Eagle Eyes on New Year’s Eve
The hottest tickets in town right now are for our rockin’ New Year’s Eve party, Youbou Style. Just as it’s always been, Youbou Hall is the place in the valley to ring in the new year. Local musicians Ray Harvey and Jack Gunderson are coming home and bringing their band mates, ready to regale you with their taking-it-easy set of Eagles music. Not only will you hear your favourite Eagles’ tunes, you’ll get the Joint Chiefs’ set as well. Besides all the great music, your $40 ticket includes table snacks, buffet sandwiches, drink mixers, party hats, balloons, and blow-horns, plus a free shuttle to and from the party, by advance reservation. A full cash bar will be available. At the break, we’ll be announcing the winners of the Brighten-Up Youbou Holiday Lights contest and the 50/50 contest. Doors open at 8 pm, the music starts at 9 pm and lasts through the midnight countdown and beyond.
You can purchase tickets from any Youbou Community Association Board member or our local Youbou businesses: Shop & Save, Cassy’s Coffee House, and Daly’s Auto Centre. Remember to call the phone number on the ticket early if you wish to book the free shuttle service.
Brighten-Up Youbou Holiday Lights Contest
Long-time residents fondly remember when every home in Youbou was brightly lit and decorated for the holidays. Let’s bring that magical spirit back to our cozy little community. Do your bit to Brighten Up Youbou by stringing some lights on the deck, setting a Santa in the yard (with elk-like reindeer of course) or creating a quiet manger scene. We’ll be sending our squad of secret elves to judge the displays on or around December 21, so be good for goodness sake! The top three winning decorators will receive their prizes at our New Year’s Eve party on December 31.
Holiday Hamper
Thanks to everyone who has donated money or time to bring Christmas to neighbours who need a little help this holiday. The Youbou Community Association donated $500 to the Holiday Hamper Project. Volunteers met at Community Services to compile and deliver the hampers. We hope our efforts brought a little joy to both givers and receivers this season.
Santa Comes to Youbou
Just checking up on who’s naughty and nice, Santa visited Youbou astride one of our bright red fire trucks on September 16. (His sleigh was being spruced up and packed for his big Christmas Eve visit). We’re happy to report that he thinks our little town is full of very nice children. We think so too! Thanks to our fire-fighters for inviting the jolly old elf to town.
Annual General Meeting
Which initiatives or events would you like to see the Youbou Community Association pursue in 2019? What did we accomplish last year? How healthy is our treasury? Plan now to attend our Youbou Community Association General Annual Meeting on Sunday, January 13 at 2 pm in the lower Youbou Hall to discuss all of this and more. You can hear a report on our past year’s progress and talk directly to our current board members. Plus, it’s time to nominate some new board members for our work in 2019, so consider how you might like to contribute to the betterment of the community. We’ll also have coffee and cookies, in case you need further enticement. See you there!
YOU Can Make a Difference
Perhaps it’s time to put a little bit of YOU in Youbou. That’s right, the Youbou Community Association is looking for people like YOU who have good ideas and care about our beautiful little corner of the world. At our annual meeting on January 13, we’ll be electing our board for 2019. Our board of directors is a congenial group of people who have fun working together behind the scenes for our various projects and parties. Some of the projects we’ve tackled this year are the New Year’s Eve party, the Oktobeerfest dance, the summer picnic, parade floats for Lake Days and the Youbou regatta, spring clean-up, and the community-wide garage sale. Besides putting on events, we’ve supported the community this year with the holiday hamper project, holiday lighting contest, and a donation to restore our historic church building’s roof. If YOU or someone YOU know want to join us, contact a board member or come to the meeting and raise your hand. We look forward to having YOU join us!
Holiday Craft Fair Concession
Thanks to everyone who came to the Youbou Craft Fair on November 24 and to those who had a little taste from our YCA concession. Hat’s off to Eva Fearon and her band of helpers who served up delicious helpings of soup, chili, hot dogs, breakfast sandwiches, muffins, cider, and coffee to hungry shoppers and sellers. Volunteers for the event included Eva Fearon, Alice Yanke, Susanne Thom, Teresa Gustafson, Garry Fearon, Allan Gott, Mike Bishop, Lori LaFave, Julia Martinusen, and Randall Wilson.
Christmas Village at Cassy’s
Catch a little bit of Christmas magic by visiting the miniature Christmas village at Cassy’s Coffee House. Until December 23, you tour the wondrous collection of old-fashioned homes, shops, and other buildings on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Thanks to Dennis and Donna Jones for sharing their amazing collection with us and to the folks at Cassy’s for making the display possible.
Update from Area I Representative Klaus Kuhn
Editor’s note: To update you on various Youbou concerns, the Youbou Community Association shares this year-end summary from Klaus:
Now that the year is coming to an end, it is time to look back, to evaluate, to reminisce.
Elections: The Local Government Election brought about some change at the CVRD Board. My colleague from across the lake, Ian Morrison, was elected chair. There are seven new Board members, so the dynamic also changed somewhat, hopefully for the better. I was taken off the Watershed Board as representative of the CVRD, which indicates that critical thinking is not appreciated.
Water and Affordable Housing: The two new functions, the Water and the Affordable Housing programs have been ratified. Now the onus will be on controlling the flow of funding. I will try my best to have a strong voice there. Budget time is approaching, it will be interesting to see how the Board is going to deal with the enormous pressure with regard to the ever-increasing number of programs and staff.
Road: MoTI staff have undertaken a study with regard to the improvement of Youbou Road from Bremner Road to the end of the public road. The plan was to consult the public about this planned undertaking. I have requested to see the study and to inform the public. It appears MoTI is now hesitating. I have also been informed that the location of the Speed Monitor signs will be reconsidered following complaints. TimberWest have paved the road back by 4.5 km which, together with the scheduled sweeping and the improvements to the truck wash, will help reduce some of the dust and mud problems.
Hillside and trail: The CVRD has initiated the geotechnical and hydrotechnical study of the hillside. That study will take longer than anticipated, it should be complete by late spring or early summer next year. TimberWest have also commenced a study of their own. Both of these studies will be compared later. Talks about the planned improvements to the Christopher Rock trail and a possible bike trail will be continuing. It appears TimberWest is flexible with regard to the cost of these undertakings.
Youbou Lands: The owners of Youbou Lands are currently preparing their plans for the construction of a hotel and resort complex with bordering condominiums. They are planning public meetings to get feedback on their plans. Should the development proceed, one of the first steps will be the dedication of the lands around the bay and behind the fire hall as park, to be added to the Arbutus Park. This will be a substantial and welcome addition to our most frequented park.