Thursday, June 15, 2023 edition- The teacher and the bear

Thursday, June 15, 2023 | ⛅️ High 19C

Good morning!

I never remember getting sunburns when I was younger. I worked at a summer camp, never really wore sunscreen, and never had a problem. But now whenever I venture into the outside world I have to soak myself in SPF or spend the next four to five days looking and feeling like a lobster with a skin condition. It’s a lesson that I seem to forget—and wind up painfully re-learning—every summer.

Also, Tyler was on CKNW yesterday talking about the rebuilding of Lytton. Members can find a link to that, along with video from a recent drive through town, at the bottom of the newsletter. Learn about our memberships here.

WORTH KNOWING

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

⚠️ Here’s the current smoke forecast / Check the BC Wildfire Dashboard here

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

NEWS

Bears, baseball bats, and big stories

When a bear showed up at Cherry Creek Elementary School in Mission earlier this month, the school’s principal, Rob Clark, shooed it carefully away from students.

But ask the students of Cherry Creek Elementary and you might hear a different story. Maybe Clark beat up the bear with a baseball bat. Maybe he rode it around the playground like a horse.

• Today, Grace writes about a principal’s attempt to dispel myths at an elementary school.

Need to know

➡️ A Langley group wants to put up a permanent memorial to Canada’s residential school survivors [Langley Advance Times]

🔥 The Chehalis River fire west of Harrison Lake is out of control; more than 90 firefighters and 4 helicopters are working on it.

🏍️ A Chilliwack RCMP officer impounded a motorcycle when its driver popped a wheelie in front of him on Highway 1 [Fraser Valley Today]

🔥 No, arson isn’t to blame for wildfires in Canada; why conspiracy theories surround wildfires [The Narwhal]

🏒 Aldergrove is celebrating Shea Theodore, who won the Stanley Cup on Thursday / Abbotsford’s Ryan Craig also lifted the trophy [Langley Advance Times; Abbotsford News]

🥒 Chilliwack’s first-ever vegan festival plans to explore different kinds of plant-based food [Chilliwack Progress]

🚒 Firefighters put out a blaze at the Mission Inn Motel [Mission Record]

🐕️ Volunteers in Chilliwack are searching for a dog who has been missing for nearly two months [Fraser Valley Today]

👉 A retired Chilliwack teacher who mocked students’ accents and had physical encounters with recently graduated students has been banned for 10 years [Chilliwack Progress]

🛣️ Highway 1 will be closed in both directions for 15 minutes near the Flood Hope Road exit this afternoon for pipeline work [District of Hope/Twitter]

📷 CURRENT CAM: Congrats to Anton, who was the first to identify Brookswood Village Mall as the location of yesterday’s Current Cam photo.

😃 DAILY SMILE: Three arms? A Toronto mayoral candidate seems to have used (bad) AI to generate photos for his platform [Ben Spurr/Twitter]

SPONSORED BY HARRISON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS SOCIETY

The Harrison Festival of the Arts

The Harrison Festival of the Arts is set to take place in Harrison Hot Springs July 7-16. Explore the best of global music and art with small town roots. This year's festival promises to be a lively and diverse event, featuring a range of talented artists from across Canada, and around the world.

Enjoy indoor performances including a film night, theatre, a slam poetry night, and seven amazing concerts. Plus, there’s free music on the beach, a children’s day for the kids, art exhibits, and a renowned artisan market right on the beach.

Head to HarrisonFestival.com for all the info.

The Agenda

Kinkora Golf Course to re-open after long pipeline closure

A small Chilliwack golf course will re-open today after being closed for more than a year by pipeline construction.

The Trans Mountain pipeline runs directly beneath Kinkora Golf Course, a short 18-hole course in Sardis favoured by casual golfers and seniors. The course was closed all last year as Trans Mountain worked to widen the pipeline. The course had initially hoped to re-open last August, but construction work was slower than expected, according to a series of posts on Kinkora’s Facebook page. Poor weather this spring then delayed restoration work and the re-growing of turf. 

Finally, last week, Kinkora announced it would be re-opening June 15.

Tyler's working on a follow-up story about the Agassiz-Rosedale Bridge's cyclist notification system. He has a question:

Throwback Thursday

Fall fairs are an old tradition in farming communities across North America—and the Fraser Valley is no exception. This display of produce from farms and gardens was photographed at the Pacific National Exhibition in 1930. It features award-winning sheafs of cereal grains, preserves, and vegetables from Langley.

🗓 Things to do

Ongoing, June 15 - 21

🎈 Bouncy castles: The Abbotsford Tradex is hosting “The Monster,” 300 metres of bouncy castle chaos, from June 15 to 18. Adults welcome. Tickets and more info online.

🥕 Farmers Markets: Farmers markets will be popping up throughout the summer in communities across the Fraser Valley. Find one near you here.

Thursday, June 15

📕 Book discussion: Books and Borscht, a weekly lunch and book discussion at the Mennonite Heritage Museum, will feature the authors Henry and Velma Braun. Thursday at noon. Call 604-758-5667 to register.

Friday, June 16

🎸 Concert: The “I Love the 90s Tour” featuring Vanilla Ice, Rob Base, Young MC and others will hit the Abbotsford Centre on Friday, June 16. Tickets are still available online; they’re about $80.

🟣 Lavender farm: Full Bloom Lavender Farm in Langley starts its early bloom season on Friday. Tickets are $10. Find them online.

🎭️ Play: Wild Light, a play about a family’s second chance, will be performed at Langley’s Bez Arts Hub on Friday, June 16. Tickets online.

Saturday, June 17

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