:00 pm Sunday • 9:30 am & 7:00 pm 450 Pigeon Avenue, Williams Lake 250-398-6806 www.sacredheartwl.ca

St. Peter’s Anglican Church Christ at Heart, Love in Action Sunday Worship 10:00 am Everyone Welcome!

The Revs. Keith and Kristen Dobyns presiding 250-392-4246 • 549 Carson Drive http://www.facebook.com/StPetersWL

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 13

STAMPEDE

Fred and Paddy Thomas play integral roles in Stampede Angie Mindus Casual Country 2015 Whether you stop by the Stampede office or hang out behind the bucking chutes, it’s likely that you’ll run into either Fred Thomas, Paddy Thomas or both sometime over the course of the Williams Lake Stampede and in the months leading up to it.

The two are committed lifelong volunteers — Paddy works in the office and in the rodeo announcer’s booth while Fred has served as Williams Lake Stampede Association president for the last 22 years. They work 11 months of the year to help pull off the The Greatest Show on Dirt.

“We love it,” says Paddy from behind the Stampede office counter of the annual rodeo, where she and a core group of volun-

teers work to make the Stampede happen.

“When you’re raised with it, it’s a part of you. I’ve been coming (to the Stampede) forever.”

Paddy is the oldest of three siblings born to well-known cowboy and former Alkali Lake Ranch manager Bill Twan.

Bill was working as a young ranch hand when he met Paddy’s mom, Margaret Flockheart, who was from Scotland and came to the area to work as a nanny at Alkali Lake Ranch.

The couple worked the ranch their whole lives and raised their children there; Paddy Thomas, Bucky Larden and Bronc Twan.

The siblings never strayed too far from home.

Paddy and Bucky are neighbours in Chimney Valley while Bronc and his

wife Liz (a well-known rodeo and ranching photojournalist) have carried on the family tradition of managing Alkali Lake Ranch.

Paddy says she still remembers when her dad competed as a bronc rider and roman racer at the Williams Lake Stampede, back in the day when families came in by wagon and fields of tents popped up where there is now the grandstand and back parking lot.

“It was really neat.

And racing was a big part of it back then.”

Paddy also held the title of Stampede Queen in 1961, sharing the spotlight at the time with Stampede Princess Gail Henry, Indian Stampede Queen Vivienne Chelsea and Indian Stampede Princess Margaret Dick.

See STAMPEDE Page 14

Angie Mindus photo

Working at the Stampede is a family affair for Paddy Thomas and her husband, Fred, the current Williams Lake Stampede Association president.

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14 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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STAMPEDE

Stampede volunteers have long history with rodeo Continued From Page 13 As a young man, Fred had big dreams of his own but they didn’t involve the cowboy lifestyle before he met Paddy.

“My ambition in life was to be a professional hockey player,” recalls Fred, who instead played hockey locally for the Stampeders and was introduced to team roping at the Alkali Lake Ranch by Paddy and her family.

“It was something I enjoyed,” he says of learning roping. “It’s more of an individual sport, it’s you against a stop watch. It was kind of addictive, a neat thing to do.”

Fred made a name for himself as a competitive roper and also worked for more than 30 years at Telus while Paddy worked at court registry.

The couple raised

Liz Twan photo

The 1961 Williams Lake Stampede Royalty included Indian Stampede Queen Vivienne Chelsea of the Esket First Nation (from left), Indian Stampede Princess Margaret Dick of the Esket First Nation, Stampede Queen Paddy Twan (Thomas) of Alkali Lake and Stampede Princess Gail Henry of Big Creek. Sadly Vivienne passed away on June 3 in Oregon and a celebration of life was held at Esket on June 10. Paddy and Vivienne were good friends prior to and after being named Stampede Queens. two sons, Owen and Brad, who also appreciate hockey and com-

petitive roping.

This year Fred and Paddy celebrated 50

years of marriage together.

Fred says he enjoys

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“The Stampede is a great thing for the community. For me, (volunteering) is about giving back to Williams Lake because Williams Lake has been very good to me over the years.”

In the months leading up to Stampede, work is so demanding Fred doesn’t even have time to go fishing, but he refuses to give up his golf.

“Come hell or high water, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 o’clock I’m golfing.”

And after all the hard work is done and the rodeo weekend is upon them, there’s only one thing left to do.

“The best thing to do is just sit back and enjoy it.”

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 15

Andrew Cuthell

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16 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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CARIBOO CHEVROLET COMMUNITY IS OUR BUSINESS

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 17

STAMPEDE

Dedicated volunteer receives lifetime pass to Stampede Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 Bob and Shirley Breitkreutz can’t count the number of hours they have volunteered for the Williams Lake Stampede Association, but it’s all been time happily spent.

“We’ve had a lot of fun in here over the years and worked with lots of great volunteers,” Bob says.

Bob, who is receiving a lifetime pass this year, has served two terms as Stampede president, and four years as treasurer. He also served several terms as vice-president and concession director during which time he was one of the driving forces behind construction of the office and concession building behind the chutes.

Bob actually started volunteering with the Stampede Association because Shirley had become a Stampede volunteer in the mid1980s.

By 1990 friends were encouraging Bob to get involved as well.

Before that his job as a feller-buncher logging contractor kept him away from home a lot.

Shirley started out pre-selling rodeo tickets and Stampede merchandise and working in the office for a few years before moving over to the concession where Bob joined her as the grill cook.

Cooking was no problem for Bob because he grew up in a household with three brothers who had all been taught to cook early on by their mother.

In those days the concession behind

the chutes was a cook trailer rented from the Lions Club for the Stampede weekend.

A refurbished stock trailer supplied with electricity housed the fridge and freezer and other produce and supplies.

While it might have been a makeshift solution to supplying food for cowboys and volunteers on the run, it was a spic and span operation because most of the volunteers in those days were hospital and health care employees, Shirley says.

Construction of the office and concession building started in 1999 and was completed in 2000.

It was a huge job involving professional builders to set the foundation and frame up the building and many volunteers to do all of the interior finishing.

“It was a lot of work,” Bob says. “We started in the fall and finished four days before Stampede.”

The concession was completed about the same time as the association was developing the Stampede campground, so they decided to open up the infield concession to the general public.

“We were cooking for rodeo competitors and volunteers anyway so we started inviting the public to come and join us,” Bob says.

Since then use of the concession has grown steadily to accommodate five or six events during the year.

Bob ran the concession for many years but stepped down as a director a few years ago turning over the

job to Kelly Braaten.

As a director, Bob says there are jobs to be done all year long.

These days Bob and Shirley continue to help out with the concession. Shirley coordinates scheduling of the volunteers and they both help out in the concession during Stampede and at other events during the year when the concession is open, such as the high school rodeo and barrel racing events.

During the Stampede weekend Shirley says she will schedule approximately 30 volunteers on the Friday when there are two rodeo shows and 25 volunteers on the regular rodeo days with one show. They try to give volunteers three or four-hour shifts, but even an hour or two is helpful, Shirley says.

Bob and Shirley also help the current concession director, Dolores Berkelaar, to train volunteers. There are numerous jobs to do including ordering and storing supplies, cleaning, advance food preparation, taking orders, running the till, and of course grill and fry cooking.

“It’s not hard to cook breakfast, hamburgers, hotdogs and fries (chicken strips are also on the menu),” Bob says. “Lots of times people are skeptical about volunteering but once they participate they usually like to come back. There’s lots of visiting with cowboys and visitors.”

Shirley says they are well prepared ahead of time so people don’t have to wait long for service. They have to be fast, especially for

Gaeil Farrar photo

Kitchen duties are just some of the countless Stampede volunteer hours provided by Bob and Shirley Breitkreutz. Bob, who also served two terms as Stampede president and was one of the driving forces behind the construction of the Stampede office and concession building in 1999 and 2000 was named this year’s Lifetime Pass Recipient. the fly-in cowboys who may be participating in several rodeos on the same weekend.

“It’s never dull,” adds Shirley. “We have some pretty dedicated volunteers and without them it wouldn’t happen.”

Shirley and Bob are originally from Vernon. They migrated north with Bob’s work as a heavy duty mechanic. They were in Kamloops for a year and then in Prince George during the time when pulp mills were being built and they were starting their family.

In 1976 they moved to Williams Lake where Bob opened and ran the John Deere heavy equipment service shop for a couple of years, before start-

ing his own mechanical falling company in the forest industry.

They ran the logging company for 12 years before selling out in 1991.

Since then, work has allowed Bob to be closer to home.

He worked as a heavy duty mechanic for Coastal Pacific, for Wajax, and for Inland Kenworth Parker Pacific for a few years each before settling in to work in the maintenance shop for Interior Roads a few years ago.

While raising their two boys, Dean and Joel, Shirley took on a variety of jobs and volunteer positions.

She worked part-time as receptionist for the John Deere maintenance shop and helped with managing their

logging company.

She was also employed at the old Visitor Information Centre on Broadway, before the new Discovery Centre opened, and did casual clerical work for Interior Health.

Their son Dean, who has also served as a Williams Lake Stampede Association director in the past, is now the busy logistics officer at the Cariboo Fire Centre, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources.

Son, Joel, who is also a former Stampede volunteer, works in the forest industry and lives in Fort St. James with his wife, Tara, and their two children Sierra, 10, and Ty, 8.

“When Ty was born his parents decided to

give him a real easy name because his last name is so hard,” jokes Bob. Bob and Shirley say they decided to stay in Williams Lake rather than Vernon, Kamloops or Prince George because Williams Lake suited their needs and wants for raising a family.

“We enjoy the lifestyle here and it is so friendly,” Shirley says. “We wanted to raise our boys somewhere that isn’t a big city and where there are lots of outdoor activities. We have one of the nicest areas of the province.”

They enjoy camping and fishing, growing a big garden, and visiting their family in Fort St. James and the Okanagan.

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18 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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STAMPEDE

Butlers named Stampede Volunteers of the Year Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 Jack and Marge Butler find volunteering with the Williams Lake Stampede Association a great deal of fun.

They enjoy the work and the company they meet while painting and cleaning bleachers, and doing other odd jobs leading up to the big event.

Marge has been a volunteer for 10 years and Jack has been a volunteer for nine years.

“Time flies so fast you think its only a year or two,” Marge says. “My mom got us involved.

She is 87 now and still volunteers, sweeping and scrubbing the same as we do.”

All the stands have to be swept and washed and painted and the toilets have to be cleaned before the big weekend.

And there are also odd fix-it jobs to do.

“I’m kind of a handyman fix it guy,” Jack says. “Fred (Thomas, Stampede president) always has little jobs for me up there.”

For a couple of months before Stampede volunteers meet at the Stampede Grounds on Monday evenings between 6 and 8 p.m. for work bees.

There are painting crews and cleaning crews and repair people at work.

“There’s a good bunch of people who come here,” Jack says. “Our little bunch works up in the stands.”

Marge adds: “After the work we gather in back for hotdogs and coffee and visiting.”

Jack says a lot of the high school students from ranches around the region come down to help out.

“Close to 200 people work on the grounds for a month and a half,” Jack adds. “It’s hard to keep something like this up if you don’t work at it.”

Both Jack and Marge were born in Williams Lake, but raised in the Chilcotin, Jack in Tatla Lake and Marge in Riske Creek.

With roots deep in cattle country it is just natural that they gravitated to volunteering with Stampede.

Gaeil Farrar photo

Marge and Jack Butler are 2015 Stampede Volunteers of the Year.

Marge is the daughter of Irene and Delmer Jasper and grew up on the family hobby farm with a few cows, horses, chickens, pigs, turkeys and sheep. “You name it we had it,” Marge says.

Her dad worked as a grader operator for the Ministry of Highways and was a rodeo competitor and her mother worked for years as a school custodian.

Jack is the son of Leonard and Hilda Butler and grew up on a

small ranch at Bluff Lake.

While both Jack and Marge rode horses in their youth neither one of them has been on a horse for many years.

They both attended high school in Williams Lake which is now Marie Shape Elementary and stayed in the old school dormitory which is now the school board office.

Ironically, although they were both raised in the Chilcotin, they never

met growing up which may be understandable since Jack is nine years older than Marge.

They met at a dance held at one of the local pubs.

They have been together for 33 years and have one daughter, Shawna Swanky.

Marriage for Jack and Marge came after they had been together for 15 years.

“He was a bit head shy,” Marge says.

After graduation

Marge started work at TELUS as a telephone operator and had several jobs in her 37 years with the company, wrapping up her career as the installation and repairs clerk.

Jack was a heavy duty mechanic, truck driver, and heavy equipment operator, who worked on many projects over the years building logging roads through the coast mountains and working for various logging contractors and excavating companies.

For a number of years he worked for P&T which built most of the major logging roads west of Williams Lake with their company Wells Fargo.

“The Pinettes and Therriens were awfully good to work for,” Jack says.

Both Jack and Marge are avid outdoors-people. They both enjoy fishing and hunting to keep their fridges and freezers filled with wild birds and game.

Every fall Jack goes hunting with Moe Monita in the Cranbrook area.

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One year to Marge’s surprise Jack bagged a sixpoint elk the first day out.

As members of the Williams Lake Sportsmen’s Association, they also enjoy target and trap shooting and attending the annual shoots held in their home communities of Tatla Lake and Riske Creek.

They also enjoy gardening and picking wild blueberries, huckleberries, cranberries, choke cherries and tiny wild strawberries.

Sapeye and Bluff Lake are two of their favourite fly-fishing lakes which Jack says are deep and cold and produce very good Dolly Varden and Rainbow Trout.

Marge cans their fish and garden produce and makes jams, while Jack enjoys smoking the fish they catch, which he says their daughter particularly enjoys.

Jack also spends some time cutting firewood for their daughter, Shawna.

Both say they are honoured and humbled to be named the 2015 Stampede Volunteers of the Year.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 19

Yellow Umbrella /Thyme for Tea owner Linda Symynuk in front of her popular tea house at 150 Mile House south of Williams Lake.

BUSINESS Photo by: Angie Mindus

OPPORTUNITY AROUND EVERY CORNER

20 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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WILLIAMS LAKE STAMPEDE th Annual

us

Wo

June 26, 27, 28 & 29, 2015

FRIDAY 12:45PM & 6:45 PM • SATURDAY 1:45PM SUNDAY 1:45PM • MONDAY 12:45PM Friday, June 26th

Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfast (7:00 am to 11:30+) Save On Foods Legion Indoor Breakfast (8:30 am to 12:00 pm) Legion

7:00 am

Stampede Concession (all day) Stampede Infield Rotary Club of WL Breakfast Lake City Ford Back Lot (7:00 am to 11:00 am) Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfast Save On Foods (7:00 am to 11:30+) Legion Indoor Breakfast (8:30 am to 12:00 pm) Legion

11:00 am

Bronc Buster Trade Fair/Family Events

Behind Grandstand

12:00 pm

Beer Gardens Open Firefighters Beef-on-a-Bun and Knights of Columbus Concessions Behind Grandstand

12:45 pm - FAMILY DAY - Kids Under 12 Free

Rodeo 1st Performance Stampede Grandstand Drill Team Opening Ceremonies and Grand Entry Professional Rodeo Events Intermission Show - Clown Austin Stewart Wild Cowgirls Race Global FMX Professional Freestyle Motocross

4:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Rotary Club Steakout Lake City Ford Back Lot (4:30 pm to 8:00 pm) Legion Steak Night (5:30 pm to 7:00 pm) Legion

6:45 pm - Wear Red to Support our Armed Forces

Rodeo 2nd Performance Stampede Grandstand Drill Team Opening Ceremonies and Grand Entry Professional Rodeo Events Mountain Race Intermission Show - Clown Austin Stewart

9:00 pm - 1:00 am Live Band Ken McCoy

Canadian Tire Concert Stage in the Let ‘ R Buck Saloon

Saturday, June 27th 7:00 am

Stampede Concession (all day) Rotary Club of WL Breakfast (7:00 am to 11:00 am)

10:00 am

Stampede Parade

Downtown Williams Lake

11:00 am

Bronc Buster Trade Fair/Family Events Behind Grandstand Firefighters Beef-on-a-Bun and Knights of Columbus Concessions Behind Grandstand

12:00 pm

Beer Garden Opens

Stampede Grandstand

1:45 pm

Rodeo 3rd Performance Stampede Grandstand Drill Team Opening Ceremonies and Grand Entry 2015 Cowboy Hall of Fame Introduction of Lifetime Members • Parade Marshalls Professional Rodeo Events Mountain Race Intermission Show - Clown Austin Stewart Global FMX Professional Freestyle Motocross Wild Cowgirls Race Ranch Challenge (Cattle Sorting, Trailer Relay Race)

5:00 pm

Canadian Tire Concert Stage in the Let ‘ R Buck Saloon

Live Bands - Clancy Wright & the Silverados Rotary Club of WL Steakout Lake City Ford Back Lot Legion Steak Night (5:30 pm to 7:00 pm) Legion

8:00 pm - 1:00 am Live Bands - Ken McCoy and Savage West

Canadian Tire Concert Stage in the Let ‘ R Buck Saloon

1:45 pm - Tough Enough to Wear Pink

Rodeo 4th Performance Stampede Grandstand Drill Team Opening Ceremonies and Grand Entry Professional Rodeo Events Mountain Race Introduction of Sponsors Intermission Show - Clown Austin Stewart Wild Cowgirls Race Ranch Saddle Bronc Riding Global FMX Professional Freestyle Motocross Ranch Challenge (Cattle Branding, Trailer Loading)

5:00 pm

Canadian Tire Concert Stage Live Bands - Clancy Wright in the Let ‘ R Buck Saloon & the Silverados Rotary Club of WL Steakout Lake City Ford Back Lot Legion Beef Dip (4:00 pm to ??)

Legion

8:00 pm - 1:00 am Live Bands - Ken McCoy and Savage West

7:00 am

Stampede Concession (all day) Stampede Infield Rotary Club of WL Breakfast Lake City Ford Back Lot (7:00 am to 11:00 am), Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfast Save On Foods (7:00 am to 11:30+) Legion Indoor Breakfast (8:30 am to 12:00 pm) Legion

Stampede Infield

9:00 am

Lake City Ford Back Lot

9:30 am

Animal Athlete Tour Cowboy Church

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Beer Garden Opens

Stampede Grandstand

GRASSLAND

Monday, June 29th

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FAMILY DAY - Kids Under 12 Free 7:00 am

Stampede Concession (all day) Stampede Infield Rotary Club of WL Breakfast Lake City Ford Back Lot (7:00 am to 11:00 am) Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfast Save On Foods (7:00 am to 11:30+) Legion Indoor Breakfast (8:30 am to 12:00 pm) Legion

9:00 am

Sunday, June 28th

Canadian Tire Concert Stage in the Let ‘ R Buck Saloon

Animal Athlete Tour

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Stampede Grandstand

12:45 pm

Rodeo 5th Performance Stampede Grandstand Global FMX Professional Freestyle Motocross Drill Team Opening Ceremonies and Grand Entry Professional Rodeo Events Mountain Race Intermission Show - Clown Austin Stewart Introduction of Stampede Directors Wild Cowgirls Race (Final Buckle Race)

5:00 pm

Volunteer Appreciation BBQ

by Invitation Only

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 21

BUSINESS

Arty the Art Walker: promoting Williams Lake LeRae Haynes Casual Country 2015 Willie Dye may be well-known in Williams Lake today as the enthusiastic and creative organizer and promoter of the annual Art Walk Show and Sale, but his success at organizing and promoting events goes back for many years.

Serving first as president of his high school curling club and then president of the University of Victoria curling club, he went on to become president of the men’s curling club in Williams Lake, where he organized successful bonspiels, with as many as 64 teams participating.

He also organized hockey tournaments when his kids played, and during his longtime leadership with youth soccer, he or-

ganized tournaments, some including teams from across Canada.

He said that it was an easy segue from promoting and organizing sporting events, to taking over Art Walk.

“I had my first introduction to Art Walk when someone approached me at Borland Creek Brewing and asked if I’d like to have an artist in my store, and I said, ‘Sure.’

“It was quite successful from a business point of view. I had a lot of people in my store I’d never seen before, and gained new long-term customers.

And when it was over I was kind of bored, and decided I wanted to get involved and try to make it bigger and better.”

See ART Page 22

Gaeil Farrar photo

Ever the Art Walk promoter Willie Dye (left) and John Dell came up with a unique scenario introducing the city’s chainsaw carved bears to each other for a video. In the surprise ending the two bears produce a baby.

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22 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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LeRae Haynes photo

Arty the Art Walker Willie Dye rarely leaves his home without being in his artist’s costume. He has become somewhat of an unofficial mascot for the city promoting the arts and the annual Art Walk in August wherever he goes, be it to Performances in the Park or other community events such as the Williams Lake Business Excellence Awards this spring.

Art Walk a three-sided benefit to community Continued From Page 21 The Business Improvement Association took over the event in 2010, according to Dye, who said that one of the first changes he wanted to make was with the Art Walk booklet.

“There used to be about 300 glossy little booklets printed up and sold to people, and once when I was visiting Lorne Doerkson at the Tribune, we started talking about having the Trib print a newsprint booklet to send out free with the paper,” he explained.

“We came up with the number 25,000, and they went to Bella Coola, 100 Mile House, Horsefly, Likely and some to Quesnel.”

Besides turning the event into a sale as well as a show, another idea he has had is to make Art Walk more of a festival.

“We’re going to sponsor one night of Performances in the Park this year,” he continued. “We started promoting people to come out and busk on the streets during Art Walk, and this year

we’ve taken it farther.”

He explained that he applied successfully for a grant from the City of Williams Lake and the Cariboo Regional District through the Central Cariboo Arts Council.

“Along with the grant and a small price increase for the Art Walk artist and merchants, I can help seed the performers,” he said. “Plus they can put out their hats while they play.”

Another change Dye has brought to Art Walk in the past three years is having a video made of each venue posted to YouTube. He also said that this year he’s attempting to organize a bus tour from Quesnel.

Art Walk opens with a kick-off tour of about 20 venues. “Mary Forbes does the tour for us; we provide as much information about the merchants and artists as we can. The Mayor of Williams Lake and our MLA always come on the opening walk and love it,” he continued.

“This year there will be a draw in July for a set of three mounted Art Walk booklet covers – an

Image submitted

Last year several community members were asked to paint their own portraits as Art Walk auction donations. opening weekend prize.”

Last year’s Art Walk works included oil and

water paintings, ceramic hats, photography, pottery, weaving, carving,

basket making, jewellery, murals and fabric art.

Dye explained that when he participated in his first Art Walk as a merchant there were 28 businesses signed up, and last year welcomed 52 merchants and more than 60 artists. He added that it’s very positive to have art immersed in the community.

“It’s a three-sided benefit: the merchants, the artists and the walkers,” he said.

“We got good feedback from merchants: those who like it, love it.

They say to me ‘I’ll see you next year.’

“Artists give us good feedback, too. Now that it’s a sale as well as a show, I hear that many of them are selling up to $10,000 to $12,000 a year. And it’s a good way for artists to show their work for the first time.”

“We hear from the walkers that it’s easy, fun and accessible and that it makes them proud of Williams Lake. They remark on how many artists we have here, and often say, ‘I didn’t know that store was here.’”

The Art Walk booklet includes a passport form that walkers can

get stamped at each visit, qualifying them to win prizes, including a grand prize of a custom piece of jewellery created by Geoff Bourdon at Woodlands Jewellery.

Momentum builds for Art Walk 2015, he said, as he talks to people on his walks through town and contacts them on the phone — pulling things together. Arty can be seen on the streets of Williams Lake and at community events such as the Stampede Parade, Billy Barker Days, Performances in the Park and various car shows.

Winner of this year’s Community Booster award, he said he couldn’t have done any of this without the help of his wife, Audrey.

Art Walk 2015 runs from August 7 to September 12. For more information about the event, including how to get involved as an artist, a merchant, a busker or a walker, phone or text Arty at 250-398-8826 or email him at williedye@ shaw.ca You can also find him on Facebook: Willie Dye (Arty the Artwalker).

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 23

BUSINESS

Crazy Horse Energy Drink: developed and owned by Alexis Creek First Nation Sage Birchwater Casual Country 2015 Tall red cans in gas bars and retail outlets across the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast and throughout the B.C. Interior, promise you a refreshing, energetic pickme-up on a hot day.

Crazy Horse energy drink, emblazoned with the words “Go Wild! Go West!” and the image of a horse with a backdrop of mountains, resonates strongly with the Chilcotin.

The energy drink was developed and is owned, marketed and distributed by Tsideldel Development Corporation of Chilanko Forks, B.C. — a company owned by Tsideldel (Alexis Creek) First Nation.

They have had success selling their product locally. Now they want to expend their market into the broader spectrum.

Crazy Horse energy drink was the brainchild and inspiration of Becky Bravi, a Biologist and Forest Ecologist in Williams Lake. One area she specializes in is innovative forest practices including the development of non-timber forest products. The idea of the energy drink was inspired by her research on non-timber products found in the forests of the Cariboo Chilcotin that could be developed into small to medium sized business ventures.

Bravi came up with a couple of options and proposed the idea of an energy drink to Tsideldel First Nation. The community was interested, and took the idea to their elders to find out what berries and ingredients they felt could be derived from their backyard for agro-forestry.

They identified rosehips and saskatoon berries.

