We attended a number of Community Events in 2024 such as; the Climate Action Ripple Effect; Pride in the Park the Recreation Fair, the Pumpkin Festival; 3 local Farmers’ Markets and the Farmers’ Christmas Market. These events provided excellent exposure for us where we are able to tell people who we are and what we do, sell memberships and T-shirts and raise a bit of money. The big surprise for us was to be chosen as the ‘Charity of Choice’ for both the Interior Provincial Exhibition and the Farmstrong Cider Company Winter Markets. THANK YOU to both of these organizations for supporting us!! These events provided huge outreach for us. Pat
Interior Provincial Exhibition 2024
The IPE ran from Aug 28th to Sept 1st. We decorated our forest themed booth the day before with an arbour, some plants/trees, hiking equipment, antlers, bird carvings, photos, maps, the kiosk information panels for Mt RS and received many compliments. Our location, front and centre in the Hassen Hall, was a prime spot. It had to be ‘manned’ from 10am to 9pm every day during the fair and if it wasn’t for a lot of volunteer help from our membership we wouldn’t have been able to do it. Thank You! We told people who we are, what we do, the areas we serve and maintain, sold a few memberships and T-shirts, raised a bit of money and handed out many area maps courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce. We were even able to ride in the IPE Chuckwagon float in the parade! The IPE was very generous in the funding they were able to provide to us. Ron
Farmstrong Cider Co.
Farmstrong hosted 3 Winter Markets November 17th, 23rd, and 30th, at their property on the lower slopes of Mt RS. Our booth was located at the entrance. Again, we depended on large number of volunteers to help us as the markets ran from 11:30am to 7pm and there were many tasks to cover. Thank You to everyone who helped! Our main message to attendees was that Mt RS is scheduled to be logged next winter and that limited data has been collected on some of the values. As result we hired Experts to collect some water, flora/fauna/at-risk-species data this past summer and we to raise money to pay for their reports. We sold Mt RS hoodies/T-shirts, memberships and raised some money. In addition, Farmstrong supported our efforts by donating to Mt RS. Marge
Tree Planting at the IPE
We helped the IPE plant 14 – 600Ib Autumn Blaze Maple trees on their Wood Ave property in June. An excavator was able to dig all of the holes and a forklift placed the trees so we just had to backfill, stake and water them. These trees turned red this past fall and looked spectacular. Thanks to the IPE for beautifying this part of Wood Ave! Marge
Invasive Weed Pull
The day after planting trees at the IPE property we went to Huculak Park along Meighan Creek to help the Invasive Species Council (Lara Phillips) Kim Fulton (aka Dr Fish) and the Armstrong Wetlands Association with an educational invasive plant and weed day with our local schools. About 20 Grade 3 students walked from AES. They were given an introduction to invasive species by Lara and then they played a game led by Dr Fish called ‘From Here or From Away’. Large flashcards had pictures of various plants and animals and the students had to figure out if were native to BC or brought here from somewhere else.
Later that morning approximately 20 Grade 11 students walked down from PVSS. Each older student was buddied up with a younger student and with gloves, shovel and large garbage bag in hand were directed to a big patch of invasive burdock along Meighan Creek. With all of these groups working it didn’t take long to clear the area. Chokecherry seeds (native to our area) were then planted in the disturbed bare ground to replace what was removed. Thanks to the City of Armstrong for disposing of the garbage bags full of burdock! Marge