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TURF FIELD REPLACEMENT: it won’t be crumb rubber
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VOL. 46, NO. 16
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New Hearth head arrives
JAMI SCHEFFER IS THE HEARTH’S NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
BRONWYN BEAIRSTO
Editor@bowenislandundercurrent.com
The matter first came to council in February. The publicly funded school––through the Powell River School Board––needs to move as their current location is no longer available and a donor, a Deep Bay resident, offered to buy Evergreen Hall for the school to use.
A new era quietly dawned at the Bowen Island Arts Council (the Hearth) earlier this month. The organization’s new executive director Jami Scheffer arrived April 1, marking the end of Jacqueline Massey’s long run heading up the organization. As a born and raised B.C.-er, Scheffer comes to Bowen by way of Invermere (a town with a population of just under 3,500 people near the Alberta border, though with thousands more people in the surroundings) where she was with Columbia Valley Arts Council for 15 years. Like her predecessor at the Bowen Island Arts Council, Schaeffer was the first paid executive director of Invermere organization. In the early 2000s, when the more than hundredyear-old Pynelogs Cultural Centre and Art Gallery got a half-a-million dollar makeover, the Columbia Valley Arts Council, until then always artist-run, hired its first yearround executive director. “Fifteen years of, you know, taking an arts organization from the grassroots level to a well-running business,” said Scheffer. Scheffer comes from a recreation and event planning background. She created the Invermere Music Festival, a live music series for the arts council, a Canada Day festival and was also the planner for the Wings Over the Rockies wildlife festival. “I tried a lot of events and programs and gallery shows and fundraising ideas over the years. So it was super fun,” she said. After Scheffer’s mother, who she was caring for, died last year and with her adult children living on the coast, the time was right to move on. “This job just kind of landed in my inbox and everything fell into place so easily,” said Scheffer. “It was kind of weird––it was like it was meant to be.” Scheffer’s son was finishing a degree in Ontario and his school shut down, so he moved to Bowen too (though he’ll soon be leaving for a job on the mainland).
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BUILDING RESILIENCE: Anna Donnelly and Patrick Buchanan of Bowen Building Centre pause for the camera
between propane-fill ups Tuesday afternoon. While the building centre has been closed to the public for a few weeks (with the exception of propane, presto logs and pellets), it’s reopening Fridays between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m with strict physical distancing enforced. Only one person per family is allowed in the store so make a list in advance, bring your reading glasses and be organzied, said Donnelly (the owner) on Facebook. Donnelly said that if islanders email the building centre with requests, building centre staff can gather supplies and even sometimes do deliveries.
Council rejects IDLC application QUESTIONS AROUND LEGALITY OF TEMPORARY USE PERMITS BRONWYN BEAIRSTO
Editor@bowenislandundercurrent.com
Bowen’s Island Discovery Learning Community (IDLC) won’t be moving to Deep Bay. Tuesday evening, council opted to reject the controversial appli-
cation for a temporary use permit to allow “school” as an allowable use for Evergreen Hall on Melmore Rd. The accompanying development variance permit application was also defeated. Council had been see-sawing on the matter for the past couple of months.
We're now open Fridays only for everyone! 7:30 a.m. to 5 pm! Two customers at a time. No browsing - bring a list!
BOWEN BUILDING CENTRE helping islanders since 1972
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