“In the Chilcotin rosehips are ubiquitous to the region,” Bravi says. “Wild prickly rose is something all of

Sage Birchwater photos

Biologist Becky Bravi and Tsideldel member John Charleyboy — the creators of the Crazy Horse Energy Drink — with Dale and Brenda Taylor of Taylor Made Cakes, one of the retail outlets that sells the drink. our community forests could develop as an industry. It’s easy to grow, it’s super sustainable, it’s an understory crop, and is one of the first species to come up in clearcuts.”

Bravi figured rosehips were an ideal product that people could harvest on a sustainable level. They just needed an economic incentive.

“Build it and they will come,” she says. “Members of the Tsilhqot’in community could become entrepreneurial suppliers of the products needed for the drink.”

She contacted the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and got the initial financial backing to develop the Crazy Horse energy drink with Tsideldel member John Charleyboy.

Other funding came later from the Cariboo Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition (CCBAC) and Northern Development Initiative Trust (NDIT).

Charleyboy is now the point person in charge of distributing and marketing the en-

Tsideldel Chief Percy Guichon holds a Crazy Horse drink and sports a T-shirt with Crazy Horse logo. ergy drink.

“We developed a recipe through the Guelph Food Technology Centre,” Charleyboy says.

“We came up with a formula that includes rosehips and saskatoon berry flavouring. Other ingredients include ginseng extract, citric acid, and Vitamins B2, B5,

B6 and B12.”

Charleyboy says what sets Crazy Horse Energy Drink apart from its competitors is its lower caffeine content and natural ingredients.

“There’s a lot of Vitamin C and we have the cane sugar instead of regular glucose fruc-

tose.”

He says a lot of nonenergy drinkers will try it and not feel the jitters they would normally get from drinking other highly caffeinated beverages.

“It’s definitely not a health drink. The market group is 18- to 35-year-olds, and is not encouraged for anyone under 16.”

At the same time he says kids are still buying it.

“It’s not discouraged in a lot of stores. Moderation is the key. You don’t drink it like pop or anything.”

To put it in perspective, Crazy Horse beverage has 103 Mg of caffeine, compared to 38 Mg in a can of Pepsi.

A large Starbucks coffee has 400 Mg per serving.

“That’s the equivalent of four Crazy Horse energy drinks.”

The sugar content is about the same, with a can of Crazy Horse containing 39 grams compared to 41 grams in a can of Pepsi.

To get started they purchased the rosehip

concentrate and natural saskatoon berry flavour base where they could find it.

“There are not a lot of producers of saskatoon extract in western Canada. The price went up, so we have to keep an eye on that. People are starting to realize it’s a super-berry. I think that’s where our kick really comes from.”

With Crazy Horse energy drink, the long term goal is to get as many ingredients as possible from the Chilcotin forests, either by cultivating it or harvesting what grows naturally.

Charleyboy says the inspiration for the beverage’s brand name comes from the wild horses the Chilcotin is famous for.

“With the crazy horse idea, we were looking for an image of the wild west, and wild grown products. That’s the concept behind the energy drink and its name.”

He says the theme resonates well in the rodeo and pow wow circles, and with anyone

interested in wild products.

“In the B.C. Interior the Crazy Horse drink already has quite a following but we want to expand the market base.”

Charleyboy explains the corporate structure behind the Crazy Horse product line.

“We have a corporation called Tsideldel Development Corporation.

They kind of own the recipe and the drink and manage it with a board of directors. We’re in the midst of getting Becky Bravi back on board, and we’re going to be pushing for marketing to the bigger venues.”

He says their next move is to get Crazy Horse into SaveOn, Costco and London Drugs.

“Right now we are kind of growing our market locally, and getting quite a following here.”

Charleyboy says they still have quite a bit of product to move, despite starting with a small manufacturer in Portland Oregon. He says there weren’t a lot of options to produce the product in Western Canada.

“In order to do a small run we had to go south of the border. Doing it in Western Canada would have required us to do a huge run which we weren’t prepared to do. Hopefully our next one will be in Canada.”

With the exchange rate, a Canadian manufacturer might be more attractive.

“We need to move it by the pallet load, not the case load,” Charleyboy says. “Then we can move into a bigger market.”

Meanwhile he says the community takes pride in Crazy Horse energy drink.

“We have full management of the beverage. It’s ours. The can’s attractive, the idea is cool.”

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24 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

BUSINESS

Linda and Norm Symynuk make Thyme for Tea LeRae Haynes Casual Country 2015 Yellow Umbrella/ Thyme for Tea in 150 Mile House has become a destination and a landmark in the 12 years since Linda and Norm Symynuk opened its doors. It started with a vision and grew from there when the couple found a property they both immediately liked in 150 Mile House— Norm for the location and the truck shop potential and Linda for the location and the tea house potential.

When the price was right, they purchased the property. The Yellow Umbrella itself is an important symbol for Linda, going back to the days when she poured concrete on Mackenzie Avenue.

“I always said that if I had the opportunity to start my tea house it would be ‘under the

yellow umbrella’ and everything would grow from there,” she explained. She said that they wanted to make Thyme for Tea a destination for guests, and knew it would take time. “We took some risks and worked very hard and learned a lot.

It was a real adjustment to experience the slow and steady pace of building a clientele and building a business from the ground up.

“When I first opened I wanted to be everything to everybody, and had ideas exploding. I realized that I needed to remember what I really wanted to do: the gift shop. It was always very dear to my heart, but wasn’t enough. I added the tea house, researching what that really means, and it works for us,” she explained.

See 150 Page 25

Angie Mindus photo

Linda and Norm Symynuk work together to make their business, Thyme for Tea/The Yellow Umbrella, the success that it is.

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150 Mile House business fosters community Continued From Page 24 “In the beginning I brought in things I love and always had — mainly table linens. I just about lost my shirt that first season: no one loved table linens as much as me.” She added that now when it comes to choosing items for the shop, it’s more than something being beautiful. “I think of items I know my customers will like. I also try hard not to bring in anything that other people here carry, and always make sure that my suppliers know how important that is to me,” she continued.

Thyme for Tea has had a positive impact on the community in creative fundraising efforts, such as Bags of Hope and the two-day Pumpkin Patch they run every other year.

Linda and Norm purchase 1,000 pumpkins and place them throughout the field behind the tea house. “Norm and I wanted to give something back to the community – we’ve been very well supported. Norm has a lot of antique tractors and I love pumpkins,” she said.

“We don’t grow fields and fields of pumpkins here like they do in the lower mainland where I grew up. So we buy pumpkins and lay them out like they’re growing.

“We thought we’d try it for one year, and it grew and grew. People can buy the pumpkins by donation, with proceeds going to Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy (CCPL) for the Red Book Shelf program. We chose them because they have such a wonderfully diverse board, do a lot of work with children and serve the entire community,” she added.

She explained that at the event CCPL reads stories to kids, there are teahouse treats and creative photo stations set up. “The kids all pile on a wagon or a tractor-pulled trailer and go out and choose their pumpkin.

No one is left out — it’s by donation,” she said.

“Everyone comes: grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles. It’s truly an amazing

Angie Mindus photos

Popular with birthday girls aged eight to eighty, the tea house knows how to make a celebration memorable. Pictured above having a birthday party are: (from left) Karyn Straza, Lynda Renney, Kemsley Bomba, Julie Bomba, Linda Symynuk (serving), birthday girl Barbara Peel, Lori-Anne Pinchbeck, Catherine Getz, Caren Pritchard and Linda Bond. The group got together to celebrate Barbara’s 80th birthday.

Homemade strawberry and lemon scones served with fresh preserves and Devonshire cream — with special attention paid to presentation — is just one of the selections on the menu at the tea house. thing.”

There’s still the conception with some locals that 150 Mile House is in the boonies, according to Linda, who added that they get strong support from tourism — travelers from the north and the south. “They stop here once and it becomes a stop along their way they always look forward to.

Word of mouth is wonderful and we get great feedback,” she noted.

“I love it when out-oftown visitors come in for the first time and say they heard about us from friends or family who said they’d absolutely love it. That makes me and my staff feel so good.”

She said they also get

a lot of local attendance at their Christmas open house, where the shop is closed and decorated for two days for a blitz Christmas pajama party, and guests get discounts on everything and have great treats. “There are people who get totally into it, and come in fuzzy pajamas and slippers carrying a ‘stuffy,’” she said.

Competition in business is very important to Linda, who said it’s what keeps people shopping here. “If there is only one place to shop, people will always go out of town. We all need to make sure we carry all different things. I also think that local businesses need to support each other more,” she

Tea house owner Linda Symynuk credits her talented and dedicated staff for the quality service that the 12-year-old business is known for. Pictured above at the Thyme for Tea tea bar are (from left) Melissa Smylie, Angela Tweedie, Aimee Smith, Rebecca Fraser and Linda.

Staff missing from the picture are; Janet Laking, Tiara Ross and Lorraine Warman. explained. “People need a reason to shop local — let’s give it to them. You can’t demand people’s loyalty. You have to earn it. We all like to go out of town to shop once in a while, but others like to come here to shop once in a while. Let’s keep them coming.

“I don’t have all the answers but I think I have a good concept of what my customers want and what they appreci-

ate. It doesn’t take much: ‘Thanks for stopping by today,’ and ‘Have a safe trip.’ You have to be interested in who you’re serving,” she added.

“At Yellow Umbrella we started with the concept that everything we have you can get somewhere else. I treat people like they’re guests in my own home and that’s what brings them back.”

She said there are changes coming up for

her soon, and she is looking forward to what comes next. “I’ve started doing things I’ve always wanted to do – joined ‘Just for Fun’ choir with Angela Sommer and started taking piano lessons.

“As my career here is winding down, I give so much credit to our success to our long-time staff and my husband Norm, the mostly-silent partner.

Sometimes he just shakes

his head at my wild ideas, but he is always so good in making exactly what I need.

“I never went into this thinking I was going to be a millionaire. I made my own way and did my own thing,” she said. “It’s been a great ride.”

For more information about Yellow Umbrella/ Thyme for Tea, including delicacies available on their menu, phone 250296-4235.

26 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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Gala evening celebrates local business Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 March is a bit of a hairy time for lakecity businesses as they scurry here and there to pick out those outfits and plan for the gala night Business Excellence Awards hosted by the Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce.

There are always lots of awards for this annual party and lots of glitz and glamour to go with the sumptuous dinner provided by CJ’s, a musical comedian and both live and silent auctions.

This year the theme Licence to Thrill was a tribute to the movie industry and those rakish James Bond films.

There were dozens of businesses nominated in the various categories but only one winner in each one Brenda Taylor, of Taylor Made Cakes and Sweets, won the Food Services Award sponsored by RBC Royal Bank.

Dale Taylor, Brenda’s husband and master of ceremonies for the evening, won the Hugo Stahl Memorial Award presented by Mayor Walt Cobb.

CanWest Propane won the Customer Service Award sponsored by the Williams Lake and District Credit Union.

Arty the Art Walker Willie Dye won the Community Booster Award sponsored by TD Bank Financial Group.

Delainey’s Centre won the Greatest Improvement Award sponsored by PMT Chartered Accountants.

Tolko Industries won the Manufacturer of the Year Award sponsored by the Business Development Bank of Canada.

The South Cariboo Garlic Festival won the Hospitality/Tourism Award sponsored by the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association.

See AWARDS Page 27

Gaeil Farrar photo

Business owners Craig and Christa Smith enjoy a visit with business owners Katalin Szauer and Carl Johnson, and auctioner Bob Miles and Nikki Fuller during the annual Business Excellence Awards gala.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 27

Awards night and evening to mingle and shine Continued From Page 26 There was a bit of a scramble at the end of the evening as Craig Smith, who was taking photographs of all the winners, suddenly found that he and his wife Christa had won the Business of the Year Award sponsored

by Community Futures Cariboo Chilcotin.

Craig and Christa own and run numerous businesses together and were thrilled and surprised with the win.

In addition to operating About Face Photography, Frame

by Frame, Tell-Tale

Signs and Printing, The Stew arts magazine, Suit Up Men’s Wear, Safety Works, and a limo service the couple started the on-line Academy of Learning which graduated its first group of students this spring.

The couple also volunteers with various community organizations such as the Studio Theatre and Shriners.

Needless to say they don’t get much sleep, but they say sleeping in shifts helps since he is a night owl and she is a morning bird who likes to work in the daylight, so they Gaeil Farrar photos have all bases cov- Cariboo MLA assistant Chantel Elloway (left), Cariboo MLA Donna Barnett, Mayor Walt Cobb, his wife Lynnette, ered.

Don Urquhart and his wife Anita Crosina enjoy the gathering.

Tracey Barr is cut some Cariboo beef at the banquet by the CJ’s Southwestern Grill chef.

Kelly Henderson and Bryan Reid Sr. check out some of the auction items that were generously donated by local businesses.

Taylor Williams holds up the auction items at the Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards night.

Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre delegates Ron Malmas (board), Nancy Gale (executive director), Jan Hermiston (board), Deanne Phillips (board) and Vanessa Riplinger (operations manager) had formal pictures taken for the evening.

28 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

BUSINESS

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Gerry Bracewell publishes her memoir Sage Birchwater Casual Country 2015 Every picture tells a story. Sitting next to Gerry Bracewell as she thumbs through the pages of her newlyreleased memoir, Gerry Get Your Gun, can be daunting. Each photograph you come to is like a QR code that triggers Gerry into a cascade of storytelling.

For instance the cover photo for the book was taken when Gerry was on an elk hunt in northern B.C. She won the hunt at a BC guideoutfitters fund-raiser.

In typical Gerry Bracewell fashion, she explains how she mentored the two rookie guides assigned to help her. They wanted to hang around the mineral lick and wait for a hapless animal to come by.

Gerry had other plans.

She wanted to hike up the mountainside after a mature bull elk she spotted.

“This is the way we hunt in my country,” she told the young men.

“You stalk the animal you are hunting. Waiting for them to come to the lick isn’t hunting.

So let’s hike up that hill and meet him head on.”

Reluctantly they complied and Gerry’s aptitude paid off. That’s where she got the trophy elk mounted on the wall of her family’s Alpine Wilderness Lodge in Tatlayoko Valley.

The two Spanish hunters who were there at the same time and had travelled thousands of kilometres for a trophy, only got immature animals.

“The Spanish hunters each had an elk,” Gerry explains. “They had little runty horns. I was embarrassed to have my head with theirs. They’d come all the way from Spain, and I felt terrible about that.”

I’ve known Gerry Bracewell for the better part of forty years. We were neighbours when I bought my trapline in the West Branch Valley of the Homathko River

Sage Birchwater photos

Gerry Bracewell with her new book, Gerry, Get Your Gun: My Life as a Hunting Guide and Other Adventures. In the book, Gerry talks about her life in the Chilcotin, including that of B.C.’s first woman to become a licensed hunting guide. in 1975. We lived a day’s travel apart in the early days, with a whole mountain range separating my home and Gerry’s home, but we were neighbours all the same.

That’s a concept well understood by folks living in rural Canada.

We would frequent the same social gatherings, potlucks, the annual ski race, dining at Bruno’s Cafe in the Graham Inn, the Tatla Lake Gymkhana, weddings, funerals and occasional dances.

Our community occupied a broad footprint from Tatla Lake to West Branch, Kleena Kleene, Tatlayoko Valley, Eagle Lake and Upper Chilko River. Our social life was a potpourri of everyone who lived there coming together at opportune times. Elders, bachelors, families with newborns, families with teens, wealthy ranchers,

dirt-poor bush hippies, First Nations, loggers, trappers, stump farmers, lodge owners, professionals of all stripes, retirees. It seemed everyone mixed seamlessly. Age was no barrier, race was not an issue, social status was insignificant.

Gerry and I were friends and neighbours, but we couldn’t have been further apart politically. She was right wing conservative and I was a bleeding heart lefty; she was building a great lodge, and I was raising goats on my trapline and having babies born at home. But these differences were minor.

We had bigger things in common. Our abiding love for the Chilcotin was perhaps our biggest bond.

See LIFE Page 29

While at her book launch at the Williams Lake Library in May, Gerry Bracewell (centre) autographs a book for Connie Hare while Gloria Atamanenko looks on.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 29

BUSINESS

Life in the Chilcotin rich with friends and family Continued From Page 28 Gerry and I also shared a passion for writing. We were both rural correspondents for the Williams Lake Tribune and saw the value of documenting the times we were living in. We travelled in different circles so there really wasn’t a conflict, and there was plenty to write about. In fact we often fed each other story ideas.

Gerry has always courted a strong sense of destiny. When she was a 31-year-old single mom, she felt compelled to drive her pickup truck to the end of the dirt road at Anahim Lake and rent two horses to take her and her two young sons to the construction site on the Bella Coola Hill.

It was September, 1953, and two bulldozers were coming from opposite directions pushing a road through the Coast Mountains. They were on the verge of meeting, and Gerry wanted to be there to record this historic moment for all posterity with her fixed-lens windup 8 mm movie camera.

When she got there with her two sons, Marty and Barry, the fateful meeting of the Cats was still two weeks away, but Gerry was undaunted.

She took some spectacular footage of the construction activity in the mountain landscape and left her camera with one of the Cat drivers, Alf Bracewell, to capture the moment when it occurred.

Gerry and Alf barely knew each other at the time, but four months later they were man and wife.

Two husbands, four children, nine grandchildren, and two great grandchildren later, Gerry has made her mark.

She chuckles that those who live the longest have the final say in defining history.

For instance there are a couple of mountains Gerry has named in her home country of Tatlayoko Valley where she has spent the last 75

Expecting mother Gerry Bracewell had to travel 23 miles to Tatla Lake by horses and sleigh during the middle of winter to deliver her first son Marty.

Photos submitted

A young Gerry Bracewell takes a self portrait 75 years ago using a string attached to her camera shutter. years. Marmot Mountain stands by itself, prominently occupying the lowlands between Cheshi Pass and Stikelan Valley. It lies between the Potato Mountain Range and the snowcapped Coast Mountain Ranges further south.

The rancher who named this peak, Huckleberry Mountain, is long gone, so Gerry put her own brand on the marmot-inhabited hill she built a trail to. She may have trouble convincing mapmakers to change its name, but the appellation of the other mountain she named after her late husband, Alf Bracewell, will have more permanence.

Gerry registered the Alf Bracewell Range after Alf’s passing 10 years ago in recognition of his achievements pioneering the Bella Coola Road through the Coast Mountains.

Gerry Bracewell was born Ethel Lovell, in the northern Alberta farm country where she grew up. When she came to Vancouver as a 16-year-

old in 1938, she got a job as a nanny and housekeeper. One day while pushing the tram carrying the child she was caring for along the street, she met another young woman, Elsa, also working as a nanny and pushing a baby carriage down the street.

They immediately hit it off and met regularly in the course of their childcare outings. One day they decided to attend a dance together in Vancouver’s Moose Hall. While riding in the streetcar, they hatched out a scheme not to give out their real names at the dance. Ethel said she would be Gerry, and Elsa decided on the name Jacquie. The names stuck and both women carved new identities for themselves that day.

Gerry spent the following summer working on a ranch at Big Creek.

When she returned to Vancouver to resume her job as a nanny, she told Jacquie about all the fun she had in ranching country. When Gerry returned to the Chilcotin

to work for KB Moore in Tatlayoko, Jacquie followed her lead and checked out Big Creek for herself.

Gerry eventually married KB Moore’s son, Bev, and Jacquie married local cowboy and rancher, Duane Witte.

If the truth be known, Gerry started writing her book years ago when she first picked up a pen to record local history for the newspaper. Snippets of her book were being written when she had the time.

“I’m overwhelmed that the book is finally out,” she confesses.

“That’s the best word I can think of at the moment. I didn’t think it would happen because I was always such a busy person. I’d do it piecemeal. I’d write what I could then I’d have to go out and milk the cow or feed the chickens, then I’d come back and write a bit more.

When Gerry took on the task of compiling her life story, she had plenty of material to draw on. Too much perhaps.

Gerry Bracewell poses with her two young sons, Marty, then 2, and Barry, who was less than nine months old when this photograph was taken. Bracewell had both her boys by the time she was 23.

Enough for four books.

She turns 93 in July and has had more than her share of hard core adventures to draw on for her stories. Encounters with grizzly bears in the high alpine while leading a half-broke packhorse on a rugged trail, or how about the January sleigh ride through a foot

and a half of snow from Tatlayoko Valley to Tatla Lake to meet the doctor who was going to help her with the breech birth of her first child.

These are stories found in Gerry Get Your Gun, published by Caitlin Press of Halfmoon Bay. And if you can’t get

enough, look up Gerry at Alpine Wilderness Lodge in Tatlayoko Valley, and point to a photograph in her book. It doesn’t matter which one. Gerry’s QR (quick response) will kick in and she will take over from there.

For more details check out www.bracewell.com.

30 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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BUSINESS

Signal Point: new venue for artists Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 The Signal Point Gaming Centre started branching out this spring in support of local artists.

Each month the centre is featuring a different show in its events room.

The first show early this spring featured authors, several painters and photographers, a home woodcrafter, a recycled jewellery designer.

And the opening night came with some great appetizers that one might find in the banquet room.

Some of the artists represented in that first show were Donna Sharp, Heidi Redl, Gwennyth Nelson, Pat Teti, Bonnie Crane, Kevin Krueger, Elissa Heser, Wanda Sheppard, Laureen Carruthers, Dolly Madsen, and authors Lloyd Antipowich and illustrator Tom Bunn.

Story teller Antipowich and cartoonist Bunn

Made In

BC

Gaeil Farrar photos

Lloyd Antipowich and Tom Bunn with their children’s book Grasshopper McLain and Gotleep. created a delightful Bunn is a self-styled “I beat her back up children’s book called cowboy who has a talent here but didn’t end up Grasshopper McLain for cartooning and creat- marrying her.” and Gotleep. The beau- ing unique sculpture out Gwenneth Nelson has tifully illustrated book is of recycled garbage. a unique business of reabout a frog and a grassBorn and raised in purposing old jewellery. hopper, who are old North Dakota, Bunn She is always scouttime friends in a race. says he met a girl from ing out jewellery in secAntipowich had a the Cariboo while in ond hand stores wherranch at Horsefly for his rodeo days who en- ever she travels. In admany years and has ticed him to the Cari- dition to locally she has written several other boo where he did some scouted out thrift stores books A Hunting we did ranching and packing in places such as New go; From Moccasins to before settling in to driv- York and Peru.

Cowboy Boots and A ing school bus at Horse“I like eclectic things, Chip of the Old Block. fly for 20 years. different things,” Nel-

FACTORY DIRECT

son says. “I clean everything within an inch of its life.”

Then she makes new jewellery out of old.

Perhaps she will make clip-on earrings into pierced earrings by adding posts. Or she might put various pieces together to create a broach or an interesting new necklace or bracelet.

She used new shepherdhooks when repurposing clip-on on earrings into pierced earrings. “I find stuff, take it apart and start again,” says Nelson Nelson also makes bead kits for children that come with instructions on how to make a pendant necklace.

And she grows, dries, packages and sells organic herbs such as sage and dill which can be found at the Station House Gallery.

When you buy her herbs she also provides an information sheet on how they can be used.

Nelson has learned about the care of precious stones and the like along the way. For

instance she advises people not to clean their opals or pearls in anything other than soap and water.

“It’s fun and it’s addicting,” Nelson says of her hobby.

Artists wishing to participate can register by emailing event organizer Betty Turatus at spg.marketing@shaw. ca.

Host Betty Turatus serves appetizers at an opening.

Gwenneth Nelson with her repurposed jewellery.

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Out WEST

ROPIN’, RIDIN’ AND LOVIN’ IT

Kagen Russell ropes a calf while helping out with branding this spring.

CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 31

Photo by: Angie Mindus

PEOPLE AND PLACES OF THE CHILCOTIN

32 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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OUT WEST

Naturalists lead great adventures around the region Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 If you are looking for some economically friendly guided outdoor adventure in the Cariboo-Chilcotin you don’t have to look much further than the Williams Lake Field Naturalists Society.

In Williams Lake the naturalists are well known for taking care of all the trails at Scout Island Nature Centre, providing educational programs for school children and various seminars and outdoor activities for adults and families.

But what many people may not realize is that their members are outdoor enthusiasts who also enjoy taking people on nature hikes around the region to view birds, wildlife and nature in general.

A few years ago I hiked up Eureka Peak overlooking Quesnel Lake with the naturalists and last year took an interesting birding trip to the Alkali Lake

bird sanctuary. From there a friend and I carried on to Churn Creek Sheep Range near the famous Gang Ranch.

People who join the Williams Lake Field Naturalist Society participate in the guided outings for free. Those who are not members can pay a fee of just $5 per trip and sign the insurance waiver. Membership in the society for a whole year is just $30 for a family or $25 for an individual.

Most of the trips take place on a weekend and are led by various experts in natural history. Participants can take their own vehicles or carpool with naturalists who may have more suitable vehicles for back-country adventure.

Participants are responsible for bringing along their own food, appropriate clothing and footwear for hiking and weather changes.

If there is an overnight trip participants bring along their own tents and camping gear

Photo submitted

The Williams Lake Field Naturalists enjoy the spectacular view from Potato Mountain in the Chilcotin. Drop by the nature centre or check out their website at www.williamslakefieldnaturalists.ca. or camper vehicle.

Or there may be a hotel/motel or lodge in the area that takes overnight guests.

Numerous outings were taken this spring to beautiful areas in the region and more are planned for this summer and fall.

