Citizens for a Livable Cranbrook Society provides grassroots leadership and an inclusive process, with a voice for all community members, to ensure that our community grows and develops in a way that incorporates an environmental ethic, offers a range of housing and transportation choices, encourages a vibrant and cultural life and supports sustainable, meaningful employment and business opportunities.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Open Garden Day, 2015

     
Some of the area's lovely gardens were celebrated on Sunday July 5th, when they were open to the public.

Over two hundred attended the annual event this year.  It is thanks to the Garden Club and the generosity of home owners that this special annual day is possible.  This year the gardens of, Dean and Rainey Latham, Rick Ferrier and Corrine Holden, Don and Janice Adrian, Victoria Robinson and Peter Johnson, Rose Uri, Barbara and David Stuckenberg and David and Gloria Urban were enjoyed.

Visitors were able to appreciate some unique hard landscaping and gain knowledge of plants they may not have grown themselves but might like to try in the future.

Proceeds go to garden club projects, which over time have included the City's hanging baskets, bulbs for city gardens, fruit trees at Fort Steele and other City of Cranbrook beautification initiatives.

photos in no particular order


















Monday, July 6, 2015

A Splendid Symphony Affair

   
It is not everyday that the opportunity arises to hear a Symphony play on top of a mountain but thanks to the amazing organisation, energy and vision of Kimberley Arts Council, this event happened on the evening of July 4th atop the Kimberley Ski Hill.

The Symphony of the Kootenays  played  selections of music appropriate both for the setting and a mid-summer evening.  

 After an enthusiastic standing ovation and calls for an encore, selections from the Sound of Music brought the audience to their feet once more, along with a chorus of voices singing to 'Climb Every Mountain.' 

The Kootenay Brass entertained the audience while they waited for a chair lift ride down.

It was an evening to remember both for locals who attended and for the many who came from afar.

                                  




An audience of approximately seven hundred either walked up or took the chair lift.
A further hundred or more attended the afternoon rehearsal.

Jeff Faragher, Conductor, Symphony of the Kootenays


Musicians battling the low-angle late evening sun

Intermission
A smoky haze from forest fires became more noticeable as the sun went down on a beautiful Kootenay evening




Fire Update from RDEK

 Here is the update everyone.  No significant changes to report and all alerts/orders remain in place.
There is one item of note on the Baynes Lake Fire – they are planning to do a burn out today which will generate some smoke, but is a normal practice to help reduce fuels and create a natural fire break.
Loree

Baynes Lake Fire (N10269)

·         Update: Fire saw minimal growth overnight. The BC Wildfire Service is classifying it as 25% contained.  If conditions allow, they are planning a “Burn Out” this afternoon in a section of the fire. This is where they burn towards the active fire, which reduces the fuels and creates a natural fire break.  This will generate smoke.  They continue to actively fight the fire on the ground and the from the air.
·         Location: The fire is burning south of Cutts Road toward the Elk River.  There is still heavy smoke over the fire area, making it more difficult to estimate size. Last estimate was in excess of 140 Hectares.
·         Resources:  35 firefighters and an Incident Commander, 6 pieces of heavy equipment, 2 helicopters and tankers as needed all day today. 
·         Alerts and Orders:
o   Evacuation ALERT - Baynes Lake, Kragmont and South:  An evacuation ALERT remains in place for Baynes Lake and the area previously under Order (the area south of 1347 Waldo Road, including the community of Kragmont and an area south of the river).

Spillimacheen Fire
·         Size: Re-estimated at 54 hectares.
·         Location: It is burning in an area next to the Highway north of Spillimacheen.  It is more active on the north side and there was a flare up in the north overnight (on the Harrogate side of the fire). They are working on machine guard lines and containment and are actively actioning the fire today.
·         Resources:  30 firefighters, heavy equipment and aerial support. The RDEK’s Windermere Fire Department Structural Protection Unit has protected two homes close to the blaze.
·         Alerts and Orders:
o   Evacuation ORDER:  An evacuation ORDER remains in place for one home north of Spillimacheen.
o   Evacuation ALERT: An alert is in place for the area south of the RDEK Boundary, east of Columbia River south to Westside Road in Spillimacheen.
Other
·         There are many fires burning across the Province. The BC Wildland Service aircraft and personnel are at a premium and resources are being stretched thin.  They are making their best efforts at prioritizing resources and we are very grateful for the incredible work they are doing in our area.
·         A Province-wide fire ban remains in effect.

