Steamin To Bc 150 — A Great Event June 28, 2008

STEAMIN TO BC 150—A GREAT EVENT JUNE 28, 2008

While June was a busy month, much effort was spent in preparation for our BC 150 Event on June 28. We were in luck with the weather, (which had not been great all month) and had a terrific crowd of close to 1,000. Special guests included: Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations and our MLA the Honourable Joan McIntyre; MP Blair Wilson, Raj Kahlon, Councillor for the City of Squamish, Dan Ritchie, Inspector, CN Police for B.C. The festivities were MC’d by Don Evans, President & CEO.

Crowds arrived early, and our parking helpers Keith Magee and Sally along with Tomo’o Oshikawa were kept busy getting everyone parked. The Kidz Zone was set up in the Howard Lyttle Park by Par-T-Perfect, featuring two large inflatables and the Lions Club play train. The Zone was busy all day (photo, page 25). Alongside the Brightbill Heritage House was the WCRA’s 1937 Ford V8 adding to the scene.

The Royal Hudson was steaming, and did two Whistler Mountaineer salutes on our tracks as the train passed by in both the morning and the afternoon (photo, rear cover). Most of the day

it was live at the platform of the Mac Norris Station, and many had a chance to visit the cab and blow the whistle (photo page 23)

Official ceremonies were held at 1100 hours, with Don Evans introducing our new Minister of Intergovernmental Relations, the Honourable Joan McIntyre (photo left), MP Blair Wilson, Councilor Raj Kahlon, and CN Police Inspector Dan Ritchie. Following the speeches, the guests joined engineer Don for a ride on the West Coast Mini Rail to the delight of everyone, (photo below) and the new Garden Railway was a special hit for them. Joan handed out BC 150 bracelets to guests of all ages and there was a wonderful BC 150 cake at 1200. The Squamish Lions Club did a great job with hamburgers and hot dogs. (photo, page 25)

Throughout the day Mountain FM was on site with their Mountain Patrol cruiser, and live performances by band Bitter Creek were terrific.

Thanks to our team of staff and wonderful volunteers who helped up make this day a great one…Muff and Doug Hackett; face painters extraordinaire; Donna Fourchalk, who was wonderful as a Brightbill sister with Karen Moodie, the other sister in full costume; Ernie Ledgerwood, our medic on site…thankfully only a stubbed toe for the day’s activity;. Jeremy Davy, our mini-rail volunteer; Les Duke who operated the Garden Railway, Don Evans and Deb Sankey, who were also mini-rail volunteers for the day; Lynne Kinnell, our spotter for the Kidz Zone and other tasks; Thanks also to our Royal Hudson engineers Mark Liggins,

without whom the event would not have been nearly as terrific. Other volunteers how helped were Rob Misjak, Kyle Harris, Aaron Grubner, Richard Courage, Chris Forget, Trevor Mills and Daniel Doucette.

Special guests in the Mac Norris Station showcasing their information were Vancouver Millionaires, West Coast Rail Tours, Squamish Chamber of Commerce, Sea to Sky Improvement Project and CN Safety. Other partners included the Squamish Chief, Shaw Cable, MySquamish.com, Mindsi Communications, Sea to Sky News, Pique Publishing and Squamish Tourism.

Finally, very special thanks to both CN and the BC Gaming Commission for BC 150 event sponsorship grants that helped fund the costs of the event—an event that was most enjoyable and of great significance to the Squamish community. (D.E / S.S., photos by Don Evans)