Saturday July 4 bee

expert Gord Hutchings will give a talk at the nature house at Scout Island on native bees.

Then on Sunday, July 5 Hutchings will lead a group to Farwell Canyon with stops along the way to look for native bees, other insects, birds and plants.

Sunday, July 12 the

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naturalists will head out west to view the beautiful Hanceville Canyon and try to spot Golden Eagles nesting and raising their young on the cliff.

Wednesday, July 15 in the evening there will be a trip to the UBC Alex Fraser Research Forest to learn about the

impact of fire on a forest and spot birds.

An overnight hiking and backpacking trip to the Potato Range in the Chilcotin is planned for July 9 and 10 with the possibility of a third day.

Sunday, August 23 the group is planning a trip to the Churn Creek Protected Area.

Sunday, September 27 (date subject to change) the group is planning a trip to the Big Creek Ecological Reserve.

Sunday, October 25 the group is planning a trip to the Junction Sheep Range. This trip is at the peak of the California Big-horned Sheep rut so there is a good possibility of seeing or hearing some animal head-butting.

Some of the spring outings are equally as interesting as these summer and fall trips promise to be.

After 32 years of making a spring trip to visit and count nesting birds at Chilanko Marsh and Tatla Lake areas

Jim Sims reports that bird expert Cathy Koot spotted the group’s first Great Blue Heron flying in the distance.

Other spring adventures included a walk around the Russet Bluff area accompanied by Sugarcane elders Jean William and her sister Amy Sandy. The elders shared the significance of this sacred place as a site for questing and performed a ceremony with offerings, smudge and song.

“Really a wonderful and enlightening experience,” said trip organizer Peter Opie.

Sandy and William also guided the group to the spectacular Farwell Canyon to see the golden balsam-root flowers and many other flowers blooming in springtime.

On other spring outings the naturalists made guided trips to Clyde Mountain and Churn Creek Protected area, paddled on Williams Lake, and walked in the Frost Creek area and in the Williams Lake River Valley.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 33

OUT WEST

Nurse practitioner has heart set in Chilcotin Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 As we walk along the road through Nemiah Valley’s Xeni Gwet’in First Nation village the sky is brilliantly blue and it is extremely peaceful.

There are no houses or cars in sight at this particular spot on the road, the only noise we can hear is coming from the three dogs who run ahead of us.

One of those dogs is Chica, a friendly eightmonth old Great Pyrenees, which belongs to nurse practitioner Patrice Gordon who has invited me to join her for a noon-hour stroll.

Gordon’s the nurse who made headlines before Christmas when she went with Canadian Red Cross to treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

When her large

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Nurse Practitioner Patrice Gordon examines Julianna Lulua at the clinic in Nemiah Valley, one of eight communities Gordon serves in the Chilcotin. puppy emerges from a stream that runs under the road, Gordon

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leaving this six-yearold boy Biankay behind,” Gordon says. “In the dream I decided I couldn’t wear the protective gear we had to wear when we worked with the Ebola patients.

I just wanted to rip it all off so I could hold him close.”

She awoke from the dream crying and learned later that morning Biankay had died in the night.

“I was devastated,” Gordon says shaking her head. “It was hard to not wonder what would have happened if I’d stayed. Would he have lived?”

Later that morning her partner Dr. Rob Coetzee, who has been the West Chilcotin area’s doctor since May 2014, arrived with some photos of a cute little puppy for sale.

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34 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 35

OUT WEST

Patrice Gordon has wealth of experience Continued From Page 33 “We decided I had to have her,” she says as we watch Chica happily play with two other dogs from the village.

Nemiah Valley is a long way from West Africa.

Gordon comes here every second week. It is the most remote of the eight communities in the Chilcotin she serves as a nurse practitioner.

For seven months of the year she works in the Chilcotin and during the other five months she works for Red Cross, or as she’ll tell me later in the day, goes to Thailand to work with an elephant rescue program.

Gordon first started coming to the Chilcotin nine years ago when she filled in as a remote certified nurse at the Alexis Creek outpost.

“I loved the people, the community and the peace,” she says of that initial introduction to the region.

She was smitten by the easy access to beautiful rivers, mountains and forests.

“They are the perfect counterpoint to the days of not knowing what is coming through the door at work, and incredibly rejuvenating.”

Each of the communities has its own flavour, and she looks forward to every community she goes to for different reasons, she adds.

Whether it’s the company of the people she works with or sees as patients, the work is always interesting medically.

“You absolutely never know from the beginning of the day what your life is going to look like. I enjoy that.”

From babies to elders and everything in between, the unknown is a challenge she enjoys, but she knows that’s not for everyone.

“Some people don’t like the unknown, but for me it really works.

Some days I see people with chronic medical conditions, other times there are emergencies.”

In May she and Coe-

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Nurse practitioner Patrice Gordon with her dog Chica in Nemiah Valley. tzee purchased a home on Horn Lake where there are no street lights, no other homes in view, just the treed edge of the water.

“We have four acres and a barn. It’s very private, needs some work, but we are absolutely thrilled.”

Up until becoming the region’s permanent nurse practitioner two years ago, Gordon returned to worked in the Chilcotin whenever there was an opening for a remote certified nurse.

“We kept coming back, my dog Moocho and I,” she smiles.

Then when Interior Health community coordinator Catherine Whitman decided it was crazy Gordon wasn’t working in the region full time, her job became permanent.

“Catherine said you like the community, the community likes you, you’ve been accepted in all the communities,” Gordon recalls.

Watching Gordon interact with her patients and the staff at the Xeni Gwet’in health centre, there’s no doubt Whitman was right.

Some of the elders only speak the Tsilhqot’in language and require a translator

during their appointments, yet Gordon has a deep connection with each one of them.

As she examines an elderly woman’s eye, she shares how impressed she is with the baby carrier the elder recently wove for one of the community’s newest babies.

“We got to see it last time I was here with the baby in it,” she tells the elder who smiles from ear to ear.

As Gordon finishes examining a toddler whose mom is concerned about a rash, he reaches up to grab Gordon’s necklace and hunkers in for a hug.

“You are so sweet,” she says as she reassures his mom the rash isn’t anything serious.

Later when Xeni Gwet’in wellness co-ordinator Catherine Haller translates for one of the patients she says quietly, she “really” likes Gordon.

“I like how she answers all my questions.

She’s interested in our traditional medicines and healing practices,” Haller smiles.

Responding, Gordon says Haller is an amazing translator.

Gordon’s 30-year career as a nurse has been

dynamic.

She’s even been a sailing crew medic, high altitude mountaineering medic and a flight nurse doing medevac work.

Originally from Nakusp, B.C., her nursing has taken her to places such as the Arctic, Northwest Territories, New Zealand, New Hampshire, and Kandahar, Afghanistan.

This July she is scheduled to go to the mountainous village of Dhunche, Nepal where she will be the head nurse with the Red Cross at a makeshift medical treatment centre in an area impacted by the devastating earthquake in April.

“I was supposed to go earlier but I am speaking at a Red Cross fundraiser on June 17 and that’s been in the works for a long time,” she says. “I got an e-mail this morning saying they had their first delivery of a baby post earthquake.”

Gordon’s also part of a focus group looking at how to reorganize the kits they take with them to work in the Red Cross’s emergency response units.

Red Cross gathers the personnel, puts them in an airplane, places them down somewhere

Photo courtesy of Canadian Red Cross Society

Patrice Gordon at the Red Cross Ebola Treatment Centre, Sierra Leone.

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Patrice Gordon, with help from Xeni Gwet’in wellness co-ordinator Catherine Haller translating, talks with Cecile William (centre). near some kind of water source and they are completely self-contained for two weeks, she explains.

“It’s a matter of figuring out exactly what they need because you don’t want to have too much but you don’t want to be missing something important.”

As for the elephant rescue program in Thailand, that’s something she’s been doing for three years.

“I’m part owner of an elephant and a sponsor and very active participant in an elephant rescue foundation,” she

says as she shows me a photograph of her with one of the elephants.

Gordon has three grown sons and one of them is living in New Zealand where he is finishing his schooling to become a vet.

“It’s great because he gives me advice about the elephants. Often they have sores and abscesses that need cleaning.”

A decade ago Gordon started to realize she wanted more responsibility in her career so she embarked on becoming a nurse practitioner.

“I was doing all these sorts of things where I called my owns shots,” she says. “I wanted to know more about medicine and to have things within my scope. Often I knew what had to be done, but couldn’t order it myself.”

She decided she could either return to medical school to become a doctor, which was going to take way too long at that point in her life, or become a nurse practitioner.

Luckily for the Chilcotin and areas in the rest of the world, she chose the latter.

36 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

out west

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Ranching alive and well in Cariboo-Chilcotin Angie Mindus Casual Country 2015 You don’t have to travel far on Highway 20 west to witness that ranching is thriving on the ranchlands of the Cariboo-Chilcotin and amongst the families who call the area home.

“Its a good way of life,” Ed Russell said as he loaded up his horse after a day of branding with friends and family at the Riske Creek Ranching Company in May. “It’s not stressful, there’s something different every day. And it’s a good way to raise kids. It teaches them responsibility and work – they all have horses and animals and pets and they have to look after them.”

Ed was raised on ranching in southern Alberta and has been cowboying ever since.

See RANCHING Page 37

Angie Mndus photo

Ed Russell heads back to the corrals for branding after getting some help to round up a stray calf from young cowboys Kacey Huffman and Kagen Russell in the spring.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 37

out west

Generations carry on ranching traditions Continued From Page 36 Like many cowboys in the area, he was first drawn to work in the Cariboo-Chilcotin by the historic Alkali Lake Ranch.

While there in the early 1990s, Ed met his wife Racquel, who was raised in the country by her parents Evan and Linda-Lou Howarth at Cotton Ranch, a part of Riske Creek Ranching today.

As a young couple the two travelled and worked together as cowboys on many of the big ranches; Alkali Lake Ranch, Douglas Lake Ranch and the Gang Ranch.

“We were everywhere. We moved 13 times before coming back here,” Racquel said. “It just kept drawing us back.”

September marked 10 years for the couple at the River Ranch where they are raising their two children, Kagen, 10, and Denten, 5.

“The house that we live in, my grandparents lived in,” Racquel said.

“Where I ride today, my family has ridden for four generations.”

Not one to sit and watch her husband do all the work, Racquel is herself a very capable rider and works alongside her husband on the ranch and also competes in ranch rodeos.

“We complement each other,” she said.

“I don’t think I would have been cut out as a rancher’s wife a hundred years ago. I’m not domestic. That’s not my dream, not my ambition. I do it, but that doesn’t fulfill me.”

The first week of every season is Racquel’s favourite time on the ranch and a day riding the trails with her camera in her saddlebag and her family close by is about as good as it gets for both her and her husband.

“Branding days are the best,” Ed said of his favourite time of year.

“Everything’s new, it’s spring and it’s green. You’ve been cooped up all winter feeding cows so it’s good to be outside.”

When the couple aren’t working on the ranch together, they are either lending a helping hand or just getting together to celebrate a birthday or special holiday with the neighbouring Huffmans, another family steeped in ranching history.

“We all have so many things in common,” said Jenny Huffman, who was born and raised in Williams Lake.

Although not raised on a ranch herself, Jenny was a member of 4-H and met her ranching husband, Cuyler Huffman, in high school.

Friends and ranchers Racquel Russell, Ricky Seelhof and Jenny Huffman are choosing to raise their young families in the traditional ranching lifestyle.

The Huffmans are making their ranching business a family affair; beginning with Grant Huffman (right), his son Cuyler Huffman (left) and his children Cassidy, Kacey and Blaine.

Together the two are raising their three children Kacey, 8, Cassidy, 6, and Blaine, 4, on the ranch.

“I’m thankful the kids are growing up on a ranch. They basically live at a park.”

Cuyler manages

picturesque Deer Park Ranch, which is a part of Riske Creek Ranching, and works closely with his father Grant

Huffman.

Grant was born in Manitoba, but lived in the Lower Mainland before also finding his way to Alkali Lake Ranch to work as a ranch hand in the early 1960s.

Drawn to education, Grant completed a degree and a masters in agriculture and worked for Agriculture Canada before moving back to the Chilcotin and settling into a lifelong business partnership with the Harvie family, who own the majority of Riske Creek Ranching.

Huffman acknowledges the ranching industry has seen hard times which had many wondering about the years ahead.

“There was a tough period through 2003 to 2013 with BSE,” said Grant.

Currently, however, the industry is prospering, and Grant said he is hopeful for the future of ranching and that familyrun operations can still find a place within it.

“It’s a lifestyle,” he said of what attracted him to ranching for all these years.

“Branding days are fun.”

Also invited to the family functions, ranch rodeos and branding days are the Seelhofs of the Woodjam Ranch.

Nestled near the Cariboo Mountains in Black Creek east of Williams Lake, the Woodjam Ranch is a relatively new home

for Chad and Ricky Seelhof who followed Chad’s parents to the area after the family ranch in Saskatchewan was hit hard first by drought, and then BSE. Chad’s father Louie found and purchased the ranch, but the young couple have since taken it over in recent years with Chad’s parents still living on the ranch to help out and play the role of grandparents to the couple’s three children Riata, 9, Cooper, 7, and Renee, 5.

“It was tough at first but we’ve made our own life here now,” said Ricky, a trained nurse, accomplished rider and ranch rodeo competitor.

The Seelhofs often help out the Huffmans and the Russells with their branding, and in return the families head to Woodjam to help the Seelhofs as well.

Last year, the Seelhofs and Russells also competed in the ranch rodeo at the National Rodeo Finals in Edmonton, and this year all three families have many more plans in the works for birthday parties, rodeos, Christmas dinners and camping.

“Our year is shot once we do all that,” joked Jenny.

For Ed and his family, there is no better life than that of a working cowboy.

“Ranching’s not a rich in money way of living but it is rich in life. You can’t beat it.”

Angie Mindus photos

Springtime in the Cariboo-Chilcotin is a favourite time for many ranchers, and the Huffman, Russell and Seelhof families and their friends are no exception.

Branding allows ranchers a chance to see the fruits of their labour following a long winter of feeding followed by calving season before cattle are turned out on the range for the summer months. It’s also a time to get together and visit and help one another out.

38 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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out west

The Chilcotin Lodge — Riske Creek’s historic treasure Sage Birchwater Casual Country 2015 For 75 years the Chilcotin Lodge has stood sentinel over the broad expanse of grasslands above Riske Creek. It is one of the great lodges of the Chilcotin, built at the end of the Great Depression and just before the eruption of the Second World War. The two-story log edifice was the dream of American businessman, George Christianson, who envisioned a chain of hunting lodges across the Chilcotin.

The Chilcotin Lodge was to be the most genteel and largest of the four or five other lodges that Christianson proposed to build. Guests would get bussed between the various establishments. He bought property at Tatla Lake, Clearwater Lake, Nimpo Lake and Anahim Lake, but the lodge at Riske Creek was the

only one he got around to building. With the start of the Second World War, Christianson was invited to Ottawa to lend his expertise to the war effort, and his dream of constructing a network of lodges faded.

Christianson hired local Tsilhqot’in craftsmen Eugene Johnny and Samson Jack to do the log work for the lodge.

They perfected their notching and log construction techniques by building several smaller buildings on Christianson’s property before tackling the bigger building.

In Vancouver Arthur and Marian Rafferty were members of a social religious movement called the Oxford Group.

They were involved with various social needs programs in the city, and in 1941, with the newly completed lodge empty, it was deemed an ideal wilderness home for de-

linquent boys.

The massive building still needed lots of interior finishing work, so Arthur moved up there with their five-year-old son, Tom, in September, 1941, to finish off the inside of the building and make it habitable for the wayward youth. Marian remained in the city until their second child, Felicity, was born in December.

Marian and Felicity joined Arthur and Tom at Riske Creek in February, 1942. They stayed warm in the huge facility by only occupying and heating two or three rooms during the winter and closing off the rest of the lodge until spring.

Meanwhile the plan for a home for delinquent boys fell through, as most of the youthful candidates had gone off to fight in the war.

See CBC Page 39

Photo submitted

Riske Creek’s historic Chilcotin Lodge as it stands today. The lodge was built in 1940 and is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 39

out west

Sage Birchwater photo

Owner Ria van der Klis (from left), Felicity Rafferty Klassen, Dave Klassen and daughter Michelle Fuhge celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Chilcotin Lodge in April.

CBC TV series brings notoriety in 1960s Continued From Page 38 Riske Creek had known the elegance of a grand hotel before.

Half a century earlier, Fred Becher built a roadhouse and saloon below Christianson’s Chilcotin Lodge in the valley alongside the creek, and named it Becher House.

It was strategically located a day’s horseback or wagon ride from Soda Creek, the main crossing over the Fraser River from the Cariboo in the 1890s.

When the roadhouse burned down in 1915, Fred Becher rebuilt his establishment on a grander scale, increasing the capacity to 22 rooms.

By then a bridge had been built over the Fraser River at Sheep Creek, but the demand for overnight accommodation never fulfilled Becher’s expectations.

When old Becher died in 1935, Mrs. Becher continued running the stopping house, store and post office until she closed it down in 1942.

With plans for the halfway house for boys dissolved, the Raffer-

Photo submitted

The Chilcotin Lodge as it looked in 1960 — a time when CBC leased the lodge from the Anglican church to film a TV series, Cariboo Country, written by Paul St. Pierre. tys decided to stay on at Riske Creek and start a hunting and guiding business. Fur prices had skyrocketed during the Second World War so Arthur and Marian opened a store, got the post office, and traded pelts with the local trappers to earn enough money to buy the Chilcotin Lodge from Christianson.

In 1944 the army expropriated the lodge to establish a listening post to defend against a Japa-

nese invasion, and the Raffertys moved into one of the smaller buildings on the property and put the store and post office in another.

Once the war was over the family moved back into the lodge and Arthur continued to finish off the interior.

“I remember him putting the ceiling in the dining room,” says Felicity.

“Dad worked at it slowly, wall-papering one or two bedrooms a year.”

Each of the 10 guest rooms had its own coloured aluminum sink.

“The two bathrooms just had plain white fixtures,” remembers Felicity. “When there wasn’t enough wallpaper to finish the kitchen, dad painted a mural of some plates and crooked wine bottles on the unfinished wall. People gushed how lovely it was, not knowing it had been created out of necessity.”

Both Felicity and Tom

were home schooled under the provincial correspondence program, because they were too far away from a public school. It helped that Marian was a teacher by trade and had taught in prestigious girls schools before marrying Arthur.

Sadly Marian was still in her 50s when she died of breast cancer in 1958, so Felicity finished her last two years of high school in Williams Lake.

Tom meanwhile had

gone directly from home correspondence to UBC and had graduated as a school teacher.

In 1963 Arthur Rafferty gave one of the cabins to his two children, sold the remaining cabins and 74 acres of the property to neighbour Red Allison, and gave the lodge and eleven acres to the Anglican Church.

In 1964 the CBC leased the lodge from the Anglican church to film the television series

Cariboo Country written

by Paul St. Pierre. This is where Chief Dan George launched his acting career. The actors and film crew were all accommodated in the lodge, and several scenes were shot in the building and outside corrals.

Sophia Schneider also acted in this series. So did former Sugar Cane Chief, Nancy Sandy.

Wilf and Drew Hodgson purchased the Chilcotin Lodge from the Anglican Church and ran it as a guest house and hunting lodge until the mid-1970s. The lodge changed hands several times over the past forty years.

Ria and Hennie van der Klis, the most recent owners, purchased the lodge in November, 2000. They have done a major refurbishing job, and operate the facility as a bed and breakfast, serving gourmet meals to house guests in a private dining room.

“We don’t operate as a restaurant but serve meals to our lodge guests,” Ria explains.

See LODGE’S Page 40

ak

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out west

Lodge’s many features make for comfort Continued From Page 39 “All our culinary ingredients come from local producers.”

During two months in the fall the Chilcotin Lodge still operates as a hunting establishment.

“We don’t advertise for big game hunts,” explains Ria, “because I don’t like trophy hunting. We have wining and dining and bird hunting for ducks, geese, prairie chickens, willow grouse and blue grouse.”

Ria says some clients have been coming to the Chilcotin Lodge for 40 or 50 years. One guest has been coming for 60 years.

Recently Felicity Rafferty Klassen and her husband, Dave, and their daughter and her family, were guests at the Chilcotin Lodge to celebrate its 75th anniversary. They noted the improvements that have

Photos submitted

A CBC film crew during the production of Cariboo Country. been made to the building since they were last there.

The original fireplace provided a comfy warm atmosphere in the spring, summer and fall, but during the winter it was blocked off because it drew so much heat out of the building.

“We only used it for the week of Christmas, then shut it off the rest of the winter,” Felicity says. “As it was, the

lodge burned 40 cords of wood a year, even with half the building boarded off and not heated.”

Ria and Hennie installed an insert into the fireplace to make the beautiful stone centrepiece something that could be enjoyed and appreciated throughout the year.

“I really loved the old fireplace,” Ria says.

“But the insert gives us warmth.”

The interior of one of the Chilcotin Lodge guest rooms.

Felicity noted how Ria’s repainting of the dark panelling with light colours has brightened up the rooms dominated by the dark logs.

You could classify the Chilcotin Lodge as a heritage treasure. Especially since Ria and Hennie have worked so laboriously to restore its timeless features.

It’s a delightful night away for folks in Williams Lake, and a great destination for people wanting to experience this unique corner of the Cariboo Chilcotin, positioned at the northern extent of the great semi-arid grasslands that stretch all the way south to Mexico.

Farwell Canyon with

its pictographs and sand dunes are nearby. So is the Junction California Big Horn Sheep Range provincial park with trails extending to the confluence of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers. There are interesting day trip places to explore like the Gang Ranch to the south, Big Creek and Nemiah Val-

ley to the west, or the old Eric and Lilian Collier homestead.

The lodge is used as a launch point for rafting day trips down the Chilcotin River, and there are great bird watching opportunities just outside the front door.

“Our guests come from all over the world,” says Ria. “It’s so rewarding. I always say, you give guests a gift where they can stay in this beautiful historic building and unwind from the stresses of their lives.”

The lodge has a great library of locally written books, and many quiet nooks where guests can curl up and read to their heart’s content.

For more information, check out the www.chilcotinlodge. com website. The Chilcotin Lodge is located an hour west of Williams Lake, just 50 km down Highway 20.

Williams Lake Daybreak Rotary Club and the

Williams Lake Stampede Parade Committee present the

Daybreak Rotary’s Stampede Parade

Saturday, June 27th 10:00 am 2015 Theme: “Be a Gift to the World - A Tribute to Volunteers”

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 41

out west

Priceless moments with Anahim Lake’s hero Greg Sabatino Casual Country 2015 Anahim Lake resident Susan Leon has noticed a change in her foster grandson, Trent Leon.

That’s after Trent, a Grade 6 student at Anahim Lake Elementary/Junior Secondary School (ALEJSS) was chosen as the school’s Breakfast Club of Canada Ambassador and was afforded the experience of a lifetime to meet his hero and idol, Montreal Canadiens all-star NHL goaltender and ALEJSS alumni, Carey Price, who is the national ambassador for the BCC. The experience, which began in January of 2015, was part of a documentary project titled “A boy and three gifts” by the Air Canada Foundation and the Breakfast Club of Canada, an association that provides warm breakfast and lunches to students across the country on a daily basis.

Filming for the project, funded by the Air Canada Foundation and a part of the hit Montreal reality show, 24 CH, lasted roughly a month.

Once in Montreal Trent, who flew first class with ALEJSS principal Mikel Brogan and the film crew, personally delivered a poster displaying a school art project — a wood and glass tile bench consisting of aspects of the Ulkatcho culture and incorporating Price — plus handmade cards from all the kids at the school showing their appreciation to their hero during an on-ice session.

Trent and Brogan, along with Carey’s wife, Angela, and the founder of the BCC, Daniel Germaine, later watched Price earn first star honours against the Nashville Predators.

“I took Trent in when he was five,” Susan says. “He had it really rough … lots of hardships in his childhood.

He kept to himself but now with everything that’s happened I think

it opened his heart and eyes. “[In the film] I could tell he was comfortable with Carey playing hockey. It made him proud to be there for the students and see what Carey’s doing for their school.”

Viewers aren’t the only ones moved by the story — Carey himself is visibly touched when Trent, who says few words throughout the project, is excited to give the hockey star a gift in return.

During the film Susan encourages Trent to become more outspoken, and when he does, the expression left on Price’s face while reading the handmade cards is emotional.

“While watching the game Angela mentioned how she and Carey had a long discussion about the cards and the project the day before and how much it meant to him the students and staff would go through so much effort to extend their appreciation to him,” Brogan says.

“When Trent left he gave Carey a big hug. I think it was nice for him to connect with Carey like that. Trent’s kind of shy, and Carey probably sees a lot of himself in Trent — he’s not a big talker, either.”

The glass tile bench, which was created by Brogan’s parents, internationally-renowned artist Marina Papais and master woodworker Daniel Collett, depicts a large sun rising over Anahim Peak symbolizing Price’s inception.

Further right on the bench is a large glass star made of a reflective mirror, symbolizing Price’s success.

“The idea for this was so the students could look into the star and see their own faces,” Brogan says. “It’s been a huge thing for the community out here, and it was really neat how we were able to tie in our school art project.”

