Morning and early afternoon rains storms put a bit of a damper on some Homecoming activities on Saturday, August 16, but once the showers subsided Hundreds of people turned out for the rest of the day’s events.
In fact, the day proved to be a real boom for Timber Days. Although there were barely a dozen people in attendance at the start, by 2:30 pm (about half-way through the logging sports competitions there were between 340 and 400 people enjoying the afternoon.
Here’s a selection of images taken in the course of day:
There may be questions about whether school will start on Wednesday, September 3, but that didn’t stop former residents from taking up School Superintendent Mike Hooker’s offer to guide them on a tour of the city’s two new schools on Saturday morning. People were, without exception, pretty impressed with the new Begbie View Elementary and RSS. David F. Rooney photoGary Sulz puts some fresh sweet corn in a bag held by his wife, Chrissie, for a customer down at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday. The corn was grown on their son, Nathan’s farm near Enderby. David F. Rooney photoStoke Roasted’s stall at the market not only sells their great beans but fresh, steaming coffee for those who need a caffeine fix while they’re out shopping. David F. Rooney photoKevan McCroy adds some goodies to the Modern Cafe’s goodies display case (top), while Kerry Dawson (center) and other devotees of the bakery and cafe indulge their taste in coffee and breakfast on Saturday. David F. Rooney photoPatti Matsushita hands Bonnie Teed a syrup pitcher at the tail end of the logger’s breakfast offered by the United Church Women on Saturday morning. David F. Rooney photoWaste not, want not. Bill MacFarlane empties the syrup pitcher back into its original container during clean-up duty in the United Church’s basement kitchen. Helen Shuttleworth (center) said 80 people enjoyed the logger’s breakfast they offered on Saturday morning. “We sold out,” she said. David F. Rooney photoGrizzly Book & Serendipity Shop owner Vanessa Smith (center) chats with a customer. Vanessa said Homecoming has been good for business. There were about a dozen people wandering in an out of her shop when The Current dropped by shortly before lunch on Saturday. David F. Rooney photoMom may have her eye on a painting or print, but this young girl liked the smaller three-dimensional work on offer at ArtFirst on First Street West. David F. Rooney photoThere were other bargains on offer at the sidewalk sale offered by merchants on First Street and MacKenzie Avenue. David F. Rooney photoRain put a bit of a damper on Homecoming — at least at first. However, once the rain let up about 2 pm things picked up downtown an, especially at Centennial Park where Timber Days held sway. David F. Rooney photoSaturday was also Family Day at the Railway Museum where Patrick O’Brien of Coldstream and Leona Friesen of Castlegar (left) admired the Salmon Arm Railroad Club’s spectacular diorama, which was described for them by the club’s David Walker (right). David F. Rooney photoKids had fun playing with toy trains at the museum. David F. Rooney photoParents who need a caffeine fix managed to get it — or a juice fix, for that matter — in the museum’s club car. David F. Rooney photoRailway Museum volunteer Ron Lind explains how the bells and whistles work in the really, really popular simulator. There was a lineup of at least eight people — most of them adults — who wanted to try the recently installed simulator. David F. Rooney photoEd Jaateenmaki seems lost in thought as he gazes on the Revelstoke Railroad Club’s diorama on display on the second floor of the Railway Museum. David F. Rooney photoPeople of all ages enjoy railroad club’s amazingly realistic and imaginative club dioramas. David F. Rooney photoMAL Norm Macdonald and partner Brian Couture (left) had a small head start on Mayor David Raven and his parter, Ernie Larsen, but nonetheless lost by a hair to the local boys during the annual ‘political saw-off’ at Timer Days down at Centennial Park. When this event took place at 1 pm there were — maybe — a dozen spectators. But once the rain let up at 2 pm attendance soared to between 340 and 400 people. That’s the highest attendance the venerable celebration of all things logging has seen in years. David F. Rooney photoMLA Norm Macdonald takes a break from Homecoming to participate in a video interview with Revelstoke Current Publisher David Rooney at the public library on Saturday afternoon. You can watch the video of the interview on The Current late Sunday afternoon. David F. Rooney