Gabriola Elementary Schools Year End Assembly

Once again the Gabriola Elementary School gym was full as the community was invited to celebrate the Year End Assembly.

We sat excitedly, watching the kindergarten class decked out in their graduating caps, carefully created by Mrs. Ellis, Kindergarden teacher extrodinaire, as they received their certificates. They were escorted into the assembly with their Grade 7 buddies, who have served as role models throughout the year and have definitely set them down the right path.

It was a very supportive environment with many feelings flowing throughout, lots of joy, some tears, a lot of recognition for teachers, students, the PAC and our retiring principal. For both Tina & I, having gone through the school system on the island, it sure brought a lot of fond memories back...

Congrats to all the students, and the beautiful "Blues" send off to Principal Rooney, who is retiring...

A nice beginning for summer and a tribute to those leaving the school.

Gabriola - Going the Distance

Here's a useful tool that will let you know how much of Gabriola you've seen in a trip.

If you sign up for a free membership you can mark the roads that you'll travel on the Island and get your distance in either miles or kilometers. It's great for those who are walking, running or biking to know the distance you've gone and if you time it you can work out your pace.

Find the website online at: www.mapmyrun.com .

The Empty Bowl Project Part Two

On May 30th, we took the opportunity to drop into Sunstone pottery, on Gabriola to create our bowls for Hunger in support of People for a Healthy Community's Emergency Food Depot.

On walking into the pottery studio, we felt fortunate to have the talent if many exceptionally tallented local potters who came out to lend their support and guide us in molding, creating & glazing our bowls for hunger. We spent time sculpting, creating & re-creating the bowls - trying to get them just right, only to look at Emma & Jane (4 years old) and realize who had created the master pieces!

The bowls are now finished, thanks to Potter Graham Sheehan and his colleagues, and will be on display at Artworks from 18 June to 24 June, 2009. The bowls are up for silent auction, so you can bid on your favorite bowl (or for those who just want to donate bid on bowls 37 to 40 - they may not be beautiful but they were created with joy!)

All proceeds from this event go to Gabriola's Emergency Food Depot - so it's a great cause, & helps our community locally.

Fish ON!

If you are looking for something to do this weekend on Fathers day, then the Silva Bay Salmon Derby, on Gabriola, comes at the perfect time... Held from dawn till dusk Sat. June 20th, and dawn until noon the June 21st, they are anticipating 75 or so participants, with all the nice weather we've been having in June hopefully even more than last year! We will be out there with our Dad fishing on Ship's Point - look for us reeling in the really big one...

Bob Meyer, of Silver Blue hints that, "fish have returned to their normal haunts off the Grande & the structure off Thrasher. Depths range 85 to 180 feet, Rhys Davis teasers in clear green scale for whole or strip baits, Coyotes in glow green/silver, green/white, or black white or the green spackleback hoochie are top producing lures." Bob Meyers fishing charters can be booked through Bob@SivlerBlueCharters.com .

Against Bob's best advice, and I give him full credit as the local fishing expert, I'll be fishing with some unidentified pink lure - for those that know me that's no surprise :), (I'm not sure my Dad will be impressed.)

Tickets are $25 per rod, $50 for immediate family.

Tickets are available at Village Paint and Hardware, or Silva Bay Marina, Harbour Chandler or Pages Resort & Marina.

Prizes on lower deck at 1 Sunday, and includes some great stuff, combo GPS/sounder, portable VHS, etc. $1,000 for largest Chinook. $1,000 donation to the Nanaimo River Hatchery. Good luck!

Gabriola's First Theatre Festival - August 21 - 23rd, 2009

What a weekend it's going to be... 7 main stage productions, the launching of a young peoples theatre company & so much, much more! With so much local talent on display, you'll want to get your tickets early so as not to be disappointed - ticket information as well as information on the festival and the 7 main stage shows can be found by visiting: www.gabriolatheatrefestival.ca .

Alongside the productions to be found on the main stage, the weekend will be jam packed with additional activites in the Village area including;

Razberry's Jazz Cafe - in between theatre shows look for the open stage between Rasberry's & Artworks where you'll find a variety of local musicians and entertainers.