Susan gave a speech to staff and students following a viewing of

Photos submitted

Daniel Germaine (Founder of the Breakfast Club of Canada), Angela Price, Carey Price, Trent Leon, Micheline Villeneuve (Director of the Air Canada Foundation) and Mikel Brogan (Principal of Anahim Lake Elementary/ Junior Secondary School) during the filming of A boy and three gifts.

A portion of the completed glass tile bench at Anahim Lake Elementary/Junior Secondary School. the video at ALEJSS in March of 2015.

“I just let the class know if Carey could do what he’s done as a goalie for Montreal they need to reach out and be like Carey,” she says.

“For Trent, he wants to get out and do more things, but time will tell when he’s ready.

He’s started to do more sports — he’s playing floor hockey, he’s playing soccer which he enjoys. Today, I think he’s ready.”

Since the experience Brogan said it’s been really neat to watch Trent come out of his shell.

“He’s more outgoing and happier,” he says.

“He seems to have kind of taken the next step and that was the hope of this project. He’s really started to focus on school — Trent and his friends — they see the value that they can definitely do something.”

A gift Price gave to Trent to bring home to Anahim Lake in return was three hockey sticks signed by Montreal Canadiens players. Two of Trent’s good friends had birthdays coming up.

“He wanted to buy them something but, instead, he gave one stick

Anahim Lake Elementary/Junior Secondary School students work on a glass tile bench project in honour of school alumni Carey Price. signed by PK Subban and another signed by another one of Carey’s teammates and those kids were so happy,” Brogan says. “That was really generous of Trent to do that. He could have just kept them himself.”

On the effect the film had on the community in general, Brogan says he thinks the positive

light shed on Anahim Lake brought the community closer together.

For those in Anahim Lake Brogan encourages anyone to stop by the school to view the bench, now on permanent display at the front entrance. He also hopes more schools will see what a benefit the BCC program is and will apply.

The film, produced

by Tara Johns and directed by Jeremie Levesque, along with an editor, multiple cameramen and a sound technician, can be viewed at https://youtu. be/4m3ky6Mw28k.

Since its release in March the video has garnered roughly 1.8 million views through social media.

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OUT WEST

Monica Lamb-Yorski photos

Xeni Gwet’in community member Loretta Williams stands on the shores of Chilko Lake with the picturesque Coastal Mountains in the background. For members of the remote community the breathtaking scenery surrounds them on a daily basis and is a part of their every day lives.

Loretta Williams makes history a part of the future Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 No matter how many times Loretta Williams stands on the shores of Chilko Lake the view brings tears to her eyes, she says as she stops to take photographs with her cell phone.

With the scalloped snowcapped coastal mountains reaching to the sky in the west and the emerald green colour of the lake glistening as sun and clouds move gently across the sky, her tears are contagious.

“It is so beautiful here,” Williams says, walking along the shore at Nu Chugh Beniz campsite in Tsil?os Provincial Park.

Williams grew up in Nemiah Valley.

After working various positions for her Xeni Gwet’in band, she was elected to the band council for the first time in 2013.

A decade ago, under her leadership as the band’s tourism manager, Tsil?os Park was

enhanced by the development of a replicated traditional village in the park’s south end.

“We did some strategic planning with the community to find out what people wanted and one of them was a traditional village,” Williams recalls.

She was tasked with mapping it out and from there she hired engineers who used her drawing to develop the site.

Her first memory of visiting Chilko Lake was when her mom Alice Williams first started cooking for hunters at Loretta Lynn’s hunting lodge in Nemiah Valley.

“We had to fly over or take a motor boat on the lake to get there and I was probably about four years old,” she says.

“By that age I was already riding horses on my own, swimming was a daily thing, we didn’t play video games or watch TV. We had the outdoors from dawn to dusk.”

Her grandparents’ home was built in 1974

so when Williams was born and brought back to the valley she lived in a brand new house.

Her grandfather Eugene Sammy William was also a hunting guide.

“His guests came from everywhere, the U.S. and Germany,” she says.

She remembers him receiving gifts by mail — knives, binoculars,

guns and bottles of exotic alcohol.

She was too young to go hunting with her grandfather, but can visualize hunting parties returning with game.

“They’d hang the game and I remember hunters standing there taking pictures. It was quite the thing to grow up around for sure.”

Every year her grand-

parents cut hay, using a team of horses.

“Family would come from everywhere to help and granny would cook for 20 or 30 people,” Williams smiles.

Raised by her grandparents to respect the land, not take more than she needed from the land, not to litter and look after the water, Williams said she was taught

Loretta Williams had the idea to build a traditional pit house for future generations to learn from. The pit house is located on community grounds which overlook Chilko Lake.

she would need that for the rest of her life and it would be the health of her people.

“You don’t want to lose those things because you will lose your identity.”

Those strong roots led to her fighting to help save Fish Lake against mine development, she adds.

Aside from band council, Williams is busy with other commitments.

As a spokesperson on the First Nations Health Authority, she voices the needs of the Tsilhqot’in people.

She’s also part of the negotiating team working with the provincial government on the Tsilhqot’in Rights and Title decision.

Most recently she’s become an advocate for Tsilhqot’in children in foster care.

“That’s one thing I’m working on right now is to find ways to get our children back,” she says.

“I was just at a conference and learned there are 5,500 First Nations

children in care in B.C.” Williams believes the rights and title decision is helping restore the Tsilhqot’in people.

“When you have your land base you can be healthy,” she says. “Now we are working to try and get our people back to a point where they have their health, can speak our language and know our culture.”

Culture camps help to teach the youth how to hunt, fish, prepare meat and learn stories about their ancestors.

“We won the rights and title case because our oral history was so strong from the elders who told the stories,” she says.

Sometimes her responsibilities can be overwhelming, but knowing she still has three years left of her term on council, she says she feels energized.

“Being here, immersing myself, and listening to the elders tell stories makes me ready to go back out there again on behalf of our people.”

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 43

out west

Xeni Gwet’in carve their own path into the future

Ron Carriere photo

Councillor Loretta Williams (from left) wellness co-ordinator Catherine Haller, 7Eniyud health services receptionist Lorna Myers, youth support worker Pam Quilt, X6FNG/’HS7 health director Dalton Baptiste, councillor Marilyn Baptiste, bookkeeper Rena Lulua (hidden) and support staff Bernice Lulua during a staff meeting.

Photo submitted

Young Lucian William is already an established bow maker, taught by Norman William.

Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin Casual Country 2015 The Xeni Gwetin, a First Nations community of some 500 members, punches far above its weight. The band has challenged both the provincial and federal governments, and won. The big win came in June, 2014, when, after lengthy lower court proceedings, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously to grant the band title to 1,750 square kilo-

metres of traditional land and aboriginal rights to a caretaker area twice that size. This is the first time the high court granted a declaration of Aboriginal Title to a First Nation.

Xeni Gwet’in, which belongs to the six-member Tsilhqot’in Nation, is located 250 km south west of Williams Lake in the isolated Nemiah Valley. There was little access to this beautiful land of snowcapped mountains and untouched wilderness until some 50 years ago when a bridge

was built across the Taseko River. The area has had telecommunications for only the last 10 years.

The band council and staff are relatively young but they are guided by the wisdom of the elders.

Roger William is chief.

In May he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Northern B.C. for his efforts on behalf of the Tsilhqot’in people. Councillors are former chief Marilyn Baptiste and Loretta Williams. In April Marilyn

was awarded the international Goldman Environmental Prize for her grassroots environmental activism. Band manager is 26-year-old Dalton Baptiste. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in human resources management from Thompson Rivers University.

Along with the responsibilities of governing the community, council and staff are tackling new issues associated with the land title and agreements with other governments.

Their main objective is to keep the caretaker area, known as Seven Valleys, an intact wilderness.

In addition to the two Tsil?os campsites, and park rangers, Xeni Gwet’in manages ten of the twelve recreation camp sites in the area.

The land will be shared with the outside world but will remain in First Nations’ control and

now 584.99 83A 2nd Ave South, Williams Lake

planning; access management; water qualities; fish and wildlife management; and cultural tourism.

Along with band meetings, there are regular meetings with elders and staff to organize gatherings and events.

Annual events include the community cleanup, the Brittany Gathering,Youth Wagon Trip to the Williams Lake Stampede, Elders Gathering, rodeo/gymkhana, Snow Day, and the community Christmas dinner.

Community members are involved in ranching and guiding, and more recently beekeeping.

Xeni Gwet’in Enterprise (XGE), the village operations and maintenance arm, oversees utilities, road maintenance, operates a store, gas bar and laundry, and contracts with outside agencies.

While the Xeni Gwet’in have embraced 21st century technology, they maintain their age-

now 1299.99

now 319.99

250-398-5121

any development will be on their terms. Xeni Gwet’in maintains their territory through the mandates set out by the elders and community in the 1989 Nemiah Aboriginal Wilderness Preserve, the ?Elegesi Wild Horse Preserve (2002) and the Sustainable Wilderness Tourism Protocol (2003).

In September last year the TNG announced the creation of Dasiqox Tribal Park, which is part of the process of protecting the wildlife habitat and sustainable livelihoods for the Tsilhqot’in communities.

Economic development is high on the Xeni Gwet’in agenda. The community has developed a diversified economy while collecting baseline information and continued protection of the lands.

Work continues on health, healing, education and training; ecosystem-based conservation

old culture and traditions.

Almost half the people speak the Tsilhqot’in language. They still catch and train wild horses.

They trap, hunt, fish, and gather both edible and medicinal plants.

They practice their traditional arts of beading, basket-making and buckskin crafts. They share their culture with Wild Horse Tours, Medicinal Plant Tours, Hiking and Fishing Tours, as well as cultural immersion at the Xeni Gwet’in Traditional Village, located in Ts’yl?os Provincial Park on the shores of Chilko Lake.

The Naghtaneqed Elementary Junior Secondary School enrols students in Kindergarten to Grade 9. Principal Joan Simmons has been at the school for 18 years. Students learn the Tsilhqot’in language and there is a strong focus on integrating cultural teachings and activities throughout the curriculum. For 28 years the school has hosted an annual Cultural Week in May when elders teach the children traditional arts and crafts. A celebration feast brings everyone in the community together. This year Chef Gerry Brandon from the Ojibawa First Nation taught culinary arts with the first class graduating on May 15.

Naghtaneqed students return visits with outside classes who visit the Cultural Week.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 45

ROPIN’, RIDIN’ AND LOVIN’ IT

Bella COOLA Six-year-old Isla Hodgson climbs at Noosgulch.

BELLA COOLA, HAGENSBERG AND AREA

Photo by: Caitlin Thompson

46 - CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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BELLA COOLA

Photos courtesy of Eric Berger and Bella Coola Heli Sports

Skiers cut a classic line in fresh powder as their helicopter ride flies away.

Bella Coola Heli Sports boasts having the world’s largest contiguous tenure at 2.64 million acres (10,700 sq/kms, 4,300 sq/m), 325 times Whistler-Blackcomb combined.

Above, clients take the opportunity to take in the view of Ape Lake Glacier.

Coast Mountain Range: A heli skiers paradise Angie Mindus Casual Country 2015 You wouldn’t think heli skiing and fly fishing would go together in the same sentence let alone the same vacation, but if you’ve

got the time and the bank account to match that’s exactly what a day with Bella Coola Heli Sports could look like.

“It’s pretty amazing,” says Tim Wilkinson, director of sales

and marketing for Bella Coola Heli Sports.

The company boasts big snow (20-30 metres on average over the winter).

Small groups for its clients, who have 2.64 million acres stretch-

ing across the Coast Mountain Range to play in.

“There are lots of mountains here.”

Bella Coola Heli Sports offers three operational bases to choose from;

Tweedsmuir Park Lodge in Bella Coola, Pantheon Heli Ranch with accommodation at the White Saddle Ranch or Big Mountain Lodge with accommodations at Eagle Lodge in Hagensborg.

The lines can run 6,000-vertical-hairraising-feet, and can be skied well into April.

With that kind of choice to play with, the company offers expert-only programs

but can also cater to first-time and less aggressive skiers.

In the summer months, clients can also treat themselves to world-class fly fishing and grizzly bear viewing.

The views are second to none while skiing the powder in the Coast Mountain Range, courtesy of Bella Coola Heli Sports.

The company has permits stretching over 2.64 million acres.

Thanks to massive amounts of snow in the Coast Mountain Range, skiers can treat themselves to a spring ski in the morning and a fly-fishing outing in the afternoon in the Bella Coola Valley.

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BELLA COOLA

CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 47

Michael Wigle photo

Community members all take part in the raising of a Sputc pole in hopes it will create optimism surrounding the possible return of the collapsed eulachon run.

The eulachon are a critical part of the Nuxalk culture and tradition.

Nuxalk Nation raises Sputc pole in hopes of eulachon’s return Caitlin Thompson Casual Country 2015 It has been decades since the waters of the Bella Coola have been black with eulachon and the riverbanks buzzing with preparations, fishing and people. But that loss hasn’t dampened the appetites people still have for the small fish and its coveted grease.

Megan Moody, a young Nuxalk scientist specializing in eulachon research, still remembers what it was like when she was a child.

“We used to take ice cream buckets down to the river and catch them with our bare hands,” she recalls.

The eulachon was more than a food source for Nuxalk people; it was a species key to their survival. The return of the eulachon meant an end to the long months of winter hunger, and signalled that spring was about to begin.

“People just don’t know what to do anymore when spring comes now,” said Moody. “All that activity, the camps, the woodcutting, the fishing, it’s all gone.”

A key organizer of the March 29 Sputc Ceremony, Moody said she was inspired to hold the event because she felt the community needed to come together and celebrate. “There are eulachon in the river now,

Caitlin Thompson photo

Horace Walkus with a bottle of eulachon grease that he has saved from the days when the eulachon run was plentiful. Walkus hopes the run will return and he can pass on the art of making grease. they are coming back,” said Moody. “There is still hope.”

Horace Walkus certainly hopes so. As one of the few community members left that still knows the art of making grease, Walkus’ house stands kitty corner to the newly erected pole.

Walkus still consumes grease regularly but guards his precious reserves like gold, some of it dating back decades.

“We called it the saviour fish and I truly believe it is,” said Walkus.

“It was more than a food for us, it was a medicine, a lifestyle. Grease was on the table all the time, just like salt and pepper.

It was a major part of our diet.”

Walkus said that he never learned how to make grease; as a child he was made do it.

“When I grew up I said I would never do it again,” he admits. “But then you get a craving for grease, and you’re out there on the river.”

Walkus said he started noticing a steady decline in the number of eulachon returning with a coinciding warming of the climate. “I remember the runs coming earlier and earlier,” he said.

“It used to be the end of April and there would still be ice on the river then, it was Easter week-

end. But by the time the last run came in it was March.”

This observation coincides with the findings of Moody’s master’s thesis. Moody believes that climate change was already contributing to a slow decline in eulachon populations, something that had been happening since the 1970s. However, it was the arrival of shrimp trawlers in Queen Charlotte Sound in the mid-90s that appears to have been a major contributor to the spectacular disappearance of 1998.

“Eulachon bycatch was a huge problem for the shrimp trawl-

Photo submitted

Fishermen enjoy a plentiful catch along the Bella Coola River back in the days when the eulachon run was strong. ers in Queen Charlotte Sound,” explains Moody. “There are estimates that between 90 and 150 tonnes of eulachon was being caught as bycatch by the trawling industry.”

The trawlers knew the eulachon bycatch was a major predicament and tried to avoid them, often warning fellow fishers on the radio if they were running into a lot of ‘e-fish.’ Alterations were

eventually made to nets and fishing gear to allow eulachons to escape, but Moody wonders how effective they really are.

See POTENTIAL Page 48

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BELLA COOLA

Potential for eulachon recovery is there: Moody Continued From Page 47 “Even in trying to avoid them the trawlers are still stressing the fish and possibly causing mortality through injury,” she said. “It’s impossible to prove what, if any, damage they are still causing to the stocks.”

While the Bella Coola run collapsed in 1999, other communities on the central coast lost their eulachon earlier, such as Wuikinuxv.

Further north, the Nass and the Skeena, are still enjoying relatively healthy runs.

“I believe this difference is due to the size of the river system,” she says. “The Bella Coola and Wuikinuxv Rivers can only support smaller runs, unlike the huge runs found on the Fraser, the Skeena, or the Nass.”

Moody believes this

also is why it’s taking so long for the Bella Coola stocks to recover. Already more vulnerable due to size, a smaller stock is naturally going to take longer to replenish once its numbers have gone below a certain threshold. Moody, however, remains positive, “The potential for recovery is there.”

The eulachon is an indiscriminate little fish: oily, modest, and unassuming. It’s comparable to the herring in size and stature, but much of its lifestyle is still a mystery. Although Moody’s research has highlighted many of the challenges faced in preserving the eulachon, there are few concrete solutions, as the eulachon remains vulnerable to factors outside of local control.

Moody, however, firmly believes local action is essential, and

her future initiatives include an eulachon guardianship plan. She is counting on community support.

“Community effort is going to be key to this plan’s success,” she said. “The community needs to be involved in understanding and protecting our environment, eulachon habitat, our estuary.

It’s important that we have our plan that incorporates traditional ecological knowledge and community input.”

Lyle Mack, the lead carver of the pole that now stands on the riverbank, agrees. “As a people we believe that animals return to their birthplace,” explains Mack. “The pole represents Raven with open hands, holding two eulachon and facing the river, welcoming them back.”

The ceremony, which Moody admits was difficult to recre-

ate because it hadn’t been practiced in the community for so long, was a necessary component to foster optimism and awareness among the youth who haven’t directly experienced eulachon as part of their lives.

The pole, carried by all members of the Bella Coola community, now stands as a representation of past and present, young and old.

His father and mentor, Alvin Mack, taught lead carver Lyle Mack his skills while other young carvers, Chazz Mack and Peter Snow, assisted him. Several young weavers now learning the art dressed the pole in handmade cedar clothing.

“The longer it goes on, the bigger the gap is between the youth and the elders,” said Moody. “We needed this ceremony to bring the community together.”

Michael Wigle photo

Local artist and lead carver Lyle Mack, assisted by Chazz Mack and Peter Snow, created the Sputc pole to welcome the possible return of the eulachon run.

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Bella Coola Music Festival offers something for everyone welcome nine-year-old Stella Swanson to the stage this year.

Other performers include 2015 Roots and Blues Juno-nominees Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, all-female rockers Miss Quincy and the Showdown, the widely entertaining CR Avery, multi-instrumentalists Compassion Gorilla, folk-fiddler Daniel Lapp, singer-songwriter Logan Staats, hip-hop alter ‘native’ duo Mob Bounce and more.

This year’s world performance will be brought to Bella Coola straight from Zimbabwe with the appearance of the highly-acclaimed acapella-dance group Black Umfolosi. Experts in the traditional ‘gumboot dance’ of South Africa, this sixperson group promises to offer an amazing performance that is sure to dazzle adults and youth alike.

Michael Wigle photo

The Bella Coola Music Festival is in its 16th year and promises to put on another great show for 2015 with the likes of country-rock legend Barney Bental and children’s performer Fred Penner. Shown above, musician Rachelle Van Zanten rocks the crowd at last year’s festival.

There will also be tweener performances by local Nemiah Valley magician Magical Jesaja, who has honed his skills to perfection.

Local musicians will

take the stage throughout the weekend and there is an Open Mic performance scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Tickets are available online at www.bella-

coolamusic.org.

Prices are $20 advance, $25 gate for adults. Youth and Seniors are $15 advance, $20 gate. Children under 5 are free, ages 5 -

12 $5.

For more information on accommodations and travelling to the Bella Coola Valley, check out www.bellacoola.ca, or visit its Facebook site.

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unnoticed. Despite the challenges, a dedicated group of volunteers manages to pull off this professional event in one of the most remote locations in the province. Floods, firestorms, road closures: they’ve seen it all, but they never give up.

Over the years the festival has hosted such names as Buffy St. Marie, 54-40, George Leach, Derek Miller and many more.

This year is no exception, with country-rock legend Barney Bentall set to take the stage on Sunday night.

Beloved children’s performer (and 2015 Juno-award winner) Fred Penner is sure to delight legions of fans with his mainstage performance on Sunday, July 19. Penner, a Canadian icon, will also be MC-ing throughout the weekend. The Kid’s Site is also proud to

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It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful setting for a music festival.

Amidst towering snow capped mountains, lush greenery, soaring eagles and smiling faces, world class musicians take the stage in what promises to be a spectacular performance at the 2015 Bella Coola Music Festival on July 18-19.

The festival kicks off on Friday, July 17 with a free evening concert at the Hagensborg Legion.

The gates open on Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, 19 at 11 a.m. and the fun isn’t over until the evening hours.

The Kid’s Site is open on Sunday, July 19 and runs from noon to 5 p.m. and offers crafts, a bounce house, facepainting, and magic shows.

A volunteer-run event, the Bella Coola Music Festival is in its 16th year, and its stellar reputation has not gone

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Photos submitted

Waglisa Band Store manager Pat Housty is looking forward to the construction of a permanent community grocery store located next to a temporary building seen in the background.

The grocery store is a critical service in the isolated community — only reachable by air or water.

Permanent store planned for Bella Bella community Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 When the community of Bella Bella lost its one and only store to a fire two summers ago the community worked hard to bounce back, says store manager Pat Housty.

“Within two days we had a store set up in the Anglican church,” she recalls. “Our weekly order was arriving that Sunday morning on B.C. Ferries. We needed somewhere to put everything.”

Everyone pitched in, Housty says.

Locals, public works, hospital employees, RCMP, school employees, everyone came out to help.

“We were able to bring in upright coolers, freezer chests and fridges that people loaned to us. Anything that we needed to set up shop.”

The store remained at the church for a year and then moved into a newly built, but temporary twostory building in July 2014.

“We have land that’s adjacent to the building that we’re in now where they are prepping to

Bella Bella’s waterfront with the government dock as seen directly from the spot where the community is in the midst of getting a permanent grocery store after the previous one burnt down in 2013. build a permanent store for us,” she says.

Along with the grocery store, the 2013 fire claimed an adjacent liquor store, the Kvai office which included a library, and the post office.

All of those entities found new homes.

The post office is awaiting a permanent building, the liquor store is on the second floor

above the grocery store, and the Kvai office set up a temporary office in a nearby building.

They are in full operation with a trailer and library that was put in by contributions.

“It was nice to see how they had a flow of books and donations that helped them get back up on their feet.”

In the summer the Kvai office provides

programming for children.

Housty was born and raised in Bella Bella and has worked at the Waglisla Band Store since it opened in 1972.

The store offers groceries, meat, produce, gift ware and dry goods — a full line of product for the community.

A trailer leaves Surrey with products for the store every Friday, trav-

els on two ferries, and arrives in Bella Bella on Sunday.

From the ferry terminal it’s about a 15-minute drive to the store.

In addition to serving the community, the store also has customers from fishing lodges and logging camps on the outskirts of Bella Bella.

As the community’s only store, staff tries hard to fulfill the needs

of the local residents at all times.

However, the cost of freight continues to be a concern.

The band has gone to many avenues to try and pursue the issue of the high cost of freight.

When the store first opened, freight was delivered by Northland Navigation up until around 1980.

It stopped at the gov-

ernment dock every week and it was subsidized, but for some reason they lost the subsidy when it switched over to BC Ferries.

Housty has lived in Bella Bella all of her life except for when she was at boarding school in Port Coquitlam for secondary school.

She completed her Grade 12 in Bella Bella a couple of years after she returned to the community from boarding school.

Bella Bella is only accessible by boat, ferry and plane.

The ferry arrives once a week going north and once a week going south.

A mid-week sailing was in place until last year which has put a damper on the only means of getting vehicles and freight in and out of the community. Port Hardy is an overnight trip about six hours away by ferry.

Over the hustle and bustle of children’s voices I can hear as we are having a conversation, Housty says the store is always busy.

“After the fire we worked hard to put everything back to the level we’d been delivering to the community.”

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Copper Sun and co-operation in Bella Coola Ernest Hall Casual Country 2015 As told in the Nuxalk creation story, before the first mortals descended to Earth on the eyelashes of the Sun, the Earth was dark — in the colour of Copper — until Raven stole the Sun from Nusmata (Heaven) to enlighten the world.

The Copper, in the form of a flattened three-part shield, came to represent prosperity and to honour those in the spirit world, with its slanting rays on the lower plates emblematic of the sloped rafters of the Big House, sheltering a whole community under one roof.

This Nuxalk story explains the design of the logo for an exciting new Bella Coola business The Copper Sun Gallery which recently opened in the former RCMP building on the townsite. More than that, it describes a co-operative venture taking place in a space where Mounties used to live and work.

The iconic red-brick building, in a style erected by the dozens across Canada in the 1950s was vacated by the RCMP decades ago. It recently sold to an “outside” entrepreneur whose generosity has given the building a new life. It is now home to the Copper Sun Gallery, an office for the Nuxalk cultural tours, Copper Sun Journey’s, the Bella Coola Music Festival, Coast Mountain News, and Bella Coola Valley Tourism’s Visitor Information Booth.

“It’s amazing!” says

The Copper Sun gallery logo Randy Hart, CEO and President of the Nuxalk Development Limited Partnership. Hart, who oversees a number of projects aimed at developing new businesses and improving the economic opportunities for the Nuxalk people and the wider community, says a community-based gallery for Nuxalk artists “has been needed for a long time,” and to see the various groups working together under one roof is “an exciting example of an intercultural community building.”

