September 3, 2016
Hello Boundary Historical Society Members and Friends!
I’ve been meaning to get a newsletter out to you for months and I apologize for not keeping in touch with you.
My last newsletter was written after last year’s AGM – yes, I know I should be chastised for procrastination!!
As per past years, we skipped the December meeting as it is so close to Christmas but we did get a number of calls from people who wished to purchase our Publications for Christmas gifts. I put up posters and Janet Matsalla – our Vice-President at that time – posted it on Facebook. Having the books at the Boundary Museum and Interpretive Centre made it much easier to access the books and John Billwiller didn’t have to drive in from the North Fork. One day, I was right in the middle of baking bread but if I can sell books and a membership I’ll be there!!
In January, we started talking about a logo or new logo for our Society. Pat Zorn and her son, Cody, began working on one and we have narrowed the choices down – hopefully, at our September meeting we will be able to reach a consensus and then we will have a logo for our letterhead, our envelopes, business cards, web page and we’ve also considered printing t-shirts and book bags (what could be more appropriate?). Thank you so much Pat (and Cody) for all your work.
In February, during Heritage Week, Irene Perepolkin and I helped out at the Museum. We served borscht (Irene’s) and bread (the USCC ladies’) to all the students of John A. Hutton School and some of Dr. D. A. Perley’s students. We were stationed beside Joe Tatangelo and Pauline Makortoff who showed the children how to make butter. It was a lot of fun.
That coming Saturday we had our Anniversary lunch (65 years of celebration) and had our baked potato with all the fixings lunch plus salads and tasty desserts. The food was delicious, the company was convivial and President Les Johnson presented a video with a read-over of The Great Gold Brick Robbery at Camp McKinney (Publication #16). It was very entertaining and Les received many compliments.
I believe it was in March when we decided it was time to publish another book to be presented for sale at our Anniversary Luncheon next February. It’s our way of celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday. Laura Lodder is chairing the committee. We have had quite a few submissions and they are varied – and, that makes for good reading. If any of you care to make a submission, simply email it to tlodder@telus.net or historicalsociety@gmail.com or mail it to our post office box – P.O. box 2346, Grand Forks, B.C. V0H 1H0. Pictures should be sent in jpeg form if you are submitting by email. Les has set a deadline of mid-October for submissions as he needs time to pull the book together (hope, he lets me help so I can see how you do it!).
June saw our Annual Picnic take place at Son Ranch. The weather had looked pretty “iffy” but it turned out to be a beautiful day. What a great place to hold a picnic! – the history of the area, Ross Freer’s chainsaw museum and Janis Freer’s hospitality made the day a wonderful one. We had approximately 50 people attend and they amused and amazed themselves with the old chainsaws, the old logging equipment and trucks and just walking through Janis’ glorious gardens.
In July, I attended Christina Lake’s Homecoming celebrations. I didn’t manage to sell any books or memberships but I did lots of public relations and felt good about the day. John Billwiller, Al Donnelly and Deb Billwiller attended Founders’ Day in Greenwood (both events are on the same day) and were more successful than I was. Thanks go out to John, Al and Deb for helping us out as they were all busy. Pat Zorn was there as a vendor and her help with our booth was much appreciated, also. Janet is the organizer of the event and she dropped by whenever she could.
We skip the July Board meeting as it is a very busy month for everyone.
August saw us planning for the Grand Forks Fall Fair. Last year, our Fair was cancelled because of the close proximity of forest fires but this year the weekend was beautiful. The Fall Fair Committee are to be commended for the work they do. The Exhibit Hall where our booth was located was beautiful. We were positioned next to the Boundary Museum’s booth and had a friendly rivalry over selling memberships. I attended all three days and had the pleasure of talking about our history with many, many people. I sold 19 new (and renewal memberships) and around a $100.00 worth of books. A really fun weekend for me – I learned a lot and it was great to see how many newcomers to our area are so very interested in our history.
Irene and I have been baking bread on Thursdays in the outside brick oven at the Boundary Museum all summer. We have met many tourists and have enjoyed conversing with them. We are not there to sell memberships or Publications but we do our best to make tourists happy with fresh, hot homemade bread made with Pride of the Valley Flour. The baking is over for this year except for the Harvest Fest on September 24th. It’s always a fun day and we sell lots of bread and I’ll be making scones as well as wholewheat bread and I think Irene plans to bake bread and Russian cookies. So, if you are in the area come on out to the Boundary Museum and enjoy the festival on September 24th.
At our August meeting, Les purchased the rights to the name boundaryhistory and he is working on a web page for the Historical Society. We have lots of ideas for the page and when it is ready for access I’ll let you know.
The date for our AGM is set for Sunday, October 16th – 2:00 p.m. at the Boundary Museum and Interpretive Centre’s meeting room. I will be sending a poster out as a reminder. We will have a social hour from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. with refreshments and if you haven’t renewed your membership for 2016 – 2017 this is a chance for you to do so.
If you can’t attend the meeting, just mail your membership fee ($10.00 for a single; $15.00 for a couple) to our mailbox – again P.O. Box 2346, Grand Forks, B.C. V0H 1H0 and I will mail your membership card to you. Memberships are for one year.
Hope you all have a wonderful fall season and hope to see you at our AGM.
Doreen Sorensen
Secretary – Boundary Historical Society
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