If you haven’t entered yet, it’s not too late. If you haven’t planted yet, I would say it most definitely is.
It’s the First Annual Pumpkin Growing Contest. Show us your squash! Bring out your gourd! We are waiting to see what you have coaxed from that seed. Maybe you’re a first-time gardener and the Great Pumpkin has smiled upon you or maybe you have cultivated the skills of Capability Brown – all are equal in the eyes of the experienced judges ready to bestow riches upon you and your prize fruit.
DISCLAIMER: It’s the first annual so, experienced? Not so much. Besides bragging rights, you get a gift certificate to the Gumboot, which is a category of riches, to be sure. So, the RULES! One entry per person. Any type of pumpkin. May be started under cover but must be grown outdoors in Roberts Creek. Must be weighed by the grower the weekend before Halloween (Oct. 24/25). Submit photograph of the pumpkin being weighed with a two-litre drink bottle (for scale) to president@robertscreekcommunity.ca. Heaviest pumpkin wins! Prizes for Prettiest and Ugliest Pumpkin too!
Your annual community association report highlights:
It’s Thanksgiving Monday as I write this and I feel gratitude for the slice of paradise I call my own (my property is actually pie slice shaped) and for the opportunity to let our community association know that what they do for our hamlet is not a completely thankless job.
The AGM brought a changing of the guard: past president Sarah Bradley takes the treasurer mantle with former director Cory Cassidy stepping up to fill the leadership role. Stepped down are Amber Stoby (BootTales and secretary) and directors Ulla Shine and Jane Panek. We thank you! Incoming directors are: Marina McBride, Aleisha Friesen, Robert Smardon, Tara Somerville and Sharon Tron, who, along with vice president Karen Spicer, director Scott Avery and bookkeeper Kathleen Hudson, make up the 2020 board.
Hall manager Diana Lux is rocking it with her continued hard work, enthusiasm, initiative, and attention to detail. With the Market every Wednesday, Eek the Creek, Santa in the Creek, Christmas potluck, Slow Sunday (thanks Ed Lands and Graham Walker!), Earth Day, Creek Daze, and the Christmas Craft Faire, the association does a lot to make Roberts Creek what it is. Successful fundraising has a new roof, gutters and an energy-efficient HVAC system at the hall. A Canada Post grant put locally made picnic tables and bus-stop bench at the gazebo and the second annual RCCA bursary went to Aman Smardon for his studies at UBC.
Ian Hunt’s (Geek in the Creek) redesigned the website (check it out! robertscreekcommunity.com) and renovations at the Hall kitchen are underway to create a community teaching kitchen. After quarantining in Vancouver, two volunteers from Montreal (Gabrielle and Joannie) will be working under master gardener Molly Abbot to xeriscape around the Hall.
Project funding, always a challenge, has come from the Community Forest Legacy Fund and the Sunshine Coast Credit Union and the board is currently applying for a grants for some exciting projects for spring 2021.
kellybacks@rocketmail.com