As Hart envisions it, the venue will give the participants an opportunity to run a business, and the artists involved will have a highly visible opportunity to market their work, leading in time to web-based marketing.

The Nuxalk Development Corporation (NDC) is the Nuxalk “umbrella” company. Since 2010 the NDC has managed the Nuxalk Forestry Limited Partnership (a community forestry enterprise), and since 2013, its Totem Sawmill Limited Partnership has produced kiln-dried dimensional lumber, timbers, and specialty wood products.

Caitlin Thompson photo

Carrigan Tallio, BCVT summer student, and Pat Corbett, president of the CCCTA, plant flowers at the new location in downtown Bella Coola. The planter box was generously donated by the Nuxalk Development Corporation’s Totem Sawmill while Moore’s Nursery provided the flower design plan.

The corporation also manages Bella Coola Traffic Control Services and is working on a pilot project to develop an indoor, all-season, hydroponic gardening business which might be producing vegetables by this summer.

This latest enterprise, Copper Sun Gallery and Copper Sun Journey’s, enjoys the support of Aboriginal Tourism BC (ATBC) including provision of a consultant to advise on the gallery operations and the development of a website.

Hart especially appreciates the support that the effort is receiving from ATBC and its President and CEO Keith Henry.

Heading the Copper Sun Journey’s project is Chris Nelson, who has served as a director on the Bella Coola Valley

Tourism board for the past year. The Nuxalk corporation’s culture and special projects co-ordinator, Nelson is renowned both locally and far afield for the narrated tours to the Thorsen Creek Petroglyphs that he and his twin brother Lance have conducted for many years.

His tourism interests and guiding experience have led Nelson and his group to develop a package of tours including a Petroglyph Tour and a Walk of the Totems.

The tours will involve Clyde Young and Ocean Pootlass, operating out of the Copper Sun Gallery venue, which will also offer theme nights and special event nights.

These events may involve music or carving demonstrations, seen as a means to promote art

and attract people to the townsite during Bella Coola’s long summer evenings.

The Copper Sun Gallery itself is managed by Caitlin Thompson and staffed by local post-secondary student Danika Nolie, who is home for the summer from the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in Terrace.

Another familiar face on site is Carrigan Tallio, also home for the summer from the University of Victoria. She is the visitor information booth attendant for Bella Coola Valley Tourism (BCVT), which has moved its venue back to the townsite following three seasons at the Norwegian Heritage House in Hagensborg.

While expressing his gratitude and apprecia-

tion to the Norwegian Heritage House Society for the rent-free Hagensborg venue, BCVT President Doug Baker views the move to the new site as “positive” because, to tourists, the townsite is the “focal point” of the valley. He is especially pleased to be partnering with Copper Sun and the other tenants: the Bella Coola Music Festival and Coast Mountain News. “Cooperation like this is positive change, moving forward,” Baker says.

Likewise, Pat Corbett, president of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association (CCCTA), calls the cooperation happening at the former RCMP building “terrific.”

Corbett, whose organization promotes tourism over the vast area stretching from the Coast to the Rockies and from Quesnel to the Fraser Canyon, told CMNews, “It takes a united community of people to envision and accomplish new things — even when you live in a jewel like Bella Coola.”

Corbett visited the gallery and visitor information booth during the renovations and set up while vacationing in the valley, which he described as “visually stunning — world class — one of the most spectacular settings in the world.” He said the valley — with its ocean expanse to the west, the surrounding wilderness, and the verdant farmlands up the valley, with its First Nation and Norwegian heritage — has

the potential to develop as a world-class tourist destination.

“Such development will take a lot of cooperation and time,” he said.

“But prosperity will flow from that.”

Corbett and the CCCTA have been highly supportive of BCVT over the years, particularly in the work to reinstate a suitable marine link in the Discovery Coast Circle Route since the 2013 elimination of BC Ferries Route #40 between Bella Coola and Port Hardy.

Finally, Caitlin Thompson, editor of Coast Mountain News, says she is thrilled with the way the co-operation has developed.

The CMNews relocated in the building last year so that she could look after the building for its new owner who intends to occupy the residence side when he moves permanently to Bella Coola from Telegraph Creek.

As artistic/executive director of the Bella Coola Music Festival, Thompson also conducts festival work out of her office there and was keen to find related businesses in the valley to occupy the other available spaces. Both Copper Sun and BCVT have come onboard and are working together, with Thompson as venue manager, to create a winning situation for all involved.

As Randy Hart puts it, “We have a new venture here that will benefit the entire valley.

“Kudos to everyone involved!”

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Museum offers modern look at logging history The Bella Coola Valley Digital Heritage Project sees the historical topics of Alexander Mackenzie, the Hudson’s Bay Company, logging, Norwegian settlement, the Nuxalk peoples and transportation all highlighted on the Bella Coola Valley Museum’s website.

Any of these topics critical to the history of the Bella Coola Valley can be explored digitally, including the history of logging in the area.

The project includes digitizing and placing more than 600 photographs on the website database and links to educational resources.

There is a logging history summary written by a long-time forest engineer and an interpretive slideshow that tells the story of logging from pre-contact to the year 2000.

The museum has also included original video footage of Allison Log-

ging, which covers logging in the 1920s and 1930s.

Below is an excerpt of some of the history highlighted in the logging section: Logging was one of British Columbia’s first industries, and although changing, it is still of importance.

The story of logging in the Central Coast of B.C. is unique, its progression and effects will be familiar to many Canadians who have lived or are living in areas that were shaped by major resource industries.

Logging is a part of our landscapes, communities and many people’s lives. Its history traversed space, time and cultures.

The history of logging in the Bella Coola Valley is an enticing story that continues to resonate in the community.

It begins with the ingenious techniques of the local Nuxalk peoples

Photos courtesy of the Bella Coola Valley Museum

In the 1960s self-loading/off-loading barges were used for transportation of logs to mills on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. to harvest trees for personal subsistence. Significant First Nations participation in logging also extended into commercial logging in later years.

Some went so far as to start their own logging company prior to the arrival of multi-national companies. Norwegian settlers depended on logging to literally

build their communities in the valley and then to provide much needed income to survive.

The history of the commercial logging industry began in 1898 and traverses the development of local logging co-operatives to the moving in of multinational corporations.

The first sawmill, built in 1898 harnessed

a mountain stream for power, and the men hauled logs in with oxen, and when the trunks were too big for their saws they split them with blasting powder. By the 1930s truck logging began and the high-lead logging systems gave way to dieselpowered logging steel “yarders” in the late 1940s.

In the old days, a high rigger climbs the tallest trees to remove limbs and tree tops.

Logging history, which is still being made, has come full circle with the development of the Bella Coola Valley Resource Society, which has recently obtained a community forest license.

The Nuxalk Nation has also received tenure for a community forest

license.

Although commercial activity has been scaled down substantially in the last 10 years, recent resurgence at the community level makes its history particularly important.

- Courtesy of the Bella Coola Valley Museum Digital Heritage Project

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Michael Wigle photos

With a spectacular backdrop, the Bella Coola Rodeo is always a great Canada Day weekend getaway.

Fourteen-year-old Isaac Silver-Mack competes in the 2014 Businessman’s Cow Ride.

Bella Coola Rodeo celebrates 30-year tradition The Bella Coola Rodeo is one of the largest amateur rodeos in Western Canada and takes place annually on the Canada Day weekend.

This year marks the

30th anniversary of the Bella Coola Rodeo set to take place June 27 and 28 in the rodeo grounds next to Walker Island Park.

A rodeo in this small community is a wild

event, as cowhands show their skills kicking off with a gymkhana, and competing in bronco riding, barrel racing, calf tie-down, team roping, bull riding and the infamous

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Nuxalk artist selected for prestigious lifetime achievement award Caitlin Thompson Casual Country 2015 Ask Alvin Mack to reflect on his life and you will get a very candid tale of hardship, personal struggles and the deep-rooted desire to create meaningful art and from that, a meaningful life.

“I left Bella Coola at 17 and I swore I was never coming back,” Mack recalls.

“It wasn’t always easy.

I had no confidence, no self-esteem or belief in what I was doing.”

That statement seems to echo an elusive shadow of Mack’s past. In 2014 he was presented with the BC Achievement Foundation’s Creative Lifetime Achievement Award for First Nations’ Art. It is an honour bestowed on individuals who have made a profound contribution to their First Nations’ culture.

“B.C. First Nations artists play a significant role in the creative life of British Columbia,” said Foundation Chair Keith Mitchell.

“These awards highlight the immense cultural traditions of each recipient.”

Over the years Mack has been a teacher and mentor to hundreds of students at Acwsalcta School and the Bella Coola community at large, but he humbly describes himself as a ‘vessel’ for Nuxalk art and culture.

“I live every day to help our young people,” he shares. “It’s my ultimate goal.”

While Mack was drawn to traditional native art from a very young age, the road to his present career as a renowned carver, teacher and artist was full of ups and downs. Born and raised on Nuxalk territory, Mack’s parents raised him and his four siblings to work hard,

Dave Roels photo

Alvin Mack accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award from the BC Achievement Foundation from Chair Keith Mitchell and John Rustad, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in December of 2014. respect the land and engage in traditional activities.

Despite their own struggles, Mack says what his parents taught him had a profound impact on his style as both an artist and a teacher.

“They were both alcoholics; my dad was a residential school survivor,” said Mack. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but they taught us all to work hard. My dad taught me to set goals and follow them through.”

It was his father, Willie Mack, who inspired him to start carving.

Although Mack recalls little carving or other art being created in the community at the time, he remembers his father carving totems and creating leatherwork in the living room. He would ask him repeat-

I left Bella Coola at 17 and I swore I was never coming back. It wasn’t always easy.

I had no confidence, no self esteem or belief in what I was doing.”

- Alvin Mack edly to teach him to carve.

“He said sure,” Mack remembers.

“And then he chose a goal for us. We entered our work in the Bella Coola Fall Fair; it must have been in the early 70s. We won first prize in every category we entered.”

Mack continued carving and working on his skills until his father’s premature death. At 16 years old he was suddenly left without a father, and he was angry. Art went by the wayside. He quit school and left the community, vowing never to come back.

“I got a job logging,” he said. “I lived all over the lower mainland, setting chokers and running a tower. It was tough work, monotonous, and I was drinking. I nearly got killed a number of times.”

In a strange twist of fate, Mack took a logging job out of Van-

couver that ended up being based in South Bentinck. Like it or not, he was home.

“We came in from camp every weekend,” he recalled. “I met up with Harry Schooner and he gave me two carving knives. I also met my wife, Leila, and I started to calm down.

I wanted to stop drinking, and all I wanted to do was to go back to making art.”

A friend told him about the only school at the time that was dedicated to First Nations Art, the Kitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art at ‘Ksan in Hazelton.

He quit logging to pursue his dream, took his EI funding and headed north.

“I applied and got accepted but I really had no idea what I

was doing,” he said. “I knew I could draw and design, but I had no outside support.”

Eager to learn and full of enthusiasm Mack spent all his free time apprenticing under master carvers.

Upon learning of his endeavors, representatives at home found funding to support him through the second year, and he graduated in 1985 at the top of his class.

Mack returned to Bella Coola eager to share what he’d learned, but underneath it all he still lacked confidence.

His sister Sharon, who working at Acwsalcta at the time, encouraged him to start teaching at the school.

See ALVIN Page 55

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Alvin Mack at peace with his life’s work Continued From Page 54 “I was so fearful because I didn’t have the education, I never graduated from high school,” he shared.

“But I knew I wanted to bring the art back home, so I did it. It was a steady income too, it wasn’t much, but I had a family to raise and it helped.”

It was a fellow teacher at Acwsalcta who persuaded Mack to stick with it, helped him get back into sports, and pointed out the valuable teachings Mack had to share with his students.

“He told me that teaching isn’t something that you can be trained to do,” Mack remembers.

“You can have a formal education but that’s not enough. He said you have to be born with it, you have to have the gift.”

Alvin Mack’s artwork is appreciated and sold around the world.

Alvin Mack at work.

With renewed confidence Mack persevered, going on to complete another two-

Photos submitted

year jewelry design program at Vancouver Community College.

He returned once again

to teach at Acwsalcta, continuing to grow as both an artist and a teacher.

Today, there are multiple young carvers and artists that credit Alvin Mack as being their inspiration and mentor, including his sons.

A talented and varied artist, Mack carves, working with wood and silver, and he also paints and designs, often working late into the evening

when he returns from his teaching job at the school.

Looking at the community today there is little doubt that Nuxalk art is experiencing a resurgence, one Mack likens to a ‘reawakening.’

And it’s gaining international attention.

“We were in a sleeping period. Our art was our written language, it holds our culture and identity,” he explained. “I call my-

self a vessel because, although I may carve a Thunder mask, our ancestors have carved it for 10,000 years. I am just carrying it on.”

Despite the unforgiving winter weather, Mack managed to make it out of Bella Coola last December and drove to Vancouver for the ceremony.

It was well worth it.

“I really enjoyed it,” Mack shared.

“It was an amazing experience. I got

to meet several artists that I really look up to, such as Robert Davidson and Susan Point.”

The Honourable John Rustad, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation and British Columbia Achievement Foundation Chair Keith Mitchell presented Mack with his award, which was sponsored by Polygon Homes Ltd. Mack said the number of artists who were familiar with his work and approached him at the event to make his acquaintance surprised him. It also inspired him to work even harder.

“A lot of people don’t understand our world here, they don’t have that connection anymore,” said Mack.

“Our art enables us to reconnect with our ancestors, and that will carry us further than anyone else.”

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Northern Sewepemc te Qelmucw (NStQ) The NStQ include four bands with over 2,500 members. Since time immemorial, our people have used and protected the resources within our traditional territory. There is archaeological evidence that, as Secwepemc, we have occupied Secwepemc7ulecw (the entire Secwepemc terri-

Chief Donna Dixon 3405 Mountain House Rd. Williams Lake, BC V2G 5L5 • Phone: 250-989.2323

Soda Creek Indian Band (Xat’sull)

Williams Lake Indian Band (T’exelc)

Dog Creek area Dog Creek area Dog DogCreek Creekarea area

Stswecem’c Xgat’tem

Canim Lake Band (Tsq’escen’) Soda Creek Indian Band Canim Canim Lake Lake Band Band(Tsq’escen’) (Tsq’escen’) Soda Soda Creek Indian IndianBand Band Chief Mike Archie (Xat’sCreek ull) ¯ Chief Chief Mike Mike Archie Archie Box 1030 (Xat’sull) (Xat’sull) Canim Lake Band (Tsq’escen’) Soda Creek Band ChiefIndian Donna Dixon Box Box1030 1030 House, BC, V0K 2E0 100 Mile Chief Chief Donna Donna Dixon Dixon Chief Mike Archie 3405 Mountain House Rd (Xat’sull) 100 Mile MileHouse House BC BC V0K V0K2E0 2E0 •100 Phone: 250-397-2227 3405 3405Mountain MountainHouse HouseRd. Rd.

Chief Mike Archie Box 1030 100 Mile House BC V0K 2E0 • Phone: 250-397.2227 • Treaty: 250-397-2002 • Toll free: 1-866-797-2277

1717 South South 1st 1st Avenue Avenue Yvonne Smith, Executive Director Williams Lake, BC, V2G 1H4 Williams Williams Lake, Lake, BC BC V2G V2G1H4 1H4 17 South 1st Avenue • Phone: 250-392-7361 ••• TollBC Phone: Phone: 250-392.7361 250-392.7361 Williams Lake, V2G 1H4 free: 1-888-392-7361 • • Toll Toll free: free: 1-888.392.7361 1-888.392.7361 • Phone: 250-392.7361 • Toll free: 1-888.392.7361

Canim Lake Band (Tsq’escen’)

Yvonne Smith, Executive Director 17 South 1st Avenue Williams Lake, BC V2G 1H4 • Phone: 250-392.7361 • Toll free: 1-888.392.7361

Northern Shuswap Tribal Council

Quesnel Lake

Northern Shuswap Tribal Council Northern Northern Shuswap Shuswap Tribal Tribal Council Council Yvonne Smith, Executive Director Yvonne Yvonne Smith, Smith, Executive Executive Director Director Northern Tribal Council 17Shuswap South 1st Avenue

Maahood Falls

Maahood Falls

Quesnel Lake Quesnel QuesnelLake Lake Quesnel Lake

Farwell Canyon

Mahood Falls Maahood MaahoodFalls Falls

Dog Creek area

Northern Sewepemc te Qelmucw (NStQ) The NStQ include four bands with over 2,500 members. Since time immemorial, our people have used and protected the resources within our traditional territory. There is archaeological evidence that, as Secwepemc, we have occupied Secwepemc7ulecw (the entire Secwepemc terri-

Farwell Canyon Farwell FarwellCanyon Canyon Farwell Canyon

Northern Shuswap Tribal Council

Quesnel Lake

Northern Shuswap Tribal Council

Soda Creek Indian Band (Xat’sull)

Chief Donna Dixon 3405 Mountain House Rd. Williams Lake, BC V2G 5L5 • Phone: 250-989.2323

Maahood Fa

Canim Lake

Indian Band

Northern Sewepemc te Qelmucw (NStQ) The NStQ include four bands with over 2,500 members. Since time immemorial, our people have used and protected the resources within our traditional territory. There is archaeological evidence that, as Secwepemc, we have occupied Secwepemc7ulecw (the entire Secwepemc terriuse Rd. V2G 5L5 -989.2323

Dog Creek area

dian Band

Farwell Canyon

Northern Shus

Quesnel Lake

Northern Shuswap Tribal Co

wap Tribal Council

Maahood Falls

Soda Creek Ind (Xat’sull)

Chief Donna Dixon 3405 Mountain Hou Williams Lake, BC • Phone: 250-9

Williams Lake (T’exelc)

Yvonne Smith, Executive Director 17 South 1st Avenue Williams Lake, BC V2G 1H4 • Phone: 250-392.7361 • Toll free: 1-888.392.7361

Canim Lake Band (Tsq’escen’)

Chief Mike Archie Box 1030 100 Mile House BC V0K 2E0 • Phone: 250-397.2227 • Treaty: 250-397-2002 • Toll free: 1-866-797-2277

Stswecem’c Xgat’tem

Northern Sewepemc Chief Mike Archi Dog Creek area te Qelmucw (NStQ) Northern Northern Sewepemc Sewepemc teteQelmucw Qelmucw(NStQ) (NStQ) The NStQ include four bands with over 2,500 Box 1030 Box 1030 Williams Chief Donna Dixon Lake, BC, V2G 5L5 The The NStQ NStQinclude include four four bands bandswith with over over 2,500 2,500 ••• Treaty: Phone: Phone: 250-397.2227 250-397.2227 250-397-2002 Williams Williams Lake, Lake, BC BC V2G V2G 5L5 5L5 members.

Since time immemorial, our people • Phone: 250-989-2323 Northern Sewepemc te Qelmucw (NStQ) 100 Mile House BC V0K 2E0 3405 Mountain House Rd. members. members.

Since time timeimmemorial, immemorial, our our people people 100 Mile House ••• Toll free: Treaty: Treaty: 250-397-2002 250-397-2002 1-866-797-2277 have usedSince and protected theover resources within •• Phone: Phone:250-989.2323 250-989.2323 The NStQ include four bands with 2,500 • Phone: 250-397.2227 • Phone: 2 Williams Lake, BC V2G 5L5 have have used and andprotected protected theresources resources within within •• Toll Tollfree: free:1-866-797-2277 1-866-797-2277 ourused traditional territory.the There ispeople archaeological members.

Since time immemorial, our • Treaty: 250-397-2002 • Treaty: 2 Williams Lake Indian Band our our traditional traditional territory.

There There isisarchaeological archaeological • Phone: 250-989.2323 evidence that,territory. as Secwepemc, we have occupied Stswecem’c Xgat’tem and protected the resources we within Williams Williams LakeIndian IndianBand Bandhave usedevidence • Toll free: 1-866-797-2277 Toll free: evidence that, that,asasSecwepemc, Secwepemc, have haveoccupied occupied • (T’exelc)Lake Secwepemc7ulecw (the entirewe Secwepemc Stswecem’c Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation Xgat’tem our traditional territory.

There is archaeological Secwepemc7ulecw Secwepemc7ulecw (the (the entire entire Secwepemc Secwepemc territerri(T’exelc) (T’exelc) territory, and as the NStQ have occupied the Chief Ann Louie Band Williams Lake Indian First FirstXgat’tem Nation Nation Chief Patrick Harry evidencetory, that, as Secwepemc, we have occupied tory, and and asasthe the NStQ NStQ have have occupied occupied the thelands lands Stswecem’c Chief Chief Ann Louie Louie lands within our Statement of Intent area, Stswecem’c 2672Ann Indian Dr. Chief ChiefPatrick Patrick Harry Harry General Delivery Secwepemc7ulecw (the entireof Secwepemc terri(T’exelc) totalling 5.6 million hectares ofarea, land, for well within within our ourStatement Statement ofIntent Intent area, totalling totalling 2672 2672 Indian Indian Dr. Dr. BC, V2G 5K9 Williams Lake, First Nation First Nation General General Delivery Delivery Dog Creek, BC, V0L 1J0 tory, and as the NStQ have occupied the lands Chief AnnWilliams Louie over 5,000 years.

5.6 5.6 million million hectares hectares of of land, land, for for well well over over 5,000 5,000 Williams Lake, Lake, BC BC V2G V2G 5K9 5K9 • Phone: 250-296-3507 Chief Patrick Harry Chief Patrick Ha Dog Creek, Creek, BC BC V0L V0L1J0 1J0 •Dog Phone: 250-440-5645 within our Statement of Intent area, totalling 2672 Indian years. years.

••• Dr. Phone: 250-296-3507 250-296-3507 Toll Phone: free: 1-877-856-3507 Today, we are moving forward in providing General Delivery General Deliver 250-440-5649 •• Treaty: Phone: Phone: 250-440-5645 250-440-5645 5.6 million hectares ofmoving land, for well over 5,000 and Williams •Lake, BC 5K9 Today, Today, we weChild are are moving forward forward ininproviding providing • Toll TollFree: Free:V2G 1-877-856-3507 1-877-856-3507 quality & Family Care; Education Dog Creek,••BC V0L 1J0 Dog Creek, BC Toll free: 1-888-220-4220 Treaty Treaty : :250-440.5649 250-440.5649 years. quality • Phone: 250-296-3507 quality Child Child &&Family Family Care; Care; Education Education and and training; Health Services; Natural Resources • Phone: • Phone: 2 •• 250-440-5645 Toll Tollfree: free:1-888-220-4220 1-888-220-4220 Today, we are forward in Natural providing • Toll Free: 1-877-856-3507 training; training; Health Health Services; Services; Natural Resources Resources andmoving Governance Programs and services for our • Treaty : 250-440.5649 • Treaty : 2 quality Child & Family Care; Education and and and Governance Governance Programs Programs and andservices servicesfor forour our membership.

• Toll free: 1-888-220-4220 • Toll free: membership. training; membership.

Health Services; Natural Resources If you are a NStQ Member we invite you to contact us so that we can add your The four NStQ communities and members also The Thefour fourPrograms NStQ NStQcommunities communities and and members members and Governance and services for our on the NSTC Citizens Database. We do need your current contact own and operate their own businesses, and have Ifinformation Ifyou youare arean anNStQ NStQMember Memberwe weinvite inviteyou youtotocontact contactusussosothat thatwe wecan canadd addyour your membership. also also own own and and operate operate their their own own businesses, businesses, information so that we can get in touch with you for the upcoming ‘vote on whether created economic partnerships that will allow information information on onthe the NSTC NSTC Citizens Citizens Data DataNegotiations’.

Base.

Base.We Wedo doneed needyour yourcurrent currentcontact contactinin- The fourand and have have created createdeconomic economic partnerships partnerships that that the NStQ should move onto the Final NStQ communities our communities andand our members nation to continue If you are an NStQ Member we invite you to contact us so that can add‘vote youron formation formation sosothat thatwe wecan canget get inintouch touch with withyou you for for the thewe upcoming upcoming ‘vote onwhether whetheralso ownwill will allow allow our our communities communities and and our our nation nation toto If you are an NSt and operate their negotiated own businesses, to grow.

Through agreements with information onNStQ the Citizens Data Base.

We do needforyour current in-and other and havecontinue the the NStQ should should move move onto onto the theGroup Final Final Negotiations’.

Negotiations’.

Visit the NSTC NSTC and NStQ Treaty address updates, jobcontact postings continue toand togrow. grow.

Through Through negotiated negotiated agreeagree- information on t created partnerships Canadaeconomic British Columbia wethat will become information.

Get involved in the treaty on the nstqtreatygroup.ca Facebook page. formation so that we can get in touch with you for the upcoming ‘vote on whether ments with with Canadaand and British Columbia Columbia we we formation so tha more self Canada sustaining andBritish ournation communities will allowments our communities and our to will Check out the NSTC’s ‘Governance’ section for valuable information. will will become become more more self self sustaining sustaining and and our our Visit Visitthe the NSTC NSTC and andthe NStQ NStQ Treaty Treaty Group Group websites websites for forupdates, updates, job jobpostings postingsand and become more economically viable. the NStQ should move onto Final Negotiations’. the NStQ should continue to grow. Through negotiated agreecommunities communities will will become become more more economically economically other otherinformation. information.Get Getinvolved involvedininthe thetreaty treatyon onthe thenstqtreatygroup.ca nstqtreatygroup.caFacebook Facebook ments with Canada and British Columbia we •northernshuswaptribalcouncil.com •nstqtreaty.ca viable.. viable.. page. page.