Next update: Tuesday, July 7/15 mid-afternoon (unless there is a significant change)


Friday, July 3, 2015

Soil Mates Companion Planting Garden Workshop

Soil Mates Companion Planting Garden Workshop – Kitchen and Garden Workshop Series #3

Wildsight Kimberley/Cranbrook and Cranbrook Food Action Committee will be hosting a “Soil Mates Companion Planting Garden Workshop." The first workshop kicks off on Tuesday July 7th in Kimberley at The Open Gate Garden on Rotary Drive and the second workshop on Wednesday July 8th in Cranbrook at The Public Produce Garden, beside MacKinnon Park. Each workshop will run between 6:30pm - 8:30pm and cost $15 per person or $10 per Wildsight member, with volunteer bursaries available.

Companion planting, otherwise known as partner planting, follows the age old observation that some plants grow better when in the company of others.

"We can see this when we look at the Three Sisters,' says Dirk de Geus, Wildsight Kimberley/Cranbrook Food Sustainability Coordinator. "The Three Sisters are corn, beans and squash. The corn grows nice and tall and provides a structure for beans to climb onto. The beans provide nitrogen to the soil for the other plants to use, and the squash spreads along the ground benefiting the garden in numerous ways. These ways include blocking sunlight to help prevent the establishment of weeds, creating a natural mulch, and deterring pests with its prickly leaves.”

The topics covered in the workshop include how plants in your garden benefit from being planted together to enhance growth and taste, how they can naturally deter pests, and which plants do not make good partners. Dirk is a passionate gardener and says, “Nature does not grow in rows, nor will it grow one species of plant in one area; everything interacts. If you would like to grow bigger, tastier and healthier plants in a natural way, this is worth checking out.”

To register or find out more about the workshops visit www.wildsight.ca/kimcran or call 250-427-9325 x 221
Unique gardening workshops are held on a regular basis at The Open Gate Garden in Kimberley and The Public Produce Garden in Cranbrook. The gardens are open to anyone and there are no fees. Everyone and anyone can plant, water, weed and harvest freely. It is a great opportunity for those who do not have a personal garden or do not have the time to fully commit to gardening. These spaces are based on principles of sharing and learning.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

What's Happening...

Saturday July 4th 

Farmer's Market
Tenth Avenue South
9:00am -1:00pm

Summer Sounds by Fisher Peak performing Arts Society
Summer Sounds 2015 continues for 2015as follows:

• Saturday, July 4: Jan Van Gold, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 8: Lost Gypsy, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Saturday, July 11: SheVa, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 15: Lonesome Jim, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Saturday, July 18: Jean Paul DeRoover, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 22: The Quimbys, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Saturday, July 25: Ed King and Family, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 29: Mismatched Socks with Sagegrass, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Symphony on the Mountain
Kimberley Ski Hill
Evening SOLD OUT
Afternoon rehearsal tickets still available at Centre 64 Kimberley

Sunday July 5th

Cranbrook
Open Garden Day
Tickets Top Crop, Lotus Books, Trends and Treasures

On to the Future

This Election's about Canada's Frighteningly Near Future

Where will we be in less than a generation? The trends are alarming.
By Ian Gill, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca 

And we continue, stupidly, to look for more oil.
"Considering that western companies spend about $450 billion annually on (worldwide) exploration and development, this could be one of the worst misallocations of capital in history," wrote Anatole Kaletsky in the International New York Times Econoclast column in December. "With the global atmosphere approaching its carbon limits and technological progress gradually reducing the price of non-fossil fuels, the Bank of England warn(s) that some of the world's oil reserves could be left with no market value despite the huge sums sunk into the ground by oil companies, their shareholders and banks.

"The Saudis are well aware of this risk. Back in the 1970s, Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the Saudi oil minister, used to warn his copatriots not to rely forever on selling oil: the Stone Age didn't end because the cave men ran out of stones. Maybe the end of the 'Oil Age' is now approaching, and the Saudis have understood this better than western oilmen." Better, certainly, than Canadian ones.

And better, certainly, than our PM, Oil Slick Steve. Despite one estimate, by the International Labour Organization, that green jobs could constitute half the global workforce by 2030 -- that's right, just 15 years from now -- Harper has expressed zero interest in promoting renewable energy in this country. No doubt he thinks it is too "aspirational" to make the shift from fossils to renewables any time soon, if at all. ("Aspirational," a term also coined by the Harper government after it first refused to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, but finally gave its qualified endorsement in 2010, and has since done nothing to implement it -- truth and reconciliation be damned.)

Canada Day 2015

Congratulations to all the organisers for a fabulous Cranbrook Canada Day Celebration, from Rotary Park to Moir Park, the day was full with entertainment, great weather, food and people to enjoy it.

Fisher Peak artists begin the day at Rotary Park


The Main Stage at Moir Park provided the Testers, Good 'Old Goats, Connect Church Band and Shred Kelly


Acting Mayor, Norma Blissett presents Citizenship awards