The Market during the Holidays

While many people are gearing up for the holidays and spending time with loved ones, others are incorporating house shopping into their plans. As this is a time that many people are traveling to visit one another, we find that there are a few that are making a stop to do some house hunting along the way. This is a great time to view a house, the decorations and lights make homes glow with ambiance. With the new year approaching and people re-visioning their future, it makes sense that they want to explore the possibility of a move.

Whether a new house is on your list this Christmas or not, we wish you all the best during the Holiday Season !

A walk through Bethlehem

Last night I took my kids to the Bethlehem Walk in Parksville, this was our 4th time attending the walk which is held over a 4 day period just before Christmas.
They have re-created what a walk through Bethlehem was like when Jesus was born. You wander past the donkeys, sheep, chickens and goats to the manger where there is a beautiful newborn with his mom. There is straw at your feet and stars (a string of small lights) that guide you through the walk.
On your way you stop and talk to the store keepers who let you know that a baby was born just outside of Bethlehem. The storekeepers are all in costume (well over 250 volunteers), on our walk we watched a blacksmith working- he gave them each a penny that he turned into a "shekel" with the Star of Bethlehem inprinted on it. We also got to visit a candlemaker, an essence store, a tailor, shoemaker, jeweller, fish store, and baker. A scribe was there to translate your name into hebrew, and my daughter learned how to make a bagel.
At the end you are led to "Jerusalem" for a cup of Hot Chocolate, cookies and carolling. The event is free, any donations of food and money go to the Salvation Army.
This has become one of our favorite Christmas traditions, I'd encourage you to take the ferry from Gabriola and drive 30minutes to attend this event. Dress warm, as a large portion is outdoors and we were there for three hours, also lines were shorter after 7:30pm. (submitted by:Tina Lynch)
Bethlehem Walk Village is open December 12 through 15, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Parksville Baptist Church -- 550 Pym Street.
Shalom !

Crafters & volunteers raise money for Gabriola students!

Last Saturday, the Gabriola Elementary school was filled with energy and the road in front was lined with cars. Volunteers worked hard to organize this annual event which included; Christmas tree sales, a cookie walk, concession, kids craft room, raffle, silent auction, and the craft tables. It was great to see so many people supporting the PAC in so many ways. Jennifer and I were in the Kids Craft Room and had fun watching the kids make sales and trade for other items, it was a really good opportunity for the kids. Submitted by: Tina Lynch

Gabriola Events - What to do on this little Island !

There are numerous things to do on Gabriola and we wanted to share these events with you, so we created our "Gabriola Events" Calendar. We list as many events as we can so that you can see the diversity of activities you can partake in. You'll find something for every age and interest group. If you see something listed, why not make a trip to the Island and attend the special event, you may never want to leave!

If you have an event that you would like us to put on our online calendar, please send us an email and let us know about it.

View our online “Gabriola Events” calendar to see what's happening here, and check back often as it's constantly being updated!

Settled in for Christmas?

It’s usually the time of year when Real Estate on Gabriola is a bit quieter as the Christmas season nears. During the past week we’ve seen a surprising number of offers, and a little more surprising is the quick closing dates – before Christmas. The Christmas season can bring on stress for many families and adding a move onto it can become a huge endeavor, but these buyers and seller seem up to the task. Apparently ‘tis the season to move.

Congratulations Gabriola - Semi-Finalists in the Aviva Community Fund Competition...

The dedicated volunteers of the Gabriola Health Care Society have proclaimed the year 2010 to be The Year of the Clinic and are committed to raising $1,000,000 to develop and build a permanent community owned emergency treatment and medical care facility. We believe that a permanent, community owned, ecologically friendly, seismically-engineered and technologically advanced emergency treatment room will provide a desirable long-term solution to the health care needs of our increasing population.

Part of their fundraising efforts included applying to the Aviva Community fund, which offers a chance to share in the $500,000. The voting ensures that it is the most popular ideas as chosen by Canadians, the top “25” most voted on will go to the “judging” finals. Gabriola’s request to the Aviva Community Fund is in the range of $250,000 to cover the costs of the emergency treatment room for this facility. You can view, a complete history of the Gabriola Health Care Society . Gabriola is now be amongst the semi-finalists with the vote counters having been reset to 0, this semi-final runs until Dec 16th. Thank you Gabriolans and all the voters from around the world – be ready to start voting again Dec 2nd you can vote here! (Just a reminder that you can vote every day!!!)

You can see why the Lynch’s are casting our votes daily, and why we appreciate the excellent health care service here on the island at our: Discover Gabriola Blog .

Red Roaster - A fresh cup of coffee

Recently, we were greeted with a pound of fresh roasted coffee and we were pleased, we thought you might want to know about one of Gabriola's new businesses. If you send us an email with "red roaster" in the subject line we will enter you into a draw for a pound of coffee on December 7 2009.

Here's what Red Roaster had to say about their new venture:

"Darrin and i have always wanted to do some sort of business together. Over the years coffee roasting has come up many times. Darrin originally started to research the idea in 1994 and by the time we were together in 1998 he had also travelled and explored some coffee growing regions in the world, which further inspired him.
This past summer we were on the sunshine coast, with a contract job for Darrin and when we came back we were VERY happy to be home. We were energized and wanted to keep the momentum going, as well we wanted to branch out into the community some more. Having a small child and both working from home, was more socially restricted than what we were used to prior to baby and Gabriola life. It seemed like the perfect time to start the coffee roasting that we had long since discussed. It all came together quickly as Darrin and I have been following the coffee industry movements and trends for so long. I have said this before.....red roaster had a very long gestation period and a super quick birth!
All of our beans are always certified organic, fairly traded and ethically sourced. Our packaging is 100% biodegradable (vs. the foil bags most competitors use that are petroleum based). And we stamp the "roasted on" date on every bag. We don't want our customers to hold on to their beans-they are meant to be consumed fresh (preferably with in about a week+). We are all about the true fresh roast.
We will be offering a home delivery service, where roast to order the night before. There will be 3 sizes of bags to choose from, so you can best suit to your households weekly coffee consumption. We have chosen to do the home delivery for a number of reasons. This way we will have more direct dialogue with our customers and we can then work with them to customize blends/roasts that produce the perfect cup for their individual needs. Gabriola is small enough for us to be able to do door to door deliveries and this will ensure that everyone is getting fresh fresh fresh roasted coffee. Also, by skipping the middle man we are able to do more fundraising for the community.
We are working with community groups to generate fundraising from every pound of coffee we sell. This is very exciting to us, as it was initially and still continues to be the community here that makes Gabriola so special for us. We are excited that red roaster will be giving back to our local community directly and we are also committed to giving back to the coffee growing communities in the world as well, through profit percentage donations.
Red Roaster will be at the GES xmas fair (dec. 5th), with bean samples, bags of beans for sale, sign up sheets and tons of information on us and how you can donate to the local community cause of your choice, from your weekly coffee beans purchase."

Contact info for red roaster is:
http://www.redroaster.ca/
info@redroaster.ca
250.325.3250

(Submitted by: Tina Lynch)