Advance editor Brian Lawrence compiled this brief review of some of the goings on in the Creston Valley found in the pages of the Advance over the last 12 months:
7 — After a half-century of weaving wool tapestries, Lika Meers Skarzynska — who once had a tapestry blessed by Pope John Paul II — retired from the art form, which she described as “the most impulsive means of self-expression.” Her final piece, Peril: The Destruction of the World, was displayed at the chamber of commerce with a few of her other tapestries.
•Concerned about how climate change and forest fires can threaten the Creston Valley’s water supply, retired logger Norman Simmons produced Water: Who Needs It?, a 50-page publication looking at the past, present and future. He said the current focus on Arrow Creek water is short sighted, and that Goat River is a better alternative.
•In an April 30 apartment building fire, firefighters rescued five occupants from the building, including one in the unit on fire.
14 — Ken Chubb received the President’s Award from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada’s BC and Yukon Division. For 40 years, Chubb has lived with the chronic nervous system disease, and for most of that time has been an active volunteer offering support and advocacy.
21 — Elisha Jimmy was released on bail, and with a number of conditions, after appearing in Creston Law Courts May 13 on a charge of arson causing bodily harm. She was arrested May 4 and charged following an April 30 apartment fire that resulted in Ross Millar being taken to Vancouver General Hospital.
•For “a lasting and meaningful contribution to the community by his dedication to different organizations,” Bob Meredith was named Creston’s citizen of the year at the Creston Valley Blossom Festival’s opening ceremony.
•The Creston Valley Airport has seen its use grow as a centre for medical evacuations grow dramatically, with 45 such operations carried out between December 2014 and March 2015.
28 — Moose antler carver Bob Graham donated one of his carvings, a mounted RCMP officer, to the Moncton, N.B., detachment, where three members were killed and two seriously injured on June 4, 2014. Graham presented the carving to former attorney general Peter MacKay and former MP David Wilks.
•Crawford Bay Elementary-Secondary School students released about 92,000 kokanee fry into Crawford Creek on May 21, part of a project by the Eastshore Freshwater Habitat Society to boost Kokanee numbers, which have been dwindling since dams have been constructed upstream of Kootenay Lake.
•Over 3,000 people attended the Creston Demolition Derby held in Kitchener on May 17, with 23 cars and six trucks seeing action. Organizers said the higher-than-usual turnout was likely motivated by the event’s cancellation in 2014.
