Blind Bay Centennial Celebrations

Blind Bay, BC, originally called Trapper’s Landing, is the community nestled into a beautiful corner of the Shuswap Lake east of Kamloops with a view to enjoy year round.  Blind Bay celebrated their Centennial this year and hosted a special day to bring everyone together to enjoy the occasion.

Heart of Blind Bay, BC

The celebrations hosted by the Blind Bay Hall Association were held right at the hall with an outdoor platform for the musicians to perform on, there were car awards given that were made available by donations from local businesses and a silent auction to be viewed and bid on.  A day full of celebrating events.

Days of old delivery truck

The Blind Bay hall is the location of the very first school built here and opened 100 years ago.  Many visited in the available seating, taking in the events and enjoying some great hamburgers and hot dogs donated by the Blind Bay Village Grocer and prepared by volunteers.

Don Hart entertains

Opening ceremonies began at 10am and the celebration kept everything hopping for hours.  The talented performers could be heard from afar with everyone enjoying the music and little ones dancing to their hearts content.

1936 Ford Tudor Touring Sedan

There was a car show that had some very special models on display, many of which are from Blind Bay, but visitor cars were made welcome, too. 

1949 Studebaker truck and 1959 Studebaker Silver Hawk

The Blind Bay Rd was closed for vehicular traffic at this location and used as a display location for the many cars.  The road was busy with locals and visitors walking and enjoying the shine and polish of these collectors.

Show and Shine at Blind Bay, BC

The lake made a great backdrop for the cars and the weather was perfect for such an event.  With the overnight showers having cooled the hot temperature down a bit and a nice breeze blowing across the venue, the weather cooperated perfectly.

Aaron Halliday is "Almost Alan"

The musical star attraction of the day was Aaron Halliday, who does Alan Jackson music right down to his appearance.  Almost Alan does a great job and drew a good crowd to enjoy his show.

Blind Bay Centennial Celebrations

There were zillions of volunteer hours put into organizing and working the celebrations which did not go unnoticed by the visitors and locals who came to enjoy their day.  Great job done by Dave and his crew.

Blind Bay Hall Association, Cedar Heights Community Association,  Notch Hill Town Hall and Shuswap Estates Community Association all participated with different venues and attractions.   The community that began 100 years ago still has the community spirit that would make the pioneers proud.

Happy Blind Bay Centennial celebration!

Showers and Rainbows ~ Kamloops, BC

Springtime in Kamloops brings showers, and we need those showers to make our lawns and gardens happy.  We love the green grass and have plenty of it to make our city pretty for the coming season.  We can enjoy the green of our hills until the hot summer weather turns that to the sage and brown we expect.

Storm ahead 

Some years it is hard to believe but Kamloops is a semi-arid region which means only 25 to 50 cm of rainfall a year and our average is only 21.8 cm so we do qualify.  I think we say this every year but we seem to have had lots of showers this year plus we’ve seen some storms that offered some amazing light shows. 

Turbulant clouds coming

On a recent trip east of town, we were heading towards a black sky that looked like a very ugly storm was happening.  We followed Hwy 1 until we reached Monte Creek, where we saw a faint showing of a rainbow, then took Hwy 97 to head south.  It looked like we had missed the big storm.

Rainbow ahead

As we climbed the hill we could see the rainbow up ahead with a very faint second rainbow happening as well.  The sun was working some magic with the raindrops and we were enjoying the view.

Double rainbow 

In no time we could see a very definite second rainbow, I don’t remember ever seeing a double rainbow before, it looked amazing.  That means there is twice the chance for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, better odds than usual.  We are heading in the right direction!

The rainbow phenomenon

This piqued my interest so I had to ‘google’ the double rainbow to learn more.  The rainbow is considered a phenomenon, as an optical one and a meteorological one.  They are caused by both a reflection and refraction of light inside water droplets.  Imagine the zillions of raindrops all lit up, that makes a rainbow!

Distinct darker band between rainbows

I remember learning the colors of the rainbow in early school days and memorized them by remembering the name ROY G BIV, for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, with the red on the outer edge.  When there are the two rainbows, technically called a double rainbow, the colors of the second rainbow are reversed so the reds are facing each other.  The light is reflected twice inside the water droplets.  Interesting, huh?

Sunshine is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Everything has to be just right for a rainbow to appear; water, sunlight and Mother Nature’s magic.  We watched that magic make a very strong arc across the sky for several minutes.

We live in an area that has plenty of that magic to see.  Kamloops offers four seasons, green grass, blue waters and 2000 hours of sunshine a year.   Enjoy your summer.

There is just no place like home.