Check Check out the theNSTC’s NSTC’s‘Governance’ ‘Governance’ section sectionfor for valuable valuable information information will become more self sustaining and our Visit the NSTC and NStQout Treaty Group websites for updates, job postings and Visit the NSTC an communities will become more economically other information. Get involved in the treaty on the nstqtreatygroup.ca Facebook other informatio viable.. page. Check out the NSTC’s ‘Governance’ section for valuable information page. Check out

uncil

Williams Lake Indian Band (T’exelc)

Yvonne Smith, Executive Director 17 South 1st Avenue Williams Lake, BC V2G 1H4 • Phone: 250-392.7361 • Toll free: 1-888.392.7361

Farwell Canyon

Maahood Falls

Northern Northern Shuswap Shuswap Tribal Tribal Council Council Northern Shuswap Tribal Council Shuswap Tribal Council

Canim Lake Band (Tsq’escen’)

Chief Mike Archie Box 1030 100 Mile House BC V0K 2E0 • Phone: 250-397.2227 • Treaty: 250-397-2002 • Toll free: 1-866-797-2277

Stswecem’c Xgat’tem

Northern Shuswap Tribal Council

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 57

PEOPLE

ROPIN’, RIDIN’ AND LOVIN’ IT

Buddhist Nun Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi holds infant Kyle Kelly during the Making Peace Women’s Spirituality workshop.

TIPPING OUR HAT AT OUR UNIQUE PEOPLE

Photo by: Gaeil Farrar

58- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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PEOPLE

Poet finds humour in life’s tough times Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 Peggy McKinlay is one of those people who cause your jaw to drop when you realize how many different talents she possesses and has actually had the opportunity to indulge.

She was a strong gymnast in high school, worked as a model, designed and drew advertising layouts for the Hudson’s Bay company, did mechanical drawings for Boeing, owned two pottery schools, and became a real estate agent after her husband died, because pottery didn’t really pay the rent.

And along the way she developed as a painter, realistic and abstract, and as a poet.

And on top of all this she can deliver many of her poems from memory in the most animated way — some of that likely coming from her high school drama days.

She even wrote a musical called Tracy’s

Peggy’s painting of their remote cabin.

Gaeil Farrar photo

Peggy McKinlay with her “sweetie” Mike Bunyan. At left she modelled for the Hudson’s Bay company as a young girl.

Travels.

Peggy turned 90 last summer and a year ear-

lier released her first book of poetry in a selfpublished edition called

Works and Quirks: From the Log Cabin Scribblers.

She was encouraged to write the book by her two daughters Liz

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McKinlay and Marg Stone who are in awe of their mother’s talent.

Liz is a partner with Oak House Publishing and guided the collection of stories and poems included in the book.

Peggy was born on her parent’s homestead at Bonaparte Lake, but was raised from the age of three in Vancouver after her parents split up.

“My mother and father absolutely loathed each other,” Peggy says. “He said he would never pay a penny of support for her or us kids and he never did.”

She says they were so poor that dumped potatoes became a staple.

For reasons she didn’t understand she says potato farmers were dumping their potatoes, but one kind trucker couldn’t bare to see the potatoes dumped while children were starving.

He called all of the neighborhood children over to the dump site, gave them potatoes and

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showed them how to roast them.

Peggy says she had a gymnast’s body from an early age and was strong.

There is actually one picture in her book where she is doing a backbend while a male gymnast is doing a handstand on her stomach.

“My mother used to get me to carry two buckets of water from the well so I could show off my muscles to friends,” Peggy jokes.

It was an odd thing to do but Peggy says she doesn’t come from a conventional family.

She started school in Burnaby shortly after her fifth birthday and got the strap the first day.

“Back, then, the teachers thought that strapping could cure left-handedness,” Peggy says. “It never did, but my hands became mighty tough.”

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 59

Fletcher Lake cabin was a writer’s haven

Continued From Page 58

With that kind of start, she says one had to develop a thick skin or an uncanny sense of humour.

Fortunately for her and her readers she chose humour.

“My girls and I like humour,” Peggy says.

After her lawyer husband, Jake, died young Peggy raised her teenage children John, Daniel, Elizabeth and Marguerite on her own then found another love.

Peggy and her “sweetie” Mike Bunyan, who has one daughter, Ashley, took holidays in the Chilcotin for many years and finally decided to buy a little cabin and five acres on Fletcher Lake.

They enjoyed the cabin on holidays for many years and one year just decided to stay.

“I was in real estate at the time and being away was hard on my customers,” Peggy says.

“One weekend we just phoned everyone and

said we aren’t coming back.”

To many people the Cariboo and especially the Chilcotin is a wild and woolly place great for a visit — but you wouldn’t want to live there — too cold in winter, too much hard work and wild animals to contend with any time of year. But Peggy and Mike loved it.

She says living at Fletcher Lake was a special time. With no television there was lots of time for creativity after chores were done.

At 3 p.m. they would quit their chores and have a little party, play music on a portable radio, sing, laugh, and play word games, creating comical one liners.

With no television and very few people around it was just a magical time,” Peggy says.

Peggy and Mike now live in Williams Lake and enjoy visits with their extended family.

Peggy is working on a new book about universal laws.

Gaeil Farrar photo

Peggy McKinlay with daughters Liz McKinlay (left) and Marg Stone (right) and her book of poems and stories.

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Monica Lamb-Yorski photos

Paul Carnes ties a fly in his basement studio using gold thread and red feathers, something he learned after he moved to Williams Lake as a young high school teacher in the 1970s.

Love of fishing keeps Paul Carnes afloat Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 Paul Carnes makes fly tying look easy.

“It’s what I like doing,” the retired teacher said as he created a fly in his basement studio in about 10 minutes.

“I like the challenge of trying to tie different things. The tradition, the patterns and the history behind them.

It’s a good artistic outlet for me.”

Carnes grew up fishing with his dad in Victoria, but said he was not serious about it until he was a student at university and gravitated to fishing as a means to take a break from his studies.

Then when he and his wife Buff moved to Williams Lake for teaching jobs in 1972 the opportunity to

learn fly tying presented itself.

Helen Peacock was the manager at the local Fields Store, but she was also a professional fly tier.

On a regular basis she taught fly tying courses through Cariboo College.

When there weren’t enough students for one of her courses to run that year, Peacock agreed to teach Carnes and five other guys how to tie flies.

Weekly they gathered around her kitchen table and she taught them the basics.

Carnes then progressed by reading up on it and trying new things, sometimes even taking already made flies apart to see how they were put together.

One of the main reasons he was inspired to

Creating steelhead flies is a fun challenge for Paul Carnes. He uses different colours and patterns, some dating back to the 1800s, to create flies that attract the fish. learn, he recalled, was the fact it gets expensive to fly fish.

“When you are a poor caster like I was at the beginning you lose a lot of flies.”

His delving into the art also led to ex-

ploring the history of Steelhead and Atlantic Salmon flies.

“The Steelhead flies are a lot brighter, prettier and attractive to the fish,” Carnes said as he pointed to half a dozen brightly coloured flies

on the kitchen table.

“These ones here are spey flies and dee flies.

I’ve used ancient patterns from the 1800s which I enjoy tying just for the exercise and the challenge and trying to manipulate feathers.”

Unlike the other flies, they are not replicas of anything natural, they are just attractants, he explained.

Holding up a steelhead fly made of gold feathers, he said his daughter Christine wanted broach flies for her wedding.

“I designed a Golden Argus and all the groomsmen wore them on their lapels. Christine had one for her wedding bouquet.”

In the past Carnes sold flies at the Medieval Market for a few years, when it was held in the library at Williams Lake Junior Secondary School.

When asked if there’s a big fly tying community in Williams Lake, he said in 1995, he and his friends created the Cariboo-Chilcotin Fly Fishers Society.

“It’s gone up and down as far as membership is concerned, there are about 10 of us right now.”

The society has done projects and enjoy the winter months tying flies together.

They usually have a fish out annually. This year’s took place the last week of May out at Palmer Lake.

Normally Carnes’ fishing season starts off in April with Steelhead.

As in previous years, he participated in a sample study directed by the Ministry of Environment.

In May he fishes for trout in local lakes — mostly catch and release — and does that through June and July.

See TWO Page 61

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 61

people

Two hobbies go hand in hand Continued From Page 60 He and his some of his other fishing buddies also measure the length of the trout they catch for a provincial fisheries program.

“We’re doing that to give an idea of the size of the trout in the lakes.”

As for eating fish, he loves fresh caught trout, but said they are too dry if they are thrown in the freezer.

In June his father Bill who is 94 will come to Williams Lake and the two will go fishing at Sapeye Lake, a spot Carnes goes to regularly with his friend Rob Gordon who owns a cabin there.

“Ironically I taught him fly tying,” he said of Gordon.

By late July and August it’s getting pretty hot, and the fish will find a comfort zone in the water table so sometimes they are quite moody, he said, adding that’s the time of the year he ends

Photo submitted

Paul Carnes and his dog Dawn with a fish Carnes caught in Bella Coola using one of his own flies. up putting more effort into his garden.

In August he’ll go to Shearwater on the coast to fish for Coho and Halibut with a friend, and in the fall he’ll fly fish for Coho with a bunch of friends for a week.

Then in October he will close off the season fishing for Steelhead, but this time out of Telkwa

on the Bulkley River.

He mainly catches trout using mayflies, he said as he opened a wooden box with a bronze mayfly nymph on the top made by an artist in Palm Springs, California.

Picking out one of the mayfly nymphs Carnes said they are made using pheasant tail feathers and

copper wire.

“It’s called a pheasant tail nymph,” he explained. “In fly fishing you use a fly to imitate an insect so you’re trying to replicate the food the fish is eating.”

As he opened more of his fly boxes, he explained their contents.

“These are caddis flies, these are dragon flies and

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damsel flies,” he said.

“These little guys are chironomids and are 75 per cent of the fishes’ diet.

In making flies, the tyer is imitating the life cycle of the flies.

The chironomids start out as blood worms in the bottom of a lake in the mud. Then they start hatching or merging and come out of the mud. As they move up in the water table they will transform into a bug, to a stage where they are most vulnerable to fish.

“The fish cruise along and suck them up, and if the chironomids get to the surface, they fly away, then come back and lay their eggs and the cycle repeats itself, going on all summer.”

While Carnes taught History and Social Studies throughout his career, in the late 90s he developed a fly tying course for the high school.

“The administration and the school had a high school program where each child had to have

so many points to graduate,” Carnes said, adding there was a problem for some students to fulfill the requirements for fine art, lifetime and applied skills.

“There weren’t enough courses, mainly for boys, who didn’t want to take painting or music so I said I could design a course to satisfy lifetime skills and fine arts by fly tying.”

He drew up the course, the school board approved and the Parents Advisory Committee gave him funds to purchase fly tying sets.

During the first semester he had 17 to 20 kids enrolled in the class and they gave their dads flies for Christmas.

“It worked really well,” he chuckled, adding he taught a lot of girls too. “I was paid to do what I love to do, although I also loved teaching history.”

The fly tying course became an entomology course too as the students

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learned to replicate the various life cycles of the bugs.

“I found it interesting and the kids did too. It makes a logical progression and they got to know what the insect was and how to duplicate it.”

He taught the course in high school up until he retired in 2004, although it was a sticking point that as an academic head he was teaching an elective for 17 students when he could have been teaching Social Studies to 30 students.

All these years later, Carnes still loves living in the Cariboo, he said.

His children — Christine and David — were born and raised in Williams Lake and have remained to raise their own families.

“We were going to give it two or three years, which is the normal conversation you have with people, and then you just fall in love with the country and the people,” he smiled.

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Search and Rescue members dedicated to helping others Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 A desire to help in times of distress is at the heart of why many people volunteer for emergency services.

In Williams Lake and surrounding area, the story isn’t any different as presently there are 43 active members volunteering with Central Cariboo Search and Rescue.

During the past year alone, members have responded to more than 200 calls, attended training sessions once or twice a week, and done extra workshops on weekends.

At a regular Tuesday evening practice in June, set aside to do the monthly equipment check at the SAR hall on Mackenzie Avenue, some of the members shared a little about their involvement.

The camaraderie and the commitment werefront and centre.

“I like knowing I’m helping people,” said Rick White, chief of SAR Operations, who

has been with the organization since 1997.

“Working with other SAR groups and fire departments is like being part of a large emergency family.”

White became involved with the organization after he trained as a ham radio operator and was called in to help with a major search in Wildwood.

When the search ended, he was asked to join CCSAR. “I like the people I work and train with.

The training is always changing and upgrading.”

Grabbing a small two-way satellite communicator with a global positioning system, White said the devices have been around for about two years.

“It’s a pretty good little tool,” he said smiling. “It connects with a smart phone. It fills in the blanks.”

Most recently they used them when they were looking for a stranded boater on the Fraser River.

CCSAR is respon-

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Central Cariboo Search and Rescue volunteers Bob Piderman and Don Trim during an auto extrication course. sible for a vast region, spanning from Marguerite in the north, 130 Mile House in the south, Anahim Lake to the west and Horsefly

and Likely to the east.

And because Land SAR is a provincial resource, the local unit can be dispatched anywhere through the

Emergency Co-ordination Centre, said Paul Airey, assistant chief of Land SAR. “We were called to Quesnel a few weeks

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Airey began volunteering with SAR in Meadow Lake, Sask. and then moved to Wil-

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Volunteers come from all walks of life Continued From Page 62 Adam Duffy, ended up joining after winning a prize at the CCSAR auction two years ago, he said.

“I came to pick up my prize and started talking with some of the crew.”

He had always wanted to do something along the line of helping people and is now the unit’s safety officer.

There are two components to CCSAR — land search and rescue and auto extrication (auto ex).

Some of the members volunteer for one or the other, others like Don Trim volunteer for both.

Originally Trim was only doing land search and rescue and then one Christmas Day when they got a call out to a motor vehicle accident, he assisted.

From then on, he started getting involved with auto ex and two years ago became the auto ex chief.

Trim grew up in the bush near Helena Lake, southwest of Lac La Hache, and was already “fairly bush smart,” he said.

“Volunteering for SAR is an unpaid job you need to show up for like it’s a real job,” Trim smiled, adding he

loves working with the team and the camaraderie.

Inside one of the supply trailers, Katie Hadden and Bob Piderman were cross referencing supplies with a check list.

“I really wanted to get into medicine,” Hadden said. “I am working on a degree in biochemistry.”

When she joined in 2013, she had an inkling going out on calls would appeal to her.

“I love it,” she said.

Piderman joined a year and a half ago.

He’s lived in Williams Lake for 34 years and has always been involved with the community, but more with his children’s activities.

“When our last child moved out I realized I had lots of time on my hands,” Piderman said.

Inside the trailer were tents, ladders, tables, even cooling fans, everything they would need to set up a station, Piderman explained.

“In the summer of 2010 when there were big fires out west, Land SAR was sent out to do whatever needed to be done,” he said.

When Keith Jones moved to Williams Lake just over two years ago from Mackenzie, he had already been involved with

search and rescue for eight years.

A year and a half ago Jones and his dog Hunter, who is in training with the BC Search Dog Association, joined the local team.

“We go for training every six months in Chilliwack or Kamloops,” Jones said of Hunter’s ongoing search dog education.

“He is one step away from being validated, he just has to finish up his obedience part of the training.”

There are two parts to the program — search and obedience.

“Hunter’s an awesome searcher, he just needs some work on the obedience side,” Jones chuckled as Hunter intently eyed the ball Jones was holding in his hand.

Hunter practices doing searches once a week with members of the unit.

Jones purchased two-year-old Hunter from local breeder, Josie Doucette.

So far, Hunter is the furthest north a search dog is located and he is the first dog to be a member of CCSAR. “It’s been a learning curve for me and the rest of the unit,” Jones said. “The RCMP will do his validation along with BC Search Dog Association and when

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Keith Jones and Hunter who is presently training with BC Search Dog Association. we get a call out we will have to notify the RCMP that a search dog has been deployed.”

Alana Sand returned to volunteer in January 2013 after raising her children. She’d volunteered in 1993 for about a year, but then was busy with babies.

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Junior member Alex Phaneuf, 18, inspects the ATV trailer during regular practice.

“I was at a point in my life where I could be more flexible and available for being on call,” Sand said of her return.

In May she was one of a dozen members who participated in a weekend auto extrication training session held in Williams Lake.

When asked how her mindset works when they are called out to an accident scene, Sand said she prepares herself on the way.

“In the truck we are usually getting updates on what we’re headed too,” she said. “When we arrive the incident commander will break it down in steps and delegate. You do the job the best you can.”

For the equipment check, Sand was partnered with Dan Huesken, who moved to Williams Lake from Chilliwack in the fall and joined CCSAR in mid-September.

“It was a good time to sign up because they were doing a basic ground search and rescue course,” Huesken said. “I had done first aid training quite a bit.”

As an avid outdoors enthusiast, and a geographic information system (map maker) by trade, he thought he

could bring those skills to helping people in emergency situations.

“I haven’t been on a ground search yet, but I joined auto ex in November and we’ve had lots of those calls already, especially in the winter,” Huesken added.

Hal Giles is definitely one of the longest standing members in the organization with 30 years of experience.

Similar to White, Giles became involved through amateur radio and to this day his portfolio is radio communication primarily.

“I also fix things in the hall,” Giles said as he walked toward one of the trailers he said he’s outfitted. “In the ATV trailer we have 12 helmets of different sizes at all time because you never know who is going to be driving them.”

Meanwhile Roy Simpson credited White, who is his neighbour, for encouraging him to join a year and a half ago.

“I’ve been in Williams Lake since 1989, but after talking with Rick I decided to give it a try,” Simpson said.

“I do both sides, but mostly auto ex.”

There is also a junior

contingent at CCSAR where people can join at age 16 but cannot go on calls until they are 19.

There are two juniors — Alex Phaneuf and Alex Airey.

Phaneuf, who is graduating from high school, said he joined early this year and has worked mostly on the ground search side.

“It seemed really cool to me,” Phaneuf smiled.

CCSAR is unique in the province because it is one of three search and rescue units funded through taxation.

“There was a plebiscite in 1997 that asked people if they wanted a search and rescue and to be taxed through the Cariboo Regional District,” Trim said.

“We’re very fortunate to be structured this way.”

Through taxation, the building, operation, fuel and insurance is covered. Some of the equipment has been donated by community groups such as a trailer, a quad and a capstan winch, that White said is an awesome addition. Instead of needing six to 12 people to pull a rope for an embankment rescue, the winch does the work.

64- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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Eighty-two years married and still going strong Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 Ninety-nine-year-old Gurbax Singh Nijjar has one wish.

He hopes to live long enough to see his grandson Jaskirat get married.

“Make sure to tell her he’s an electrical engineer,” Gurbax told his daughter-in-law Harjinder who translated for him during an interview at Deni House.

“When he talks with my son on the phone he asks if he’s met any nice young women,” Harjinder smiled. “He tells my son if he does meet someone to make sure and invite her out for tea.”

Gurbax and his wife Surjit Kaur , 96, have been married for 82 years. Theirs was an arranged marriage — he was 16 and she was 13.

“They don’t have those young marriages in India anymore,” Harjinder said.

Up until November Gurbax was mobile on his own, but after he got a bladder infection, he started having difficulty walking so his family moved him into Deni House.

As we visited in a room down the hall from his ward, Surjit sat beside him on the couch.

She was dressed traditionally, while he was wearing jogging pants, and a sweat shirt.

Both of them had their heads covered as is custom in the Sikh tradition.

Gurbax knows how to speak and read in English but because of Dementia, he tends to talk more frequently in his native tongue Punjabi.

He is also fluent in Persian and Hindi.

After they were married Gurbax went to college in Pakistan where he studied political science, English and history.

Surjit, however, never learned how to read and write, yet she is very smart, her son Satbir said.

Both Gurbax and Surjit grew up in Pakistan, but when Pakistan separated from India, the Nijjars migrated to India in 1947.

At that time, people who owned farmland in Pakistan were given the same amount of land in India, and because Gurbax was farming his family’s ancestral lands

he was able to resume running a large farm in their new country.

While Gurbax managed the farm with help from employees, Surjit was in charge of the house and the children.

Harjinder’s husband Satbir, who was number eight in the family, recalled doing a few chores around the farm, but for the most part his parents worked hard to send their children to school.

“They had to pay for schooling from Grade One on,” Satbir said.

“I remember dad being gone all day working and mom cleaning, cooking and washing clothes. She always had two to three helpers in the house.”

All 11 children were born at home with assistance from midwives, although one child died who was premature and another died at 10 months of age.

Their farm was located in the village of Chomon in the Jalandhar district, in Punjab state.

For many years, Gurbax was the head of five local villages.

“He would help find solutions and represent the villages to the government,” Harjinder explained.

Gurbax Singh Nijjar and Surjit Kaur Nijjar in 2006.

Throughout his entire adult life, Gurbax has started each day with prayer.

In India he walked ten minutes to the temple every morning to pray before his work day.

When they were sponsored by three of their children to come to Canada, and arrived in Williams Lake in December 1980, Gurbax decided he

would help raise money to build a new Sikh temple in the lakecity.

He travelled around B.C. and into the U.S. gathering donations and eventually in 1989 the Western Singh Sabha Association was able to build a temple on Pine Street.

Up until he moved into Deni House, Gurbax walked to the temple two

Photo submitted

times a day.

Now he wakes up at 4 a.m. to read the holy book and recite the NitNem, a collection of Sikh hymns, every day.

“He washes and then reads for three hours,” Harjinder said. “At first the nurses wondered why he was up so early.”

Surjit prays her beads from 5 a.m to 11 a.m. every day as well.

Smiling, Gurbax told Harjinder to let me know as far as he was concerned he is in the temple living at Deni House.

“He is very content here,” Harjinder added.

When he isn’t reading the holy book he’s reading anything he can because he loves to read.

He also loves watching the news.

Harjinder met Satbir when he moved to Williams Lake with his parents.

They were married in 1987 and have their son Jaskirat and a daughter Harmeet.

Both live in the Lower Mainland.

Having her in-laws living with them was a huge plus, Harjinder insisted.

“They helped me raise my children and now they are very close. Both our children are fluent in Punjabi and phone their grandparents all the time.”

The Nijjars have five children living in California, four in Canada and they have 22 grandchildren.

After moving to Canada they would travel around spending time visiting and staying with their children.

I first met the couple

during the Vaisakhi celebration at the temple in April.

Surjit was sitting quietly on a couch on the women’s side of the eating hall.

Instinctively I sat beside her and when I realized we couldn’t speak to each other I grabbed her hand and held it.

We sat there quietly.

Harjinder came over and explained her mother-in-law couldn’t speak English, but I said that we were OK. Then she pointed across the room to where Gurbax was sitting in a wheelchair on the men’s side of the hall.

He was sipping chai, after enjoying food prepared by the women in the community.

I asked if the two could pose together for a photograph because 82 years of marriage was in my mind a remarkable milestone.

Harjinder thinks the secret of her in-laws’ longevity is the fact they are totally vegetarian, have never smoked or drank alcohol, coupled with the fact they are both very religious and spiritual.

“And being married 82 years? That’s committed,” she said.

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Gurbax Singh Nijjar helped raise money to build the Western Singh Sabha Association temple seen here in April during Vaisakhi.

66- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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Upbringing prepares Bonnie Gavin for life in politics Diana French Casual Country 2015 When constituents phone or visit MLA Donna Barnett’s Williams Lake Office, their first contact is Bonnie Gavin.

Bonnie has been Donna’s executive assistant since the 2009 election.

Bonnie is no stranger to politics. She is the daughter of Alex Fraser, the long time Cariboo MLA. Alex was on the Quesnel civic council, several years as Mayor, for 20 years before entering the provincial scene and Bonnie says she really doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t in politics.

Her mother Gertrude was a well known and respected nurse and volunteer in Quesnel and the family was very much in the public eye.

The downside, Bonnie says, is that she grew up with very little privacy.

However, the plus side more than made up for it.

When Alex was mayor the family met and entertained many visiting dignitaries, and Bonnie was always included. When he was MLA and Minister of Highways she met the province’s movers and shakers — Premiers WAC and Bill Bennett, and cabinet ministers, on a personal basis.

“Most of them were down to earth, ordinary people,” she recalls.

She also got to travel with her dad and she has fond memories of trips to the Chilcotin.

Alex was a regular attendee of Anahim Stampedes among other events out west.

The Frasers moved to Victoria in 1975

when Alex became Minister of Transportation and Highways.

Bonnie attended the University of Victoria majoring in political science and history.

During those years she was on the inside track to attend interesting functions and meet interesting people.

Back in the Cariboo, Bonnie worked for Dave Worthy when he was the MP for this riding, and later for Williamson Blacktop and the Yellow Umbrella. Bonnie theoretically works five days a week but in reality her schedule has to be flexible.

Events don’t always happen between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays. Some days she’s in the office at 7 a.m. and some days until 7 p.m. Donna operates on an open door basis, constituents come first and each gets a fair

hearing. Bonnie often travels with Donna and sometimes she stands in for her “to be her eyes and ears.”

In a normal day Bonnie deals with every kind of problem from “road to schools, First Nations, forestry and social problems – you name it. We try to help everyone.”

