4 minute read
WILDSIDE times #9
Notes from the Editor
In this issue:
It has been a great year in St Francis Bay. Matt Genrich goes through some of the highlights from FOSTER, while Si Cunneen elaborates on the good stuff happening with the Kromme Enviro-Trust. Richard Arderne gives us an unauthorised update on the St Francis Paddling Club and tells us what is happening with the Cycling Club. We have an update from the St Francis Property Owners Association, and we check in with the kids who surfed the Rip Curl GromSearch at Seals. Talking of surfing, the Seal Point Boardriders Club have had an amazing year, and we look at some of their achievements. We remember the fantastic week of the Calamari Festival and celebrate all St Francis Tourism did for this event. We checked in with Key College, which is growing steadily. We also look back at the Flash Float and look forward to this year’s event. Mark the date, it’ll be a big day in St Francis.
In closing, we would like to extend to all of our readers best wishes for the season from all of us at Wildside Times.
It seems like just the other day, the two popular restaurants in the village were Barrons and Trattoria, and the big jol in December was The Ruins. Back then, the bakery run by Cyndee and Brent opened so early - to get bread out to the c hokka boats - that we could go there after the party, smash a few pies and play music in the car park.
Full Stop
The original Full Stop in Cape St Francis was the place to be. Every Friday night, it would be heaving with locals, visitors, the occasional live band, and the strong smell of majat from around the outside fireplace accompanied by a super low volume drum circle beat from people with bloodshot eyesthe good old days. Then, there was always the Park Off Pub in the Cape St Francis Resort that often had a few people during those long and cold winters. Stix was the old favourite, with the broken pool table and the golf arcade game entertaining people for hours.
Legends
Legends in St Francis Bay was another excellent spot to go to, even though somewhere along the line, a surfer was shot in the pub, and the bullet went through the soft part on the side of his neck, and he walked out of there with a headache. That was back when people didn’t really take too much shit in St Francis Bay.
Cutty Sark
The St Francis Bay Hotel had a famous ladies’ bar called The Cutty Sark, and a massive fireplace, which was always vibey. The festive season was a popular time, but when Seals held the intervarsity surfing contest back in the day, the hotel was also a meeting place for broke university students who used to sneak beers into the hotel and sip them around the fireplace.
Nowadays, we have amazing bars and restaurants everywhere you look, and an on-point St Francis Bay Tourism organisation looking after disseminating information about this beautiful place we call home.
The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be.
The development in St Francis Bay this year has been staggering, and there is so much more to come. The place has been transformed, replaced with something new. Some of us like it and embrace what St Francis Bay has become, while others don’t.
It is what it is. The world has changed.
In the words of CS Lewis, ‘The future is something which everyone reaches, at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever she is.’
