• The Quesnel Kangaroos claimed their first Central Interior Hockey League (CIHL) playoff championship in eight seasons. Playing in front of a packed crowd at the West Fraser Centre, the home team scored seven unanswered goals in the second period to prevail 9-3 over the Terrace River Kings March 2. The MVP award for the playoffs went to first-year goaltender Brandon Peacock.
• Quesnel council received the results of the City’s online budget survey and found that residents’ top priorities when it comes to City services are policing, economic development and roads and sidewalks. Five hundred and forty-four people participated in the budget survey, up from 116 participants in 2018.
• This year’s Bowl for Kids Sake raised $16,500 for Big Brothers Big Sisters Quesnel. The event featured 27 teams.
• Quesnel council approved the 2019 operating budget, which included a 4.9-per-cent tax increase for Quesnel homeowners. The majority of this year’s tax increase — around 3.1 per cent — will be allocated to the new Public Works facility.
• Consultant Randy Churchill, a former RCMP officer and bylaw manager for the City of Nanaimo, presented his Safer Community Plan to Quesnel council March 5. The goal of the plan is to produce a number of recommendations to reduce crime and disorder within city limits. “I see you’re at the tipping point,” said Churchill. “You’re at the beginning of having more concerns, where it’s obvious that you need to get organized and you need to start working together.” The consultant echoed the public’s cries for more enforcement presence and emphasized the importance of Health and Social Services and highlighted the importance of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.
• The North Cariboo Agricultural Marketing Association (which does business as FARMED) received a $10,000 grant through the Province’s Rural Dividend Project Development Fund to implement the North Cariboo Agriculture Education Program, under the direction of the North Cariboo Agricultural Development Advisory Committee. The North Cariboo Agriculture Education Program is a multi-faceted initiative involving agriculture awareness sector and career awareness education for students at elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools in the North Cariboo, as well as to agriculture workshops for producers and new entrants to the industry.
• The College of New Caledonia (CNC) launched its new brand and visual identity at the beginning of the month. The college hadn’t rebranded since 2004. The pillars of CNC’s new brand are inspiring movement forward, bringing people and potential together, and nurturing strength.
• The Rotary Club of Quesnel added a second afternoon session to its popular Cariboo Craft Beer Festival. “The demand has been there for a couple of years,” said Rotary president-elect Simon Turner. This is the fourth year for the festival in its current form as a craft beer festival.
• One hundred and thirty-one runners and walkers, including 14 participants in the new Kids’ Run, raised $2,500 for the Quesnel Partners for Student Nutrition during the fifth annual St. Patrick’s Day Pace and Pint 5K.
• Quesnel joined the global Youth Climate Strike March 15 when 12-year-old Stella Quarry organized a Fridays for Future Strike. About 30 people took part in the two-hour strike, which was part of a worldwide Fridays for Future Strike fighting climate change organized by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
• The Quesnel Outback Quadders Society received a $6,000 grant from the City of Quesnel and Community Futures North Cariboo to improve its Deacon Creek trail system.
• Quesnel Paralympic swimmer Hannah Trimble earned six silver medals and a bronze medal at the Winter Provincial Championships.
• The Blair Hedden-skipped Ski-Hi Scaffolding team won the Quesnel Sponsor Curling League playoffs after a shootout win over Century 21.
• The City of Quesnel announced its new Forestry Initiatives Program (FIP) is officially up and running, and construction was well underway on the Forestry Innovation Centre in City Hall. The FIP was created to address the multiple challenges facing our community at this time — mainly protecting our communities from wildfire, rehabilitating the land after wildfire, and finding ways of innovating the forest products manufacturing sector, according to the City.
• Quesnel’s Teri Mooring was appointed president of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation. She was the first vice-president for six years before this.
• Barkerville Brewing Co. hosted its second Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day, with 21 people, including community members, industry partners and representatives from several other northern B.C. craft breweries. This year’s brew is a Hibiscus Dry Hopped Lager, and some of the proceeds of sales of this special beer go to the Pink Boots Society, to provide scholarships and programming for women in the beer industry.
• Twelve athletes from Correlieu Secondary School, Quesnel Junior School and North Cariboo Christian School competed at the B.C. Secondary School Gymnastics Provincial Championships. Correlieu claimed the Team Trophy for Level 2 Men’s.
• Adventure Charters and Rentals in Williams Lake announced that the company had applied to the Passenger Transportation Board to start operating two routes in B.C. that would connect the Interior corridor. Adventure Charters applied to serve a bus route from Prince George to Surrey, twice per week, with an option to transfer in Williams Lake for Kamloops. The other route would be from Williams Lake to Kamloops, twice a week.
• Pinnacle View Limousin and KRS Simmentals hosted the first Continental Connection Bull Sale at Pinnacle View Limousin. “Quesnel hasn’t had an event like this, so it’s nice to have an event to bring cattlemen together and be positive about the industry,” said Erin Kishkan of Pinnacle View Limousin.
• Friends and family gathered at Sylvia’s Café on March 16 to celebrate Sylvia’s 80th birthday and celebrate her spirit and strength during a party that included a live band, barbecue and bonfire.
• The Quesnel Pickleball Club held its first tournament March 27, with about a dozen players taking to three courts at the Quesnel and District Seniors’ Centre.
• Former Quesnel Waverider Garnet Currie won a Premier’s Award for Indigenous Youth Excellence in Sport. The 18-year-old swimmer is now attending the University of British Columbia and swimming for the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club.
• Quesnel bull rider Dustin Spiers won the Canadian College Finals Rodeo in Silver Sage, Alb. Representing Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, Spiers finished atop a field of 10 competitors from across the country.
