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The Williams Lake Stampede royalty contestants took part in the last leg of their journey last Thursday at the Stampede grounds.

Throughout the pageant, the contestants are judged through personal interviews, local knowledge and rodeo history, speech finals, modelling and finally horsemanship. The evening includes a grand entrance, a reining pattern, and rail work worth approximately 25 percent of their overall scores. Heading into the event, there is a lot of pressure, according to the existing royalty who were present to help the contestants.

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101 - Karina Sukert, Miss Williams Lake Rotary Club
103 – Rachel Abrahamse, Miss Daybreak Rotary
105 – Kyra Stuart, Miss M.H. King Excavating

Steve Dickens has been a teacher for 22 years, a Principal for seven of those years, and says that being involved in the 'intergenerational learning’ program at Cataline Elementary School has been the most rewarding part of his entire career.

“I was asked by the Principal to lead the ‘intergenerational program' two years ago,” Mr. Dickens said. For two out of the ten months of the school year, the grade 6/7 class goes to the Williams Lake Seniors Village and become immersed with the seniors. “My students are strangers in other people’s homes; they learn with and from the seniors. They learn how to do service and they learn empathy, among so many other things.” There were 30 students and 23 seniors this year, so some of the kids had to share ‘buddies’, participating together in crafts, games, activities and performances.

(Photo: Steve Dickens 'intergenerational learning’ class from Cataline Elementary.)

Martin Van Dale’s young son is distraught because his cat, ‘Coco’ has been stranded at the top of a nearly 80-foot tall tree in their Williams Lake yard for eight nights now.

“We first noticed when the cat was half-way up the tree,” said Martin’s neighbour, Andy Hutton. “We got a 12-foot ladder and tried to get close to coax him down, but he just went up higher We’ve tried placing food where he can see and smell it, we’ve tried cooking food that would entice him, we’ve even tried some of the things we’ve been told by specialists in this field, like spraying the feline with water – all that did was make him go even higher.”

At approximately 3:45pm on Tuesday, June 11, a dust storm started in the area of Cariboo Memorial Complex and blasted through the back alley of 5th Avenue North towards the Memory Garden on Carson.

People tending to plants in their community garden took cover behind the wooden boxes and shielded their eyes as a whirlwhind that was approximately 30 feet wide by 30 feet tall carried sand and other debris along.

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As part of the recent market and pancake breakfast the Williams Lake Lions /Lioness Club also hosted a raffle for two hanging flower baskets donated by Save-on Foods. The winners of the baskets were Jean Byer and Sue Moressette.

"We would like to thank Save-on Foods for donating the lovely flower baskets and also for donating the use of their parking lot for this annual event," said Lion Al Garlinge.

(Photo: Williams Lake Lion Al Garlinge presenting one of the baskets to Jean Byer.)

A formal ceremony was held at the end of May 2013 at the Williams Lake Detachment where the Officer-in-charge (OIC) Inspector Warren Brown, recognized police officers, auxiliary members, detachment staff, volunteers and civilians for exceptional accomplishments in performing their duties with professionalism and dedication, serving their communities with innovation and for going above and beyond their areas of responsibility.

North District Commanding Officer, Chief Superintendent Rod Booth was also on hand at the awards ceremony and presented Retired Sergeant Moe Monita with the 35 year Long Service Certificate.

An evening of great music, good company and groovy garden goodies could best describe the 13th annual Williams Lake Harvest Fair (WLHF) garden auction fundraiser which was held inside at Cariboo GM last Wednesday.

On May 29, over 50 guests came out to support the Williams Lake Harvest Fair, a non-profit society which hosts an annual exhibition to promote agriculture, domestic arts, rural life, and 4-H programs. The event began at 6:30pm giving guests plenty of time to mingle and survey which items they planned to bid on. The young and talented musicians with the Cariboo Chilcotin Youth Fiddles Society had toes tapping and a few people even got up and danced.

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You can’t go downtown in just any city in the province and expect to see horses and riders, but three members of the Cariboo Cowgirls Drill Team were out ‘seasoning’ their horses in Williams Lake this evening, getting them ready for the Stampede Parade.

“Drill horses are subjected to so much during their training; loud noise, high speed, music and crowds -- the most obvious hazards when you're riding in a parade,” said Wendy Palesch, the team’s Treasurer. The average rider may never notice the type of things that could spook the mildest-mannered horse until their on the back of one in a parade. Believe it or not, popping balloons, sirens and flapping flags or banners aren’t something the average horse experiences on a regular basis. Wendy went on to explain that it’s just good policy to prepare a horse well in advance, so both horse and rider can enjoy the parade.

(Photo:  Ashley Palesch  and 'Ginger', Chevi Woods with 'Lacey', and Wendy Palesch on 'Dezi'.)

The BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has named Honey and Chance, found together in a dumpster near Williams Lake, as the recipients of its 2013 Animal Courage Award. The two heeler-cross dogs received the award at the non-profit animal welfare society’s annual awards ceremony held on May 31 in Vancouver.

On January 22, the BC SPCA came to the rescue of Honey and Chance after being tipped off that the two dogs had been trapped inside a large dumpster for several days in freezing temperatures on a reserve outside of Williams Lake. It appeared that the dogs were surviving by feeding on a moose carcass that was also in the dumpster.

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(Photos courtesy of the BC SPCA, January 2013.)

Two plug-in hybrid vehicle charging stations are available for use at Thompson Rivers University. They are the first charging stations to find a home in Williams Lake.

TRU received the money for the new stations through a $2.7 million community infrastructure fund that has installed 268 charging stations throughout the province. TRU in Williams Lake was given $8,000 to cover the cost of both stations.