Usually she can give constituents the information they need or can assist them in getting it.

Because there is no federal MP’s office in the lakecity, Bonnie often deals with federal problems.

“We have a good relationship with Dick Harris’ office and we refer the federal issues to them.”

In her “off work” time Bonnie has been raising her son, Alex, who is now 22 and apprenticing with Peterson Contracting.

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MLA executive assistant Bonnie Gavin was surrounded by politics, even as a child, as the daughter of longtime Cariboo MLA Alex Fraser.

ounging on the beach, fishing in Quesnel Lake, or visiting Cedar City Museum, a trip to Likely is a treasured experience for travellers who are lucky enough to find their way there.

If you arrive on the May long weekend you will be able to take in the world’s shortest but most enthusiastic parade. In summer, the locals get together with teams from all around the region for a popular competitive fun ball tournament. Of course there are endless opportunities for fishing, camping, hiking, canoeing, kayaking and other outdoor sports.

Situated where the west arm of Quesnel Lake empties into the Quesnel River, Likely is one of the few remaining gold rush settlements. That early history is reflected in the decor of the famous Likely Deacon Hotel - affectionately called the Likely Hilton by locals.

Quesnel Lake is the largest lake in the Cariboo and the deepest fjord lake in the world, with more than 500 km of scenic shoreline. One spot in the lake is over 610 metres deep. Likely, at the west end of the lake, was originally called Quesnel Dam. The name was changed to honour John A. Likely of the Bullion Pit Mine. He was affectionately called Plato for his tendency to philosophize.

In 1898 the Quesnel River was dammed near Likely to enable downriver areas to be explored for gold. During the last week of October in 1922, more than 697 ounces of gold were recovered at the Cedar Creek Mine. In 1935 the Bullion Pit became the site of the largest hydraulic monitors ever

installed in North America. It operated from 1892 to 1942, constructing over 64 kilometres of canals to draw water from nearby lakes and creeks to feed the hydraulic nozzles. In fact, Morehead Lake was created to supply water to the Bullion mine.

Today, the Bullion Pit attracts many tourists.

It stands as an astonishing man-made canyon which can be viewed from the road to Likely or a trail above.

Plan a visit to Likely in late August and watch thousands of salmon migrate up the Quesnel River to their spawning grounds in the Horsefly and Mitchell Rivers.

Cedar Point, now a park and campground has mining artifacts and displays positioned throughout. You will not want to miss the historic mining museum located at Cedar Point.

For more information on what to do in Likely, call 250-790-2323 or call the Williams Lake Visitor Centre at 1-877-967-5253 or locally at 392-5025.

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Donna Barnett paves way for women in provincial politics Diana French Casual Country 2015 Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett’s interest in politics began in 1969 when long time Cariboo MLA Alex Fraser first ran for office. He called Donna to ask if she would help with his campaign in the 100 Mile House area.

She responded by organizing — and cooking for — a 400-person fundraising dinner.

She stayed active in the Social Credit Party until its demise, then she joined the BC Liberals.

Alex was famous for representing all his constituents.

No matter who they were, where they lived or how they voted.

That’s Donna’s style too. She is always available to hear public input and community ideas.

Her home phone number is “in the book.” She responds to all requests, although sometimes, she says, the answer has to be no.

She enjoys working with people.

“When we work together we can make the quality of all our lives a little easier,” she says.

When the Legislature isn’t sitting, Donna is either at her constituency office in 100 Mile House, where Bev Harris is her executive assistant, or in Williams Lake, where Bonnie Gavin holds the fort, or she is “on the road” attending events and meeting with residents.

Her constituency covers a huge geographic area (43, 321 square km) from the Anahim Lake area to the 100 Mile area, so she spends a fair bit of time travelling.

She says she sees herself as the human contact in the government process.

“Sometimes people just need someone to listen to them.”

Donna was born and raised in the Lower

Courtney Taylor/Advisor file photo

MLA Donna Barnett (left), current Williams Lake Mayor Walt Cobb and Premier Christy Clark are all smiles as they serve up breakfast during a Rotary Pancake breakfast in 2013.

Mainland. She attended high school in Burnaby and that’s where she met, and later married Jack Barnett.

In the early 1960s, Jack had a short term job in 100 Mile House and fell in love with the South Cariboo.

The family spent holidays in the area, then bought 240 acres of “bare rocky land” at 96 Mile House.

They moved to the property in the spring of 1967 and developed it the hard way, mostly by hand, living in a small trailer with their two small sons.

It was a big change from their comfortable home and lifestyle in Burnaby but they enjoyed being modern day pioneers.

Snowmobiling caught their attention early on.

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett is often out and about in the communities she serves meeting constituents, as seen above this May at Scout Island with Gail Wallin.

They were founding members of the 100 Mile Snowmobile Club

and were involved in developing an extensive snowmobile trail

system. Their interest lead them to buy the 93 Mile Sales and Service

ski-doo dealership.

They built a new facility, and changed the name to the 100 Mile Recreational Sales and Service.

“Neither Jack nor I had a clue about running a business,” Donna recalls, but the business was a success.

She later went into real estate and was a licensed realtor.

Donna says she didn’t have much of a clue about municipal politics either when she was elected Mayor of the District of 100 Mile House in 1986.

What she did have was an impressive track record for community involvement and a good knowledge of the area.

She says she learned as she went along.

During her 16 years as mayor she served on a wide variety of committees, boards, and agencies including the Cariboo Regional District.

When she was elected in May, 2009 as the MLA for South Cariboo (now Cariboo Chilcotin) she brought a diverse background of experience in government services, education, health recreation, environment and social services to the job.

As MLA she has been Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Communities and Development to the Minister of Community, Tourism, Sport and Cultural Development, a member of the Select Standing Committees on Aboriginal Affairs, Health, and Parliamentary Reform, Ethical Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills.

After a tough campaign Donna was reelected in May, 2013.

Sadly, later that year, Jack passed away.

Her latest responsibility as MLA is Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development.

She will be working on this new program with Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Re-

source Operations.

The Rural Development project was initiated to help communities, most of them rural, that have lost their main source of jobs from closures in the resource industries such as forestry and mining.

Donna chairs a 14-member Advisory Council which will advise the province on ways to help these communities.

Tom Hoffman from Williams Lake has been appointed to this group.

B.C. cities have the biggest population, but the province’s wealth comes from resources in the rural areas which haven’t always received a fair share of the economic benefits.

The Rural Development program gives the rural areas the opportunity to have meaningful input into government policy decisions.

Donna says it’s a complicated problem and the concept is easier to visualize than it will be to accomplish, but by taking a collaborative approach, the advisory group can accomplish good things for smaller communities.

When she has spare time, Donna enjoys gardening and cooking and she has never lost her interest in snowmobiling.

She and Jack were classic car buffs and Donna has a 1936 Ford touring sedan which she drives whenever she has the chance.

Donna was the first woman mayor of the District of 100 Mile and the first woman MLA for the Cariboo Chilcotin.

She has received numerous personal awards, including the 125th Canadian Government Medal for Community Achievement, South Cariboo Citizen of the Year, Women of the Year in Resource Communities, and the B.C. Government Community Achievement Award.

68- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

Madison Magnowski tickles the ivory in tunes by Scottish immigrants played in Barkerville during the Gold Rush.

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Gaeil Farrar photos

Shannon Muhammed (left), Massimo Calabrese, Zoe Hanson, and Amelia Burrill demonstrate some of the dances popular during the Gold Rush era in Gold and Fiddle Fever.

Gold and Fiddle Fever strikes nostalgic chord Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 With a sold out premiere behind them this spring the Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddle Society is taking its new show on the road in July.

Gold and Fiddle Fever is the culmination of a year-long project by the young musicians, their teachers, mentors and parents that will be on Barkerville’s Theatre Royal stage for two days only, July 11 and 12.

Introduced comically

by Harry Jennings and narrated with lots of animation by Mary Forbes and Brynn Thompson every one of the 30 or so tunes in the show is accompanied by a charming skit in old time costumes, singing, dancing, and interesting tidbits of history and stories on life during the Barkerville’s Gold Rush era.

The youth fiddle group includes approximately 45 fiddlers, guitarists, pianists, and drummers ages five to 18 who took lessons from various instruc-

tors and got together for regular workshops over the past year to practice for the show.

Fiddle instructor Ingrid Johnston researched and wrote the script and national fiddle instructor Gordon Stobbe of Nova Scotia worked with Johnston to choose tunes that were popular at the time then customize them for the era and the students.

Stobbe and Johnston spent hundreds of hours creatively brainstorming ways to custom arrange traditional music of the era to weave a

Cy Thompson and Adam Sytsma pull and push Kate Neufeld and Olivia Rowse to the gold fields at Barkerville by walking.

tapestry of sounds and textures to represent many of the noises of the Gold Rush such as the hoof beat of the BX Express coach.

“First a melody is chosen, a harmony added, chords jotted in, then several melodies are strung together,” Johnston says.

Some of the familiar songs in the show include Listen to the Mockingbird, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, Amazing Grace, Yellow Rose of Texas, Camptown Races and Golden Slippers.

Stobbe came to the community four times to teach week-long workshops with the students. National fiddler Kelli Trottier also held a workshop with the fiddlers and numerous local mentors helped the students to develop parts for drum, guitar, ukulele, fiddle and piano. Both Stobbe and Johnston say the show wouldn’t have been possible without the support of parents and friends working behind the scenes to develop the sets and make the costumes and help with

fundraising.

Parent Candice Cook- Magnowski says the total budget for this year’s program is $26,000.

Through fundraising efforts and partnerships she says the society has been able to make the program accessible to all children.

Active since 2008, but formalized in 2011 the Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddle Society members can be seen performing at many community events during the year including the Williams Lake

Harvest Fair, Williams Lake Indoor Rodeo, Medieval Market, the Williams Lake Stampede, and many other local events and venues.

Gold and Fiddle Fever is the society’s second major show. Last year the society staged a two-year musical project called The Fiddlers’ History of Canada, also created with Stobbe’s help.

Since 2008 the society has hosted 20 workshops involving hundreds of participants.

See FANCY Page 69

The Gold Rush was the age of the big fancy hat as Lucas Nowotny (left), Massi Calabrese, Marin Hagedorn, and Lucia Johnston demonstrate in this scene.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 69

PEOPLE

Fancy fiddling part of colourful show

In this scene from Gold and Fiddle Fever narrators, Mary Forbes and Brynn Thompson, who run a stopping house on the Gold Rush trail, first fight then end up dancing to fiddle music.

Gaeil Farrar photos

Advanced Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddlers Camilla Pittman (left), Megan Neufeld, Callista Ball, Amy Hanson, Mackenzie Magnowski, Maria Bayliff, Katie Isaac, and Olivia MacDonald play each other’s fiddles in this scene from Gold and Fiddle Fever depicting travelling musical shows that would visit Barkerville during the early Gold Rush era.

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2015 Parade Committee hard at work planning this year’s Parade.

It will be held on Saturday, June 27 at 10:00 am.

the cupcakes at 2015-2015 President Tom Foley testing Sale Rotary Day in February during our Book at Boitanio Mall.

Daybreak Rotary meets every Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. at 4Sure Bistro (beside the Post Office)

70- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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PEOPLE

Anime costume fun finds the lakecity Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 Megan Law is having a lot of fun making costumes and plans to attend the Art Institute of Vancouver to become a costume designer.

She graduated from Lake City Secondary in June and made a special satin dress for the LCSS Tour Band trip to Europe at Spring Break. Then in April she made two costumes for her school’s outdoor carnival and art show which her friends wore for the occasion.

Megan herself wore a commercially made costume that she will wear to the Anime Evolution convention at UBC in July.

Megan became interested in Japanese anime in Grade 7 and when she learned that people actually dressed up in costumes, she started making her own costumes for Halloween.

“Buying costumes was way over my budget,” Megan says. “I learned from YouTube and my mom who is a

great help. She’s taught me everything I know.”

Megan watches the anime then creates a pattern for the costume.

In Grade 9 or 10 she made costumes for Sasori from Naruto and then Nyo Italy from Hetalia.

This spring she made the costumes for Princess from Date A Live and for Doll from the Japanese anime Black Butler Book of Circus. “I think Doll is my favourite costume so far,” Megan says. When they go to the Anime Evolution, Megan says she and Nicole Turbello will go as protagonists from Date A Live, Nicole as Princess and Megan as the villain Nightmare. Their friend Julian Lachapelle is going as Shido.

One of the other characters walking around the LCSS carnival was former graduate Bronson Lee Ramos with his Gipsy Danger costume that he won first place for in the Mary Sue and Calgary Expo Ultimate Cosplay contest earlier this year.

Gaeil Farrar photo

Tegan Wherley (left) wearing a formal dress, Amanda Yonkman as Doll, and Nicole Turbello as Princess wearing costumes made by Meghan Law she wears the costume of Nightmare which she bought commercially. With them is Bronson Lee Ramos who recently won first place in the Mary Sue and Calgary Expo Ultimate Cosplay costume contest with his costume of Gipsy Danger from Pacific Rim that he made himself.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 71

When you are outdoors, help prevent the spread of invasive plants!

“Invasive plants are non-native plants that have been introduced to BC that have detrimental economic, environmental and health effects on humans, livestock and wildlife. Also known as noxious weeds, or alien species, they are far more aggressive than common weeds and choke out native species reducing biodiversity in our precious ecosystems. Humans are most often directly responsible for introducing a species to a new region, whether intentionally or unintentionally.”

Find the entire list of priority invasive plant species in the Cariboo Chilcotin: www.cccipc.ca | 250-855-WEED | info@cccipc.ca

Regional Invasive Plants include: Knotweeds

Common Tansy Hoary Alyssum

Sulphur Cinquefoil

Field Scabious

Spotted Knapweed

You can help in three simple ways!

PLAY CLEAN GO: Before entering and leaving an area check your boots, clothes, pets & vehicle for invasive plants (and seeds). http://www.playcleango.org

CLEAN DRAIN DRY: After using a boat, clean drain and

dry it before leaving… a few extra minutes can save a lake! http://bcinvasives.ca/resources/programs/clean-drain-dry/

DISPOSE & REPORT: place invasive plants & seeds

into a sealed plastic bag & then into the garbage.

Report invasive plants to the CRD at 1-800-665-1636 or in BC at 1-888-WEEDS-BC. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support the Province of British Columbia

72- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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Lakecity Buddhist nun works for world peace Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 Standing six-footfour inches tall, wearing long maroon robes and sporting a bald head, and a sunburst tattoo on one forearm, people can’t help but notice Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi.

A Buddhist nun, Tenzin arrived in the lakecity almost three years ago to teach at the lakecity’s fledgling Gendun Drubpa Buddhist Centre.

She was also soon out in the community taking tai chi lessons, teaching for Elder College and participating in the Women’s Spirituality Circle which embraces all spiritual paths, traditional and non-traditional.

She helped to organize and taught at the two-day Women’s Spirituality Circle gatherings held in 2014 and this winter.

Given the war and strife going on in the world today, the theme for this year’s gathering was centred on peace,

finding it within and creating it in the world.

During the workshop Tenzin and Sharon Taylor, an Anglican and coordinator of the lakecity’s Immigrant and Multicultural Services Centre introduced the Charter for Compassion with the hope that Williams Lake will receive enough signatories to be designated as a compassionate city.

The 312-word pledge was launched in 2009

by Karen Armstrong, a respected scholar who studies the connectiveness between world religions and spiritual paths.

Armstrong dedicated the $100,000 TED Prize she won in 2008 to creating the charter which grew from contributions of more than 150,000 people in 180 countries.

Tenzin says the Buddhist philosophy and most religions share common tenets of service, generosity, loving kindness, forgiveness and compassion which are at the heart of the

Gaeil Farrar photo

Sharon Taylor, her daughter Danielle, and Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi at the Women’s Spirituality Circle peace gathering this spring. Their large peace signs signal them as workshop leaders. charter.

In August Tenzin will go to Santa Cruz, California to participate in a retreat with a Muslim imam, a Catholic monk, and a Jewish faith leader.

“We will talk about common threads in our faith traditions and our practices,” Tenzin says.

Becoming a Buddhist nun wasn’t something Tenzin set out to do.

Born in Florida she lived in various countries around the world as her dad was in the military.

After high school she earned a degree in science at the University of Maryland and

a Master’s degree in biochemistry with a minor in toxicology at the American University in Washington, D.C. From there she found work in California with an environmental engineering company working on the cleanup of toxic waste sites.

She had lots of dis-

posable income, lots of eating out, partying with friends and vacations, but by her mid30s she started questioning her purpose.

She had done some transcendental meditation as a hippie teenager and now felt a need to reconnect with a more spiritual life.

It was 1989 and the 14th Dalai Lama had just won the Nobel Peace Prize.

“He just sort of came on my radar,” Tenzin says. “I felt a strong connection to him even though I had never met him.”

She had always read a lot and Buddhism really resonated with her so she quit her job and headed to India.

“I went to India with a kind of naive idea that I would have an appointment with the Dalai Lama and he and I would sit down and figure out my life,” Tenzin says.

In the 70s she says it was easy for people to meet the Dalai Lama but that wasn’t the case

when she got to India.

Surviving on savings and part-time work she lived in a Buddhist monastery and studied.

After a year and a half at the monastery she met Lama Zopa Rinpoche who asked her to be the director of Vajrapani Institute, a Buddhist retreat centre, near Santa Cruz, California.

She served as director there for three years then was asked to serve as director at the international office of Lama Zopa’s organization which was also in California, but is now in Oregon.

She served five years as the international headquarters director, helping to find translators and instructors; looking after resources for the 160 centres worldwide and general management.

“I guess I’m just well organized,” Tenzin says. “I learned by doing.”

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PEOPLE

Peace begins one friendship at a time Continued From Page 74 As she learned she earned a subsistence living by working as a proofreader and editor.

At the end of that fiveyear period, Tenzin decided to go into a meditation retreat.

She thought it would be about six months, but she ended up doing two, back-to-back, three-yearplus silent retreats.

She says there is a Buddhist tradition of three-year, three-month and three-day silent retreats. During this time participants only write and receive letters twice a year.

They only communicate by writing notes and they are not kept up on what is happening in the outside world.

The silence itself would be gruelling for most people, but add to that the retreat involves still, silent meditation for three hours at a time, four times a day.

They would meditate for three hours before

breakfast, three hours after breakfast, three hours in the afternoon, and three hours after tea in the evening.

After lunch the practitioners had a couple of hours for exercise, usually walking or doing yoga.

The guided meditation schedule is rigorous, but she had done numerous shorter retreats to build up to the long retreats.

Tenzin left the first retreat for two weeks to care for her dying father (her mother had died in the early 80s) and for a few days to have a rattlesnake bite treated.

Toward the end of the first three-year-plus retreat she made the decision to become a Buddhist nun.

At the end of that first retreat she says the participants were shocked to learn about 9/11.

“We thought our caretakers were joking when they told us,” Tenzin says.

There was a twomonth break over the summer to reconnect with some of her teach-

Gaeil Farrar photo

During their time in Williams Lake Father Derrick Cameron at Sacred Heart Church and Ven. Tenzin Chogkyi at the Gendun Drubpa Buddhist Centre have become good friends, sharing many philosophical discussions. This spring they decided to open one of their discussions to the interested public. They talked about their respective beliefs and monastic lives and how celibacy allows them more time to focus on human service. ers and friends, then she went back into the second, three-year-plus retreat at a different hermitage.

During the first year of that second retreat she went to India for three weeks where she was ordained as a Buddhist nun by the Dalai Lama.

Before that she had participated in large classes with him as a teacher but she had never met him personally.

“He teased me about being so tall and asked what country I was from,” Tenzin says.

She was six-foot-four inches but says she is

only six-foot-three inches tall now.

Her dad was six-footsix and her mother was five-feet-11 inches tall.

Becoming a Buddhist nun meant giving up her hair, which she says was a shock at first, putting on the maroon robes of her order, and taking the

Buddhist vows which include simplicity, celibacy and non-harming.

She says the colour of the robes for each order come from the plantbased dyes most commonly available in the particular region of the order.

While some people

may see a silent retreat as too difficult or a waste of time, Tenzin says it is an opportunity for deepening one’s wisdom and developing personal qualities in order to be of better service to others.

After being in the silent retreats from March 2000 to August of 2006 Tenzin says she felt a calling to teach Buddhism and meditation techniques that help people deal with their problems and anxieties.

Since then she has taught in various countries around the world: North America, India, Nepal, New Zealand, Australia, and Colombia.

She became involved with prison work through a friend when she was living in a Buddhist centre near Santa Cruz and continues this work today.

She finds it very rewarding to help prison inmates learn to deal with their anger and cultivate emotional balance for when they return to the outside world or to deal with a lifetime sentence.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 77

Photo by: Greg Sabatino

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Quilts keep families and communities together Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 Quilts are the fabric of our lives in many ways.

They keep us warm on cold winter nights, but they also keep us together as families and as communities.

In the old days quilts were often made collectively by groups of women working together to speed the process. They made quilts for each other and for charity fundraisers.

Members of the Cariboo Piecemaker’s Quilting Club come together regularly to make quilts for people who have lost their homes to fire or other disasters locally and recently for people who lost their homes to the flooding in Alberta.

Another group coordinated by Bel Hume has also come together over the years to make

quilts for orphaned children in Africa.

Quilts can also keep us emotionally warm.

Quilts hung on a wall are a visual treat. Others are passed down from one generation to the next as cherished family heirlooms.

Amandah Cullum and Colleen Crossley are two women who exhibited cherished heirloom quilts at the Cariboo Piecemaker’s Jean Andersen Memorial Quilt Show held this spring at the Williams Lake Curling Rink.

Amandah’s greatgrandmother’s treadle sewing machine is 100 years old this year and is part of the furnishings in her home.

She keeps the machine open to display the its beautiful gold decoration and a special family quilt.

See TRADITIONS Page 79

Rob and Raynell Hillton with their grandchildren, Addyson, 8, Ashtynn, 6, and Maddex, 4.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 79

Traditions passed down through generations Continued From Page 78 The quilt was made by Amandah’s great-grandmother on her father’s side, Beatrice (nee Hallman) Widdoes/Kemp, for her daughter Genora Hillton and was handed down to Amandah’s father Rob Hillton, and now to Amandah and her family.

Beatrice was born in 1906 and passed away in Williams Lake in 1991.

She was married to Harvey Widdoes, with whom she had her children, and after he died, she married Fred Kemp.

This past year Amandah found time in her busy schedule to restore the quilt that was made from the good parts of clothing worn by Beatrice’s children and family members.

Working late at night after her own children were in bed, Amandah cut pieces to match the worn pieces on the quilt and dyed them with tea to blend in with the fan pattern that makes the larger wagon wheel pattern of the quilt.

Then she carefully hand-stitched all 37 replacement pieces in place by hand, to match the hand stitching done by her great-grandmother.

“I feel really proud of it,” Amandah says.

“I am not a quilter. I don’t have the time except for something like this that is really close to my heart.”

Beatrice hand-stitched quilts for all of her family members which have been passed down the generations in her family as heirlooms.

Amandah says her quilt won’t be tucked away for safe keeping but will continue to be used by her family for a fifth generation including her children.

“It was an everyday quilt. My dad remembers using it as a child and my kids are really excited to use it,” Amandah says.

“We are definitely going to use it.”

Amandah, who enjoys photography, running and painting, works for School District 27 as an

early childhood educator and as an education assistant.

Her husband, Matt, is principal at Chilcotin Road Elementary School.

They have three children, Addyson, 8, Ashtynn, 6, and Maddex, 4.

Colleen Crossley displayed 15 quilts in the show made by her grandmother Catherine (Kate) Amelia Scott who was an avid quilter and used old clothing, sheets and blankets for the patchwork and appliqué pieces of her quilts.

“All of our lives are here, all of our clothes, my sister’s velvet skirt, our baby clothes, my cousin’s crazy 1970s plaid pants, paisley blouses from the 60s,” Colleen says.

In some cases she says her grandmother would use an old flannel blanket for the backing or a worn out quilt as filling for a new one.

She made quilts for every member of her large family, including theme quilts using childhood stories for her dozens of grandchildren and even a few great-grandchildren before she died in 1982 at the age of 96.

“She only made quilts to sleep under, part of our regular bedding and made a quilt a month for several years,” Crossley says.

“I never saw one up on the wall,” she adds, with a grin.

In 1976, when her granny was 87, Colleen’s filmmaker cousin and the National Film Board made a film about Kate called Granny’s Quilts.

Kate was born in Manitoba in 1918 and lived in Saskatchewan before moving to B.C. in 1937 to homestead on 180 acres in Haney.

She created all of her own patterns using her imagination and drawing them out on old scraps of paper, but even in her last days insisted “I’m no artist,” Colleen says.

Kate’s quilting frame was made from the horse guides of an old wagon by her father when she was just nine-years-old.

In later years with

Gaeil Farrar photo

Colleen Crossley with The Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs themed quilts which her grandmother made for her and her sister which were part of the display about her grandmother, Kate Scott’s, quilts which she put together for the Cariboo Piecemaker’s Jean Andersen Memorial Quilt Show this spring. eyesight failing, Kate would draw the quilting patterns onto the cloth using string and chalk which she could feel on the fabric to guide her stitching, about oneeighth of an inch above the chalk line.

“She did all of her quilting by hand,” Colleen says.

