Halloween, Youbou Style
Halloween has always been a big holiday for Youbou, celebrated with an elaborate haunted house, costume contest, and fireworks display. Unfortunately, Covid safety concerns prevent us from hosting our usual Youbou Hall Halloween festivities this year. But does that mean we’ll ignore the day? Absolutely not! It just means we’ll be exercising our creative juices to move the fun outdoors in a safe way for kids of all ages.
The Youbou Halloween volunteer committee is making plans for a pumpkin carving contest, haunting outdoor displays, a spooky mini parade, an CVRD online costume and home-decorating competitions, and of course, safe ways for the little princesses and super heroes to trick or treat. The Youbou Community Association (YCA), Volunteer Fire Department, Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) and local businesses are standing by to lend a hand as needed.
Great Pumpkin Decorating Contest
Set your carved Jack O’ Lantern near your driveway on Halloween night where our panel of judges can consider it for the jackpot. Handsome rewards will go to the top winner in each of four categories: scariest, funniest, most Youbou-like, most unique. Prizes will be a $25 gift certificate to one of our Youbou businesses: Youbou Pub & Grill, Shop & Save, Daly’s Auto Centre, and Cassy’s Coffee House, courtesy of the YCA.
Haunted Highway
About a week before Halloween, watch for decorations going up around town. Decorating will be a bit weather dependent, but we’ll do our best. We encourage all Youbou residents and businesses to dress up their homes and buildings with a hauntingly beautiful touch to get in the “spirit” of the holiday. The CVRD is running a contest for the spookiest decorated homes throughout the Cowichan Valley. To enter, send the best shot of your scary house to tanya.kaul@cvrd.bc.ca. The home-decorating photo competition closes November 9 and winners will be contacted by November 12.
Ghouls, Ghosts, Goblins on Parade
Before dark descends and things get too scary, watch for some creepy characters to drive through town. It’s not the haunted house, but…
Cookie Decorating for Kids
The Youbou Pub & Grill is hosting a cookie decorating session for kids, starting at 2 pm on Halloween day. Each child will get a spookily shaped sugar cookie and decorations to channel their creative spirits. The decorating will go as long as supplies last. All social distance protocols will be observed, of course.
Trick or Treating
Perhaps most important of all, we want to provide children with safe ways to stock up on sweets. Swordfern residents will again be hosting trick-or-treating down their street from 5:30 pm to 7 pm on Halloween night. Another must-stop for masked munchkins is Youbou Hall. While not haunted this year, the hall will have a mother-lode of candy. CVRD staff will be on hand to deliver goodies via a cute Covid-safe shoot. You have to see it to believe it.
Swordfern and hall are great options, but wherever you are in Youbou, if you have treats to share, signal your participation by turning on your bright outdoor lights. This year, you don’t have to have a special delivery tube, but do think of ways you can give out candy while staying within Covid safety guidelines, staying at least 2 meters from others, and offering candy without multiple touch points.
Virtual Costume Competition
The CVRD is taking the annual Youbou costume contest from the hall to an online competition and expanding it to all of Cowichan Valley. Take photos of you and your kids or grandkids in costume and send your best shots to tanya.kaul@cvrd.bc.ca. Prizes will be awarded to the top three costumes in each age category. The photo competition closes November 9 and winners will be contacted by November 12.
Thanksgiving Option
With all the excitement about Halloween, we can’t ignore the other major holiday occurring in October. Thanksgiving is likely to be a bit different this year as we’ll be gathering in very small bubbles and staying closer to home. If you don’t feel like cooking this year, and want to start a new tradition, you can find turkey and all the trimmings at the Youbou Pub & Grill on Sunday, October 11.
League Bowling Coming Soon!
Plans are changing fast at Youbou Bowling Lanes. We’ve heard that league play will be returning for fall, contrary to what we reported in our September newsletter. If you’re interested in Youbou league play (Tuesday men, Thursday ladies, Sunday mixed), stay tuned.
Pickleball at Youbou Hall
Youbou Hall is re-opening for indoor pickleball on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings this fall. Interested players must join the CVRD pickleball program for a 6-month- ($85) or year-long ($125) membership. Anyone wishing to play on a certain day must pre-register within 72 hours of the desired play time. Membership and registration can be done through www.reccowichan.caor at the arena office at 250-749-6742, ext. 0.
Pick-Up Line
Remember after Friday, October 9, trash will only be picked up every other week, with recycling, so no garbage pick-up on will occur on October 16 or 30. For the complete schedule, please go to: https://www.cvrd.bc.ca/2963/Collection-Schedules
Weir Shoreline Assessment Project
As part of the research for the new weir, the CVRD will be conducting a shoreline field survey this fall. Field crews of 1 or 2 people will be accessing points along the shore by boat and walking along the beach to collect geophysical information on existing water level to the typical high-water mark. Due to Covid restrictions and the large number of properties involved, crews won’t be able to speak to residents before completing this work. If you have questions about this project, please contact Leroy Van Wieren, Project Manager, by phone at 250-709-7308 or by email at leroy.vanwieren@cvrd.bc.ca
Church Bottle Drive
The Youbou Community Church Society is holding its annual bottle drive in a different way. Rather than staging a day staffed with multiple volunteers, the bottle drive is ongoing with a single drop-off point. Please take your clean empties to 10335 Youbou Road and leave them in the garage as the sign directs. It helps if they are clean and sorted since it’s difficult for volunteers to do this work.
Funds raised by the bottle drive help to maintain the church, which is a historic building owned by the community of Youbou and administered by the society. Your kind donations of clean cans and bottles goes a long way in keeping this cherished part of our community functioning and available to all of us.
Mile 77 Park Shoreline
The CVRD has almost finished work on the Mile 77 Park shoreline. Stop by the park and check out the improvements.
Flash from the Past
The October 31, 1997 edition of the Cowichan Lumber Line (Youbou mill newsletter) reported on the winners of that year’s pumpkin carving competition. First place went to none other than Eva Fearon. We’re lucky that Eva is still very much involved in Youbou happenings and is part of the Halloween committee and a YCA board member. We look forward to reviving the Youbou tradition of pumpkin carving contests with our own competition this year.
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.comand 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