2021 March Focus
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[email protected]@elkfordlibrary.org March 2021 Volume 15 Issue 2 Fat biking in Elkford. See page 4 for Elkford Trails Alliance article. March 14th is Daylight Saving Time. Remember to move your clocks ahead one hour! residential - commercial - industrial Jason Heyboer, FSR electrician [email protected] Box 1278 Elkford, BC V0B 1H0 Provincial and Federal News Links and Other Resources COVID-19 Provincial Support and Information https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery/covid-19-provincial-support BC centre for Disease Control http://covid-19.bccdc.ca/ Interior Health https://www.interiorhealth.ca/Pages/default.aspx Government of Canada https://www.canada.ca/en.html Important Phone Numbers: 1-888-COVID19 (1-888-268-4319). The line is for non-health COVID-19 information. 811: For health-related information on COVID-19. 211: Seniors looking for help (or volunteers willing to help), can call 211 or visit http://www.bc211.ca/ Crisis Line: 1-888-353-2273 Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 Elkford Public Library Contact us at the library: 250-865-2912 Send us an email: [email protected] Website: http://elkford.bclibrary.ca Find us on Facebook: Elkford Public Library Hours:* Tuesday and Wednesday 10:30 am - 4:30 pm Thursday and Friday 11:30 am - 5:30 pm Saturday 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm *Hours may vary due to COVID-19. We wish to thank those who distribute the Elkford Focus: Our goal is to cultivate a Focus on Elkford and we welcome your submissions of events, announcements, classifieds, ideas and ATCO opinions to [email protected] or bring your legible copy to Chauncey Ridge Food Mart the Library. The Elkford Focus, Board and Staff of the Library do Elkford Conference Centre not promote the opinions expressed. We reserve the right to edit Elkford Mini-Mart/Fas Gas or refuse to print submissions due to legality, length, religious or Esso political reasons, good taste or discriminating beliefs. The Focus Elkford Motor Inn & Restaurant is published on the web and may be accessed and searched by Kapps Pizza Place anyone. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of Kootenay Market submitted information. Copyright of all material remains with the District of Elkford author. BC Elkford Liquor Store Elkford Drug Store 2 Richard & Darlene Mosiondz In business since 1990 4165 Highway 43 EAST KOOTENAY LUTHERAN PARISH PO Box 69 Phone: (250) 865-2236 Elkford, BC V0B Cell: (250) 489-8967 Serving the Communities of Cranbrook Invermere Fernie & Elkford Mt Zion, Cranbrook 920-11th St S Sunday Worship & Kids’ Church 10:00 am St Peter’s, Invermere 110-7th Ave Sunday Worship 1:30 pm Trinity, Fernie 691-4th Ave Sunday Worship 1:30 pm Immanuel, Elkford 500 Alpine Way Sunday Worship currently on hold due to Covid-19 250-426-7564 ww.eklutheran.ca 3 The Elkford Trails Alliance Secures Funding for a Snowdog Machine The new Elkford Trails Alliance (ETA) is a group of volunteers that have a passion for outdoor recreation. We’ve got a Board of Directors, Executive, and members that are committed to advancing the use and state of the non- motorized trail network within and around the community of Elkford, B.C. We’ve got a few projects on the go, and one of them is to purchase a Snowdog so that we can groom some of Elkford’s trails in the winter months for all types of non-motorized use: snowshoeing, fat biking and back-country ski access, among others. Currently, the only trails maintained in the Elkford area for winter use are for members of the Elkford Snowmobile Association (ESA) and the Elkford Nordic Ski Club. Fatbikers, snowshoers and winter hikers cannot travel the Boivin Creek trails maintained by the Nordic Ski Club because those trails are groomed specifically for Nordic ski use. When non-motorized users are on the ESA trails there is risk for interaction with the motorized users and the conditions can be challenging. The ETA would like to reduce the risk non-motorized users face on shared trails and help make more of the community’s extensive trail network accessible for all community members. Trails that we are looking to provide winter grooming for include the existing Mountain Walk Trail, the Great Trail, Elk Valley Trail, Josephine Falls Trail, and possibly another trail on the golf course that is separate from the Nordic ski track. We are also actively working towards constructing new trails for multi-purpose and multi-season use. We are well on our way to making this winter trail grooming project a reality thanks in huge part to the Elkford Project Society for their generous donation of funds to purchase our new Snowdog single-track groomer. As more non-motorized trails are established, the scope of trail maintenance and grooming in our community will continue to grow, thus embracing the growing culture of our healthy