• Quesnel council voted to move forward with limiting the number of non-medical cannabis retail stores in the city to five. With five applications moving ahead and no stores open yet — and no new applications in progress — council voted to begin the process to amend the City’s zoning bylaw to cap the number at five.
• Council approved spending $298,000 from the City of Quesnel’s Water Capital Reserve to fund the design of a water treatment system for the City’s potable water system. Health Canada changed its Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines in May, and the City is no longer in compliance with the guidelines related to dissolved manganese in potable water.
• West Fraser announced it will introduce “variable operating schedules” at five of its British Columbia sawmills — Quesnel, Williams Lake, Fraser Lake, Chetwynd and 100 Mile. At the same time, West Fraser announced it would curtail B.C. plywood production for two weeks, with the Quesnel and Williams Lake plywood mills each having one week of downtime.
• Quesnel council approved an application from the Dakelh and Quesnel Community Housing Society for a permit to develop a four-storey building on Front Street to provide low-income housing and commercial space for a market focused on Indigenous art and crafts, a food program, offices and counselling.
• For the 36th year, bikers brought a large amount of toys to LeBourdais Park at the end of the Jimmy Dunlop Memorial Motorcycle Toy Run. The Toy Run, from Sylvia’s Café to LeBourdais Park, raises toys for the Good Cheer program so that families who need them will have Christmas presents for their children. There were 49 bikes this year, which is down from previous years, but they still collected a large amount of toys.
• The first annual Chuntezni’ai Baseball Tournament took place at the newly refurbished Nazko baseball diamond. Six teams from across the Cariboo-Chilcotin took part in the two-day event, with The Ringers from Quesnel winning first place.
• The Quesnel Kangaroos were awarded hosting duties for the 2020 Coy Cup, which will be held at the West Fraser Centre in late March.
• Approximately 80 runners and walkers took part in the Terry Fox Run, and Team Family Fun raised $16,755 for the Terry Fox Foundation this year.
• As the 18th annual Cops for Cancer Tour de North came to Quesnel on its way from Dawson Creek to Williams Lake, the community welcomed this year’s team of 12 riders, which included Chris Fedoruk of Quesnel, who works as a technology specialist at Integris Credit Union.
• The new McLeese Lake Soul 2 Sole Trail Race raised close to $5,000 for the McLeese Lake Volunteer Fire Department, which is hoping to build a new fire hall. One hundred and 34 runners and hikers took part in the first-time event, organized by Reason 2 Run.
• More than 100 concerned residents gathered in front of the provincial courthouse to rally for more attention towards the area’s high crime rates.
• The City of Quesnel celebrated the grand opening of its new Forestry Innovation Centre, which is located on the second floor of City Hall and features offices and research space and showcases different wood products from the area in the furniture and on the walls. Provincial Forests Minister Doug Donaldson and Parliamentary Secretary Ravi Kahlon were part of the grand opening celebrations in Quesnel, as they were also in town for the Future of Forestry Think Tank.
• More than 80 women gathered at the Women’s Memorial Monument at the foot of Bowron Avenue to share powerful stories and present a unified front against the spectre of sexual and domestic violence before beginning the annual Take Back the Night March.
• The Quesnel and District Community Arts Council celebrated its 45th anniversary during Culture Days at the end of September. Culture Days weekend also featured the second annual Local Indigenous Artist Show, a Great Sidewalk Chalk Challenge and a presentation of the Canadiana Musical Theatre Co.’s Emily Carr — Small Wonders.
• Convoys of logging trucks from across B.C., including many from the Cariboo, left their homes in the dark Sept. 25 to all meet up in Merritt and then travel together to downtown Vancouver. The Rally to Vancouver was timed to reach the Vancouver Convention Centre while municipal and provincial politicians were there for the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention. Williams Lake Mayor Walt Cobb said there were more than 400 trucks headed to downtown.
• Barkerville Brewing Co. released four packs of its Hurdy Gurdy Hibiscus Pale Ale with compostable beer rings as a pilot project and asked customers and liquor store employees for their feedback. later in the fall, the craft brewery decided to continue with the compostable beer rings after much positive response.
• Quesnel Bikers Chris and Heather Hartridge were getting ready to depart on a 5.5-month Good Neighbour Tour through South Korea and southeast Asia. They left Oct. 1 and planned to be gone until March 20.
• Jim Dyer won five medals at this year’s 55+ B.C. Games in Kelowna, including gold in the Men 75-79 Hammer Throw and the Men 75-79 Weight Throw, as well as silver in Men 75-79 Discus and in the 4x400m Powerwalk Relay and a bronze medal in the Men 75-79 Shot Put. At the Games, Marie Murray and Jill Walker won a silver medal in the Women’s Double 2.75 level pickleball competition, while Veiko Paivinen and Mark Forsythe earned bronze in the Men’s Doubles at the 3.25 level.
• The horse community came together to raise $3,800 for local farrier D’Arcy Luttmer and his family. Luttmer suffered eight broken ribs, three fractures in his pelvis, a hole in his lungs and a crushed collarbone after his horse flipped and rolled over him, putting him out of work for a long time, and Quesnel barrel racers held a fundraising race and also raised money to support Luttmer through a silent auction.
• Hundreds of school children gathered in LeBourdais Park to observe Orange Shirt Day and heard moving speeches from Elders from local First Nations bands, including Lhtako Dené, Nazko and Kluskus.