photoA spectator makes a quick smart phone video of one of the contestants in the chainsaw event. David F. Rooney photoThis image gives you a sense of the audience that showed up for Timber Days. This photo only shows about half the crowd that was there at 2:30. David F. Rooney photoWayne Murray makes change for a hungry customer at the Team Gloria concession down at Centennial Park. David F. Rooney photoKids had an interesting time trying to make picture frames and other items out small sticks. Although one or two seemed a little puzzled they all eventually got it. David F. Rooney photoJade Davies (left, back) and Taryn Tersma go head-head in a race with a choker cable in the kids’ contests at Timber Days. David F. Rooney photoThe fine sport of birling, also known as log-rolling, demands fancy footwork and a great sense of balance. Lose one of those for a split nano-second and you’re bound to wind up in the water. Both of these competitors — Local boy Mike McStay and Nova Scotian Paul Lore found out just how true that was on Saturday. David F. Rooney photoJohn Blais of Kelowna takes a whack at the wood during Timber Days. David F. Rooney photoThe family of recently departed Wayne Scott was presented with the Pioneer Logger Award by Brian Sumner of the BC Interior Forestry Museum and Forest Discovery Centre. Tom, Bonnie, Jim, Kendra, Jackson, Colleen, Cathy, Patty, and Connie. Were proud to accept it on his behalf, Born in 1951, Wayne “did it all,” Sumner said. He raised four kids and faced down countless challenge in his life in the bush. He almost lost a leg in one 20th century incident and suffered financial stress in the 21st century but he always persevered. “Wayne loved being in the bush whether he was working or hunting and fishing. He was an excellent choice for this award. David F. Rooney photoVolunteers hold aloft the hand-made picnic table which was on offer as a prize at Timber Days. David F. Rooney photoEve Northmore tosses her axe in the Women’s Axe-Throwing Contest. David F. Rooney photoNow there’s something to look at. The young boy seemed mesmerized by the machines at wee chugging away at the BC Interior Forestry Museum and Forest Discovery Centre at Timber days. David F. Rooney photoNadine Overwater goes to the bull’s-eye to retrieve her axe during her face-off against Eve Northmore. David F. Rooney photoThe Sid-Arrow Reunion at the Community Centre brought together 60 former residents of those now-vanished communities that lived along the river south of Revelstoke until the valley was eventually flooded by BC Hydro. David F. Rooney photoSinger/Songwriter Nina Amelio drew a crowd of about 200 people when she performed at 4 pm. Nina — better known, perhaps, to all of her RSS classmate as Christina Amelio — returned home to perform at Grizzly Plaza. Yannivy Firrne accompanied her. Nina now lives in Castlegar and is working hard to build her singing career. If you missed her performance on Saturday afternoon, yo can watch her in a soon-to-published Revelstoke Current video. David F. Rooney photoPat Sieber (front left) serves up some fantastic-looking spaghetti sauce to a diner at the United Church’s Community Spaghetti Dinner at the Community Centre late Saturday afternoon. David F. Rooney photoKim McTaggart was the meatball queen in the kitchen at the Community centre during the Community Spaghetti Dinner on Saturday. David F. Rooney photoIf Kim was the meatball queen then Beth Campbell had to been the Noodle Duchess. David F. Rooney photoRory Luxmoore (center, back) and Ken Jones went table-hopping to ensure that everyone had salt and pepper at the Community Spaghetti Dinner. David F. Rooney photoThe Maritime Kitchen Party’s bassist Shannon Sternloff (left), drummer Trevor Wallach and lead guitarist Steve Smith really belted out the tunes at Grizzly Plaza on Saturday evening. David F. Rooney photoIf you weren’t inclined listen to music in the plaza the Bygone Era Entertainment Society provided a slate of films, including the locally made film about ski jumping back in the 1970s when Revelstoke was the country’s ski-jumping capital. That’s BEES director David Evans (right, back) introduces the films to be shown at the Nickelodeon Museum on Saturday evening. Nine of the 302 people who attended the event remember seeing ski-jumping on Mount Revelstoke. David F. Rooney photoDan Sculnick (left) and Drew Payne enjoyed singing and playing together so much they started their two-man group, the 45 Minutes Band. They put their heart and soul into their music at the Rotary Club beer garden beside Grizzly Plaza. David F. Rooney photo