outdoor lifestyle. Now more than ever, community members are exploring their own region for outdoor recreational enjoyment. We hope that our group can help get more Elkfordians exploring our community year round and foster the community’s “get intimate with nature” lifestyle. Are you interested in volunteering, joining our meetings, or even just receiving updates on what we’re up to? Send an email to [email protected] with the subject title “add me to your mailing list” and also join us on Facebook @elkfordtrailsalliance. We’d love to see photos of what you’ve been up to this winter, stay tuned for a photo contest! -submitted by Katherine Russell Open 10:00 am to 6:00 pm (Monday to Friday) 4 Random Thoughts from Father David of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church One of my uncles who lives alone was in hospital recently. When he was discharged his local surgery arranged for a therapist to come to his home to help him with his walking, and very kindly they also arranged for a lady to come in and help with some of the basic housework. And my uncle hated this! I would phone him and he would say, “I have had people in and out of my house all day!” On days when he had no visitors he was much happier. Then today I was listening to the radio and there was an item about both adults and children who, during Covid-19, have lost some of their ability to socialize. The program was talking about how these people would have to go through a process of being retrained in their social skills. I found this interesting because while I have been aware of the issue of loneliness – those who long to interact with others – I hadn’t thought about the other side of the problem, those who are apprehensive about going back into social environments. Inside myself I think I have a bit of both of these characteristics; there is a bit of me that rejoices at having the house totally to myself and being alone, and a bit of me that craves at least a little person to person contact. Of course, part of this is me just being lazy; I have to say that it is nice getting up in the morning and not having to think about dressing smartly, rather my priority can be on being comfortable. But more than this, I do really enjoy my own company and being left to myself, and I can feel myself internally having to wind myself up in order to interact with others. Hopefully soon we will be able to start mixing more freely, but I wonder for how many people this actually might be a bit of a struggle? We are living through odd times. 5 6 A Big Thank You To Our Sponsors The Elkford Snowmobile Association would like to thank all the businesses, clubs, and people that sponsored, supported, and believed in us. You helped us complete our latest project. It started as a dream and some table talk at a few club meetings over six years ago. We dreamed of a newer, bigger, more powerful groomer/snowcat than we had. Our old machine at the time was just that—old, tired, and underpowered for the terrain and trail we needed to continue to safely maintain for snowmobiling residents and tourists of Elkford. We committed to the long, grueling process of grant writing, fundraising, and community work to obtain the funds to purchase our “new to us” groomer. On January 16th, 2021 we welcomed to Elkford our 2007 Prinoth BR350 complete with tiller bar snowcat. Our first grant was received in December 2017 to start us off. For the next three years many members both present and past worked tirelessly volunteering at fundraisers, volunteering at the softball tournaments, writing and sending hundreds of letters and grant applications around BC and AB to many people and businesses. Finally, in December 2020 we obtained the last grant that would put us at our target and allow us to purchase the Prinoth groomer that, for so many years, we had talked about in every meeting. We would like to thank the following businesses and companies for their donations over the last three years in support of our goals to improve the snowmobile community experience in Elkford. Without you this would not have been possible. Platinum Sponsor – over $10,000 The Elkford Project Society Gold Sponsor – $5,000 - $10,000 The District of Elkford The Elk Valley Thrift Shop Flaman Sales, Rentals and Fitness, Lethbridge Regional District of the East Kootenays Teck Coal Silver Sponsors – $1,000 - $4,999 Elkford Community Fund East Kootenay Community Credit Union Bronze Sponsors – $500 - $999 Thunderstruck Films Richardson Oilseed Ltd Elkford Lions Club Additional Community Supporters Banner Recreation and Marine Willow D Enterprises Ltd Site Direct CNP Waste Disposal Elkford Congregational Church Cooks Electric Elk River Crossing Car Wash Prinoth, Calgary Sparwood Legion Elkford Minor Ball If we have forgotten to mention a company or business we are very sorry, we are extremely thankful for the community support in the past years and currently.