“She would only use her treadle sewing machine to make clothes.”

After her vision returned following surgery, she says her granny would still quilt, but with her eyes closed, saying she preferred to save her eyesight for cooking.

Colleen also brought to the show the little scissors her grandmother used in quilting and a couple of tools that she didn’t know about which turned out to be button hole scissors and “an unusually long and just plain unusual seam ripper.”

Granny’s Quilts can be downloaded from the National Film Board site.

Colleen has been an RN for 44 years and has lived in Williams Lake for 20 years working with several mental health teams.

Her background also includes a lifetime of

Photo submitted

Beatrice Hallman (Widdoes-Kemp) wearing one of the dresses whose fabric is included in Amandah Cullum’s heirloom quilt.

Gaeil Farrar photo

During the quilt show this spring Amandah Cullum shows the places where she restored her great-grandmother’s quilt.

Gaeil Farrar photo

Colleen Crossley shows the antique quilting tool used by her grandmother. theatre work and even a short stint in real estate.

She has taught in the nursing program at

TRU and currently runs a therapeutic foot-care clinic in the city, providing both in-clinic and in-

Photo submitted

The heirloom wagon wheel quilt made by Beatrice Hallman (Widdoes-Kemp). home services.

In recent years she also made 81 flights

in two years to provide nursing services in northern communities.

80- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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Gazebo built as final Kiwanis Club project Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 The Kiwanis Club of Williams Lake has sealed its legacy in the lakecity with one final project — a large log gazebo in Kiwanis Park.

During a blustery morning in May, club members, along with city council and contractors involved with the project, officially opened the gazebo.

“Three years ago when our club was starting to phase out we asked the city for a wish list for the park,” club president Alison Sutherland-Mann said.

“We’d been investing in the park since it was started.”

When a gazebo appeared on the wish list because the existing one was small and needed replacing, the club seized the opportunity.

It went out for tender and then sat for about one year, Alison said.

“Then in 2014, Ric Durfeld, Joe Engleberts

from the city and I met in the park,” Alison recalled. “I asked Ric how it would change the cost if we went simpler and bigger to accommodate lots of people.”

Designer Phil Harrison, who has worked with Durfelds for 25 years, designed a bigger structure and when he saw it, Engleberts agreed it could work.

“It morphed from replacing what was there to this,” Alison smiled.

“We told everyone it would be more expensive and all of our contractors agreed and pitched in to make it affordable. It was a real community event.”

For city councillor Laurie Walters, the new gazebo was long overdue.

“This park is the nucleus of the community,” Walters said. “I am really looking forward to seeing people use it for family gatherings and picnics.”

She also said the handiwork showcases

Monica Lamb-Yorski photo

Williams Lake and area businesses got together with the Kiwanis Club to give one final gift — a beautiful gazebo in the Kiwanis Park in downtown Williams Lake. the outstanding talent of Durfeld Log and Timber.

As he sat near the gazebo after the official opening, Durfeld said he feels the new structure has the necessary fundamental ingredients — environment and people.

The cedar logs are from coastal forests and there are three curved beams made from fir from the Interior.

“It’s all about God’s creation and how it works together. A lot of what’s displayed here is traditional knowledge brought from Europe.”

Smiling Alison said the plan is nice and impressive, but when she actually saw the finished project, she realized it was taking on a life of its own.

In 2016, the city has budgeted to add six picnic tables and more benches, which Alison

said she is very pleased about.

“Already I’ve seen people holding birthday parties here, I think it was worth the wait.”

Other contractors involved with the project were Beamac, Chimney Creek Lumber, Caribou Crane, Cariboo Roofing, Rugrats Contracting, Windsor Plywood, United Concrete and the city who made sure there were people to help with the installation.

Darryl Crosina also helped with the roof, Alison said.

Alison and her husband Blain Mann have been members of Kiwanis since the 1990s.

Blain was born in Williams Lake and the Manns have raised their three daughters here.

Blain’s dad Vernon was also a Kiwanian, even a past president as was Alison’s father Donald Sutherland.

Hub Barton International where Alison works, was formerly

her father’s business.

The Kiwanis Club formed 60 years ago in Williams Lake and used to organize huge functions such as installation balls which were very grand.

“There were 30 of us still in the 90s,” Alison recalled.

Throughout the years the club supported many things in Williams Lake.

From supporting sports teams by paying for uniforms and bags, to funding the Seniors Activity Centre, Glen Arbor, Scout Island Nature Centre, Books for Babies, and giving scholarships and bursaries to grads, the generosity was felt far and wide.

The next steps will see the club install engraved brass plaques naming the 10 past presidents on the gazebo’s 10 pillars.

“That probably won’t happen until August or September,” Alison added.

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 81

Sheppard family home grown in the Cariboo Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 Nestled in the Cariboo, 25 minutes northeast of Williams Lake, is the home of a young family dedicated to growing and producing as much of their own food as they can.

With 10 acres to work with, Katja and Dave Sheppard and their three children have chickens, cows, pigs, a greenhouse, the beginnings of an orchard and a garden that gets bigger each year.

“You can do a lot with this many acres,” Katja says while sitting in her living room as the aroma of baking banana bread fills the air. “It helps if you rotate the animals – we’re learning.”

Sitting on one of the couches, nine-year-old Kaydin is building something with lego while his seven-year-old sister Lena waits for Dave to drive her to a birthday party.

The siblings also play soccer with the Williams Lake Minor Soccer Association, and love to practice while at home.

Their little brother Finley, with a sweet round face and who will be one in the summer, crawls happily on the carpeted floor.

Katja is expecting a fourth child mid-August, and seems to take it all in stride.

Kaydin and Lena have always been home schooled and are enrolled in the distance education program offered through School District 27, along with a support teacher.

“We do a few hours of school work in the mornings,” Katja says. “Especially between October and April is all the book work, outside of that it’s hands-on.”

The children cook and bake as learning life skills is really important, she adds.

In fact, during our conversation, it’s Kaydin’s job to check on the banana bread, which he does.

Once he returns and says the bread’s not quite done yet, Kaydin points to the coffee table in the

centre of the living room, and discloses that he and his sister made it for a school project.

“We made that too,” he says of a large wooden frame on the wall where several family photographs are displayed.

The children ride horses, do chores, and pretty much raise the calves, chickens and pigs.

“They know right away that animals are raised as meat and they are pets too,” Katja nods.

In one of the grazing areas, the children show off their newest calf, Star, named for the markings on his head.

Star wanders in and out of us all and when Dave arrives she beelines for him.

“I’m the cow whisperer,” Dave chuckles.

Across the yard, a very pregnant jersey cow is laying against the chicken coop in the shade.

“She’s due any day,” the family tells me.

Growing up Katja didn’t live on a farm but says her parents instilled a healthy lifestyle.

“We moved to Horsefly in 1995 from a little town in southwest Germany near Munich, my parents, my sister and I,” Katja says. “I think my parents were attracted to the Cariboo because of all the space.”

While the parents had an entry amount of English, necessary for moving to Canada, their daughter couldn’t speak English when they arrived.

However, with help from some local Swiss children, they learned it pretty quickly.

After graduating from high school, Katja worked on the cleanup crew and eventually production at Tolko’s Creekside Mill.

Dave is a self-employed millwright originally from Newfoundland. They met 10 years ago.

Next to a shop, Dave has built the greenhouse where they are growing cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, things that need more time.

Kaydin shows off a

Monica Lamb-Yorski photos

Katja Sheppard with her children Kaydin, 9, Lena, 7, and Finley, 11 months, at the family home enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon in May. cherry tree in the green house that he and his sister will transplant in a couple of weeks to a protected area where the family is just starting to make an orchard.

They’ve trenched some of the ground and are hoping to grow apples, cherries and hazel nuts to augment the red currants, goose berries, black currants, raspberries and strawberries already growing on the property.

“Berries grow very nicely here and we can count on them every year,” Katja says. “As for the fruit trees we’ll see how they go.”

From their cow’s milk they make butter, yogurt, sour cream and many kinds of cheeses.

“We make lots of feta because it’s easy to store, gouda and cheddar. The hard cheeses take more work because of storage and waxing, but it’s not that hard once you’ve done it.”

Grains are purchased for grinding into flour and oats.

Freshly ground oats taste so much better and any ground grains should ideally be eaten within a few weeks, Katja insists.

They also can peach-

Kaydin Sheppard, 9, and his sisters Lena, 7, with the cherry tree they’ve been growing and will transplant into their orchard. es, pickles, and cherries so they don’t have to buy any cans from the store.

And they have three freezers and two fridges all full at the moment.

The neat thing about growing their own food and raising animals is nothing goes to waste.

With a big garden they can feed the animals and any leftovers can go to the chickens and pigs.

They do buy honey, green tea, salt and some

sugar, but they make their own shampoo and soap, even laundry and dish soap.

If all that doesn’t sound ambitious, I then learn Katja has a tent rental business for special events and six years ago she began breeding German Shepherds for sale.

She brought in one female from Germany that came from a working blood line bred for shep-

herd work.

“They used to be sheep herders and are used for personal protection, airport and border work,” Katja says. “I still have that female and one of her daughters. Their puppies have gone all over B.C. and a couple to Alberta.”

One dog went to be a service dog for a woman who has multiple sclerosis because it can be trained to fetch a remote

control and things like that, another one is in security work.

“Our life keeps us busy,” Katja smiles as her children and I walk across the yard to meet some of the chickens.

When they return, each with a chicken in their arms and pose for a photo, I think it would be neat to meet these kids again in 20 years to see what they are like as adults.

82- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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Telling tales of lifestyles through Lived Experience Gaeil Farrar Casual Country 2015 Lived Experience editor Van Andruss doesn’t do what he does for the money.

The former university instructor and book store owner publishes Lived Experience, a literary magazine from the mountains of B.C., for the simple love of providing a venue for people to share their thoughts and stories.

While he lives in the Yalakom Valley near Lillooet, he publishes stories, poetry and art work of people living all over B.C. and beyond.

“I had a circle of friends who were writers and thinkers and I always wanted to have my own magazine to express myself and share the stories of my friends,” Andruss says.

He says the magazine is meant to appeal to people who live rural, alternative lifestyles as he and his family have done since they went back to the land in the

mid-1970s.

So in 2001, with the help of neighbour and poet, Jonathan Kerslake, Andruss launched the first issue of Lived Experience, a 28-page volume. Soon the magazine picked up steam and became an annual publication. Issue 14 released just before Christmas of 2014 has 156 pages. He is now in the process of collecting works and submissions for Lived Experience Number 15.

Over the years Andruss has had many contributors from the Cariboo Chilcotin area such as Sage Birchwater, poet and horse logger Lorne Dufour, Gloria Atamanenko, Barb Coupe, Sally Bland, Lisa Enquist, John Schreiber, Christine Peters, Douglas Gook, Caterina Geuer and Jo-Anne Kimmel.

In Lived Experience Volume Two, Kimmel, who lives on Chilko Lake, told the story of travelling by horseback across southern B.C. with her family. In Volume 14 she shares the

Gaeil Farrar photo

Lived Experience editor Van Andruss (left) and contributor Sage Birchwater show off a copy of the magazine. poem The Mystery of a Heart.

Birchwater, who has contributed to Lived Experience for the past 10 years, says the magazine preserves a valuable cultural record about people and their lives that might not otherwise be told.

In issue 14 Birchwater recalls his early days in Victoria and how he came to Williams Lake as a young social activist with high ideals working

on shelter projects for First Nations street people, living on an organic commune and ultimately finding his way to a trap line in the Chilcotin where he raised his family. And as many Tribune/ Advisor readers know, Birchwater ultimately became a journalist in his own right.

New to Lived Experience is farrier Doug Saba who tells about his apprenticeship as a cowboy

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at the Flying U Guest Ranch on Green Lake in Volume 14.

Peppered through the pages are the delightful drawings of Lillooet artist Luther Brigman happily illustrating stories and poems.

Andruss credits the generosity of a couple of patrons and the steady support of subscribers for the magazine’s success. The magazine has published the work of

more than 100 writers and finds its way across Canada, into the U.S. and Europe.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Andruss earned a degree at the University of California and a masters degree at Simon Fraser University where he taught briefly. He also taught at the University of Western Ontario, before going into the book business in Vancouver eventually owning three book stores, one of which is still operating.

In the mid-1970s, Andruss and his partner, Eleanor Wright, moved to Yalakom Valley near Lillooet to live communally off the grid. The commune owners raised their food organically, and home schooled their children.

Andruss now considers himself a bioregionalist, which he defines as living in place.

“It means you are aware of the ecology, economy and culture of the place where you live, and are committed to making choices that

enhance them,” he says.

“A bioregion is an area that shares similar topography, plant and animal life, and human culture.”

While various experiments in communal living have come and gone, Van and Eleanor continue to live in a looseknit community off-grid 30 kilometres outside of Lillooet. Their daughter, Robin, son-in-law, Camilche, and five-year-old granddaughter, OshaMaria live nearby.

They continue to raise organic fruit, vegetables and meat birds, and use solar panels and a small hydro system for their energy needs. Satellite internet gives them a ready link to the outside world.

Andruss plays classical music and jazz on his grand piano for his own entertainment, and says while he would prefer to stay out of local politics, he gets drawn into land use struggles to defend the Yalakom Valley watershed from indiscriminate logging and mining proposals.

The Hearth Restaurant

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Cariboo Friendship Society 99 South Third Avenue, Williams Lake Phone: 250-398-6831 • Fax: 250-398-6115

A large variety of unique hand crafted gifts for all occasions Monday to Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Saturday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Native Arts & Crafts Gift Shop

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Horsefly

Gateway to Horsefly River, Quesnel Lake & Horsefly Lake Outdoor adventure from fishing to horseback riding, kayaking to snowmobiling, await you in and around Horsefly. Just a 40 minute drive east of 150 Mile House on Highway 97, Horsefly is a diverse area of hundreds of small lakes and rivers. The more commonly known large lakes, Horsefly and Quesnel, offer opportunities to angle for Kokanee, Dolly Varden, Lake Char and wild stock Rainbows.

As you approach Horsefly, you are presented with an enticing panoramic view of the Cariboo Mountains. The miners of the mid 1800’s have long since left this area, but not without leaving their mark. If you’re a history buff, the Jack Lynn Memorial Museum, open during the summer months, offers you a look into what life in Horsefly was like in those days when Harper’s Camp was first established. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that Harper’s Camp officially became Horsefly. While logging and ranching have become the mainstay of people living in and around Horsefly, many of the descendants of the early miners and pioneers still call Horsefly their home.

CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 83

EST 1859 www.horsefly.bc.ca

stamps or even a piece of property - bare or built up.

The Horsefly River turns crimson as millions of Sockeye return from a life’s journey that took them far out into the ocean and back into their home waters to spawn. Horsefly celebrates the return of the salmon every autumn on the Labour Day weekend. There are educational displays on the riverbank, and lots of entertainment. There is an interpretive trail that goes around the entire salmon spawning channels that is wheelchair accessible. Sockeye east of Horsefly where you can almost return to the Horsefly River be sure to catch a rainbow trout. every year, but it is only every four The interpretive trail at the salmon years that they return in peak numbers. spawning channels is also accessible for disabled persons.

We invite you to visit and expect to stay a while. Find out more about At the other end of this vacation Horsefly by visiting our website: continuum is the Horsefly Provincial www.horsefly.bc.ca or for a more history of Horsefly, Park, located 11km east of Horsefly, complete www.harperscamp.ca.

Once a popular destination or base camp you’ve been here, you will return! location, open from May to October.

It offers nicely groomed campsites, Call 250-620-3440. a picnic and swimming area, boat launch, trails, nearby laundromat and Offering Rural, Recreational, much more.

A variety of accommodations are available: resorts, B&Bs, guest ranches, a motel, as well as seasonal camping Horsefly is very proud that the at Forest Service spots or the Provincial community is, and many outdoor Park. Horsefly offers great shopping, activities are, accessible to disabled whether for groceries, hardware, gas persons. Every business, the library, (regular and diesel), propane, a light the community hall and the museum or full meal, alcohol, souvenirs hand have ramps. There is also a wheelchair- crafted by local artisans, camping accessible fishing ramp at Tisdal Lake, supplies, fishing and hunting licences,

Ranch & Commercial Properties in the East Cariboo Lakes District.

Horsefly Realty 250-620-3440

www.horseflyrealty.ca Contact Michelle Wong or Linda Bartsch

land@horseflyrealty.ca Box 267, Horsefly BC V0L 1L0

84- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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THANK YOU, WILLIAMS LAKE, FOR OVER 44 YEARS OF SUPPORT A cowgirl, Stampede Princess, and great grand-daughter of Norman Lee, the founder of Lee’s Corner, Sue was raised in the traditions of western hospitality and ensures these customs live on at Laketown Furnishings. For good old fashioned friendly furniture advice and expert service ask for Sue... Pretty smart and pretty pretty.

Baldish Singh Sunner AKA Bob Singh: Renowned for threatening to kick Bak Singh’s Donkey has now made friends with the donkey. Once he finally finds Bak Singh, however, there is no telling what might happen. Bob still believes that Bob Singh Day falls on December 26th.

C’mon Bob, it’s Boxing Day not Bob Singh Day.

Rylee Smiley: The great great grand-daughter of Norman Lee, Ry remains a pillar of the Laketown Furnishings team. Currently she’s taking some time off to focus on her writing and musical pursuits.

If you want the full story on furniture and appliances with a song and dance then ask for cowgirl Smiley.. Talented, tough and a cute kid growing up too fast.

Ramandeep Singh Sidhu A.K.A. Rambo works on televisions, refrigeration and appliances like a commando.. non-stop until it hurts. That’s why we force him to go home.. okay force might be too strong a word. We let him go home after he tells us he is tired. For the most skilled TV technician in the Cariboo ask for Ramandeep.

William Edward “Fast Fix” Detchkoff loves helping people. In his capacity as an appliance technician he often goes above and beyond the call of duty.

If you want a expedited service ask for the Fast Fix.

Tejinder Singh AKA T.J. works hard on everything. From accounting to sales to shipping and receiving he excels in every area. Our clients often comment on his friendliness and good nature. Sometimes, however, English still confuses him. When we sent him to pick up a load of flour and turkeys for a Christmas run to Alkali Lake he expected to pick up flowers so he came back to the truck and reported that the flowers were not ready. After some discussion and much laughter the truck was loaded.

Avtar Singh Sunner AKA “The Sniper” plays basketball the way he repairs appliances: purposeful, deliberate and highly accurate. For first time fixes call The Sniper.

Of course now that he has two grand-children in Surrey you might have trouble finding him in town on the weekends.

“Speedy” Samir Horvat believes that Canadian time runs slower than Croatian time. He walks, moves and works at an amazing velocity. If you need speedy appliance repair service then ask for Speedy Samir. Unfortunately we were unable to facilitate his request to buy him a motorcycle for service calls... mainly because we are afraid that if he rides like he walks then this plan might result in a lot of speeding tickets.

Al “Gunner” Golub used to fire artillery as a young man in Tito’s military. Now, retired, he works part time with us when required. Al spends a lot of his time with his grandchildren and loves to work out. Although sometimes just keeping up with his grandchildren can be a workout.

Arthur James “Goldbond” Melnychuk prefers his martinis shaken not stirred, but his driving both shakes and stirs all of us. This prairie- born Ukranian 007 has a licence to thrill and if you want superior service ask for 007 or James, but not Arthur. (He doesn’t like

Thomas juggles constantly ringing telephones, highspeed technicians, customers in the showroom, billing, parts orders and deliveries with serenity and grace.. most of the time. No wonder he loves to spend his holidays on the water in his kayak.

4 Floors and 20,000 square feet of Canadian-Made Living Room Furniture, Beds & Bedroom Suites, Dining Room Furniture, Futons, Appliances & Decor Pieces To Help You Decorate.

L

AKETOWN FURNISHINGS Ltd. Savings, Service and Satisfaction since 1971

Darko Plavsin now works at both an industrial plant and at Laketown. He says for some reason he can’t seem to escape Laketown Furnishings.

Well we are very glad that this Croatian Cowboy keeps coming back when we call him. When he gets some time off, however, Darko plans on going hunting. We reminded him he should buy a gun first, but he replied that would make it too easy.

Madi Jasper keeps Laketown Furnishings looking sharp everyday after school. She works like a Tasmanian Devil moving furniture, creating beautiful displays and cleaning the showroom. We asked her to help load a fridge one day, and she loaded it by herself. Brains, beauty and brawn in one package. Wow!

250-392-6933

99 North Second Avenue TOLL FREE 1-800-371-8711 www.laketownfurnishings.com

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CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 85

Historical

150 Mile House One of the original stops along the Gold Rush wagon road was 150 Mile House. The bustling community became a departure point for mining settlements on the banks of Keithly, Antler and Horsefly Creeks.

150 Mile House around 1890

The village included a district telegraph office, express office, post office and provincial constable’s office, not to mention its well known roadhouse.

Today you will still find a roadhouse at 150 Mile welcoming travelers as they tour our beautiful British Columbia. While it is still a small community, it is growing and is home to many businesses and amenities for travellers and its residents.

Locals and visitors alike can still enjoy the historical value this community has to offer.

A point of interest is the fully restored 1890’s “little red schoolhouse”, which is a visible landmark in the community.

For more information on the school house, contact the 150 Mile School at 250-296-3356 and book your personal tour with the principal during the school term.

Little Red Schoolhouse

From 150 Mile House, travelers can head east to historic Likely, Quesnel Forks and Horsefly.

153 Mile Store built in 1914

~ tea house ~ ~ gift shoppe ~

“Celebrating the sunny side of life!”

April through December 7 Days A Week 10am - 4pm 250-296-4235

150 Mile House (Next to the School)

Experience Life in a Moment at

Open Wed-Sat 10-4 293 Likely Rd, 150 Mile House, BC 250-296-4157 A short 15 min drive south of Williams Lake

Earthy • Simple • Inviting • Fresh

86- CASUAL COUNTRY 2015

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Horse and rider overcome obstacles together Greg Sabatino Casual Country 2015 Kelli Granger’s horse Whiskey amazes her more each day.

In her eyes, Whiskey, a 12-year-old Appaloosa mare, is better than an average horse.

It just so happens, Whiskey is blind.

But, that doesn’t stop Granger from riding and providing a happy life for her.

“I got her when she was three,” Granger says, who was 15 at the time. “She’d never been ridden or broke — you could barely even lead her.”

As the bond between the two grew and Granger, now 24, began riding Whiskey regularly she started to see subtle changes in her behaviour when she turned five.

“I’d been riding her the whole time and started noticing she’d

trip over things like logs, but had no idea [she was losing her sight],” Granger says.

“She was always happy to be riding.”

When Granger learned Whiskey had moon blindness — a common eye disease among Appaloosas that causes a blue haze to cloud both eyes — she wasn’t immediately certain what the future held in store.

“Lots of people told me to put her down, or to put her out in a field to live where she wouldn’t be able to do anything,” Granger says.

But for Granger, that wasn’t an option.

“I decided to keep working with her and figured as long as she’s happy there’s no sense to destroy a life,” she says.

See WHISKEY Page 87

Kelli Granger and her horse, Whiskey, prepare to go for a ride near their home on Fox Mountain.

Greg Sabatino photo

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Blind horse still loved companion Continued From Page 86 Granger’s persistence paid off, along with Whiskey’s trust, and the duo can now be seen happily trotting, galloping and running around the countryside near their home on Fox Mountain.

Granger, who has lived with Whiskey in 100 Mile House, Grand Prairie, Penticton and Williams Lake, says she’s never heard of a fully blind horse being ridden.

“It’s incredible how much her other senses have taken over,” she says, now Whiskey’s closest companion for the past nine years.

“She just listens to everything. She can do everything a regular horse can do except jump. I’ve even taken her through creeks and rivers and she goes in past her belly.”

After Whiskey lost

Greg Sabatino photo

Kelli Granger and her sightless horse, Whiskey, have learned to trust one another enough to ride together. her sight, Granger says she started to implement the use of more verbal commands dur-

ing training.

“Letting her know up, down, things like that, and when I walk

up to something I’ll always hit it to let her know it’s there,” she says.

“I’m constantly talking to her.”

Whiskey has even worked with a local

drill team in the area to much success.

“It was nice of them to let us join and she did quite well and kept up to pace,” Granger says. “But because she’s blind she couldn’t go to a show.”

That, however, doesn’t mean Granger is giving up, and says she still plans to one day enter a rodeo, or some other equine event.

“I’ve always wanted to take her in a rodeo,” Granger says. “Not to win, but to show people what she can do and just to show people you could save a lot of heartache. Maybe we can do our own routine by ourselves some time.”

Granger is also willing to pass along her knowledge to anyone who may be facing a similar situation.

“I want to show people what’s possible and I’d be willing to give

advice or spend a day with them,” she says.

“I’d be willing to help in any way I can.”

She credits Norm Whyte for helping in Whiskey’s success story.

“He’s often taken care of Whiskey for me when I’ve moved until I find a location to bring her, and always welcomes us back to his place with open arms,” she says. “He’s like a grandfather to me.”

Many people who see Whiskey and Granger riding together are astonished.

Most, if not in the know, can’t even tell Whiskey is blind.

“She amazes me every time I ride her,” Granger says. “In my eyes she’s better than a horse that can see.”

If anyone is interested in contacting Granger they can e-mail her at kelli_granger@hotmail.com.

Skyline Stables

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