Canada Day Memories
Fire Department Saves the Day: The Youbou Volunteer Fire Department brought a mile of smiles to Youbou for our stay-at-home Canada Day. The whole fleet of firetrucks, plus our new fire-boat, rolled out of the firehouse parking lot at 10 am, decorated with balloons and maple-leaf flags of all sizes and shapes. The sirens and horn toots made sure you knew they were coming! Our heartfelt thanks go to our volunteer fire-fighters for really making our Canada Day something special. And a high-five to the Youbou Community Association members for helping to decorate the fire trucks.
Tag-a-Longs. YCA board members Eva and Garry Fearon decorated their vintage his-and-her mustangs and cruised through town in high style, right in sync with the fire trucks. Several other maple-leaf-attired board members followed on bicycles at a socially acceptable distance behind.
Maple Leaf Proud: Flags were flying all through Youbou, thanks to teams of decorators and all the residents who hoisted the red-and-white. The friendly elk on our welcome sign donned a sparkly maple leaf hat and stood proudly amid other red-and-white bling, thanks to creative spirits Lesley Joy and Sally Frankenowski. Another team of elves decorated the Mile 77 sign, the bus stop, and the directional sign by the hall. Cheryl Morgan, Eva and Garry Fearon, and Julia Martinusen were behind those decorations and balloons. The Youbou Community of Peace raised the red-and white at the Youbou Church, then led a noon-time signing of “O Canada”.
Lift-offs and landings: The fun continued into the afternoon, when a vintage World War II Catalina practiced take-offs and landings on the lake in front of Youbou.
Prizewinning photos: The photos featured here are just a snap-shot of Youbounians rising to the patriotic occasion. Several snapshots were entered into the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce Canada Day photo contest and two were judged as prize winners. We hope they make you smile too.
More on the Catalina Flying Boat
Many of you have wanted to learn more about the Catalina aircraft that visited Youbou on Canada Day and again at the end of July. Members of The Catalina Preservation Society in Victoria flew the aircraft here for crew training and a routine water trials. While this aircraft has a celebrated history on the ocean, the lake is now preferred by her pilots because salt water has such a corrosive effect on her hard-to-find metal parts.
Historically, the Consolidated PBY Catalina was produced as a flying boat and seaplane amphibian in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service, it was known as the Canso and it was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II—for reconnaissance, rescues, and long-distance hauls. Many of these flying boats were built in Canada and the United States.
The model visiting Youbou was built in 1943 in
Montreal. During the war, she patrolled the coast of British Columbia looking
for enemy submarines. Post-war, she served as a search-and-rescue plane based at
Jericho Beach, then as a water-bomber for fighting fires, first in
Saskatchewan, then Yellowknife. Finally, in 2010, Catalina enthusiast Bob Dyck
bought the plane and enlisted a team of dedicated volunteers to help restore
it. They took care to make the plane as historically accurate as possible and
eventually enabled it to take to the skies, and water, again.
Today, the Catalina is an integral part
of The Catalina Preservation Society and is one of only about five Catalinas in
the world still flying today. In normal times, you could see this vintage lady
soaring her stuff in air shows, but right now those are not happening, so we’re
lucky to see this spectacular aircraft landing and taking off on our lovely
lake. If you want to find out more about these marvelous flying machines or
support the work of the society, you can find The Catalina Preservation Society
on the internet at http://pbycatalina.com/
and check
out the facebook page. too.
Sorry, no Youbou Regatta
As noted in previous issues, the Youbou Regatta, an annual summer rite of passage in town, has been cancelled because of provincial Covid guidelines. We’ll miss the fire-hall breakfast, the world’s shortest parade, and all the fun and excitement of Regatta Day at Arbutus park. Rest assured, we hope it will be back on track in 2021, bigger and better than ever.
Fun for Kids in Youbou Parks
Through August 28, the Youbou Little
League Park is welcoming kids on Fridays as part of the Cowichan Valley
Regional District’s Free Parks Program. Children between the ages of 3 and 5
can attend the program from 9:30 to 11:30 on Friday mornings. Those between the
ages of 6 to 12 can attend from noon to 3 pm. This is an outdoor fun program,
rain or shine, and follows current safe-health guidelines. Other parks are
offering the same hours on other days of the week:
Mondays: Mesachie Lake Skydome
Tuesdays & Wednesdays:
Little League Park next to Cowichan
Lake Sports Arena
Thursdays: Honeymoon Bay Central Park
Fridays: Youbou Little League Park
Youbou Road Works
It seems the long-promised highway work
by the Ministry of Transport has been completed. The work consisted of adding
pavement in strips along portions of Youbou highway in an effort to add to the
longevity of the highway. Unfortunately, we were not able to share much advance
notice because when the necessary no-rain forecast presented itself, the Ministry
mobilized quickly. Klaus Kuhn, Area I Representative, is following up with the
Ministry to see if more work is planned. If you have questions or suggestions,
please forward those to Klaus.
Are You a Member?
The Youbou Community Association is involved in helping community activities happen, such as the recent Canada Day fun, hall dances, the garage sale, and many other events throughout the year. We’d love for you to join us. A family lifetime membership is just $10 and is a key to knowing what’s going on around Youbou. We’ll email you our colourful community newsletter every month. To join, reach out to cherylmtutor@gmail.com
Got News?
If you’d like to contribute news for the newsletter about a public event happening (or not happening) in or around Youbou and Area I, please send particulars about date, time and place to julia@raedwulf.org. You can also check our web site at youbouyca.com and our facebook page for the latest information.
Your YCA Board
Chair: Julia Martinusen
Co-Chair: Lori LaFave
Secretary: Randall Wilson
Treasurer: Spencer Day
Social: Eva Fearon
Garry Fearon
Publicity: Allan Gott
Membership: Cheryl Morgan
At large: Jill Bradley
At large: Debbie Smith