The Gabriola Lions - legendary pancake breakfast will be served on Saturday the 22nd between 9:00 - 11:00 am.

Street Art - come by and be enthralled and inspired by the work of more than 50 local island artisans who will be displaying their work.

Take home a piece of Gabriola History!

As a movement to protect the many petroglyphs on the Island, the Gabriola Museum decided to make reproductions of the petroghlyphs. They encourage rubbings and photographs of the reproductions, and if you go during museum hours you can buy a rubbing kit which includes the cloth and special wax crayon. There are over 30 reproductions to take a look at here, and you can choose from a variety of animal and human shapes.

This is a great outdoor activity for those that want to learn a bit and take home something unique, I took my 5 year old daughter and she loved the process, learning about the petroglyphs, looking at each one and doing the rubbing.

May - June 21: Sat to Sun: 10 am to 4 PM

June 25- Sept 7: Thur to Mon: 10 am to 4 PM

September 12 : Sat to Sun: 10 am to 4 PM

Admission
Adults: $2.00
Children (under 12): Free

For more information on the Gabriola Museum visit their website at : http://www.gabriolamuseum.org/ Submitted by: Tina LYNCH

Gabriola Home & Garden Tour 2009

Well hopefully everyone is enjoying watching their gardens grow and flourish with all the beautiful weather, even if you don't have a garden there's a unique opportunity to view some gardens that are rarely open to the public.

Gabriola's 11th annual Home & Garden Tour will be held this year on the 28th June 2009, there will be 9 private homes/gardens that will be open and two local nurseries, so you can go & shop after viewing all the inspiration of others.

Tickets are $20.00 and all proceeds go to People for a Healthy Community, right here on Gabriola and is their largest fundraiser of the year. It helps to support local programs such as our Emergency Food Depot, Violence Prevention porgrams, the Christmas Bureau, Social Soupls, Gardening Projects, and so much more.

The hand selected locations are carefully choosen to represent a variety of west-coast gardening &/or unique island homes, this year there are 5 new locations that have never been on the tour before, including culinary gardens, and everything from new to well established gardens. This fundraiser tries to showcase and give a glimpse of island life.

Make sure to get your tickets early for this popular event... Tickets are available at Artworks, Wheelbarrel Nursery & WildRose Garden Center her on the island. In Nanaimo at Dig This, Falconer Books & Carpe Diem, or you can hold tickets with a Visa or Mastercard by contacing Diana Mumford at #250-247-9092 or by email at: dmumford@shaw.ca .

(Also for the third year in a row, there will be the auction of a Sheila Norgate painting, which she so kindly donated for the use of our posters)! So bid big...

Visit the online website at: http://www.gabriolatour.islandbrowser.com

Buy Local, what the heck !

Well one of the perks of shopping at the road side stand, versus something that you might pick up at the big box stores from half way around the world, is the character that goes with it. When I stopped by to check out the stand at the corner of Thompson and South Road, I found the discount sign. I would have been happy to pay 50 cents for my new Greek Oregano seedlings, but thought the marked down price of 25 cents was great. I wasn't really planning on any more herbs for the garden, but what the heck ! I got a free laugh out of the deal as well and thought it was a great marketing approach.

Trail Running - the Gut Buster 1/2 Marathon

Last Sunday, we headed for the hills in Nanaimo to take part in the the Gutbuster trail running series. Lesley Standerwick, who is a personal trainer on Gabriola (www.standerwickpt.com) was with us and finished the half marathon in great timing.

The trail system was amazing, we started at the Colliery Dam (just off of Wakeshiah) and went towards Nanaimo lake roads, on the ridge we saw a beautiful view of Nanaimo, the ocean and Gabriola. There were plenty of ups and downs on the route, a few rivers to cross, which weren't bad, and through this mud puddle at about the 12 Km mark.

If your looking for a nice place to go for a hike, you might like to try some of these trails, or the trail system around Westwood Lake is a nice 6km hike. Submitted by: Tina LYNCH