Outdoor Tidbits

I have some outdoors related information to pass on. There's a rumour going around about plans for a dirt bike track in the area. None of this has been confirmed but the location is thought to be somewhere out back of highway 7 near the exit that brings you to the flashing light. If it is true and depending on what form it takes, I know it's going to cause concern for some people. We all know about the controversy created by the motocross track in West Saint John.

I also have a little news about the Loch Alva Protected Area. A committee is busy looking at access and land use issues. I know a chunk of what was initially included as protected has been cut loose from the designation because of mining interests in the area. Once that happens forestry companies are allowed to cut in the area. There is fear on the part of some people that this wedge of formerly protected area may soon be clear cut. It's unfortunate because this is one of the more accessible areas for people living in Grand Bay-Westfield. It's also home to many camps and recreational trails. It would be a shame to see this area cut. I'll keep you posted.

And finally a comment from someone who used to live in the area concerning a column I wrote recently about the disappearing access to woods trails. This email came from Karen Gorham. She writes, "I just read about your disappearing trails. That is so sad. I grew up near Crystal Beach. I do like the outdoors. I have never been to Spencer’s camp. I now live in Ontario, but come home often. I enjoy going bird watching in NB. I hope something can be done about the disappearing trails and about the garbage that is left around."

Thanks for the feedback. If you have any comments, community news or events, photos or anything of interest to people in this area that you want to pass along, email them to rivervalleyrambler@inbox.com.

In Praise of Snow

Another day... another storm. What is going on with this winter? It's seems every three days or so we get another major system coming up the coast dropping snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and then torrential rain on us. Could this all be related in some way to climate change? Whatever the cause, it's made life miserable for a lot of people. Snow is one thing, tough to move, but we can play in it. I like the snow. Freezing rain and rain just turn to ice and that can be deadly. Driveways and parking lots have been transformed into instant skating rinks a few times this winter. The over 70 mm of rain we received one day in February caused roads and basements to flood. It even forced a boil water order for much of Saint John. You don't want rain in the winter. Snow is much easier to get around on then ice. I think snow gets a bad rap from a lot of people and I suspect after all the rain we've had this year and given all the problems it's caused, I hope people look more fondly on good old snow. After all it is winter and this is Canada.

Musical Night a Success

The theatre at River Valley Middle School was full to capacity on Friday night (Feb 15-08) for the community celebration of our musical heritage. The Grand Bay-Westfield Heritage Committee lined up a stellar cast of local performers to entertain the crowd. The varied program included everything from young Elvis impersonator Edward Mitchell from Harbourview High School to the popular country and bluegrass sounds of Reg Gallant, Jerry Cormier, Allison Inch and Murry Sheils to the impressive and powerful voices of the Saint John Men's Chorus. In between we heard performances on piano, traditional folk songs, original songs written about the area, step and highland dance demonstrations and much more. I'm not going to single out an individual performance because they were all terrific.


As the MC for the event I introduced the evening by saying it reminded me of something that could have happened in the community back in the 19th century. In fact I invited the audience to pretend they had arrived by horse and sleigh, a wood fire was burning in the front of the hall and they had all come for a night of musical entertainment provided by their friends and neighbours. That used to be the only way to enjoy music before the days of radio and digital players. That analogy worked for me especially when all the performers and the audience, accompanied by Bertis Sutton on the piano, all sang together 'Back to the River St. John'.

It was a great night. Hope you enjoy these photos all taken by Diane Bormke.

Music of the People

Heritage takes many forms. It's our history and our beliefs. It's old buildings and museums. It's the way we lived our lives in the past and still do today. Our heritage is also found in our culture. Part of that culture can be found in the music we make and enjoy.

Years ago, before radio and records and digital anything, music was sung and played by family and friends. It was performed live and people would gather together to enjoy their own special style of music. Making live music in a community setting is rare today but it's happening tomorrow night (Friday, February 15) in Grand Bay-Westfield. It's a show featuring our own local performers in honour of National Heritage Week and it's called 'Music of the People'. The concert is free and hosted by the Grand Bay-Westfield Heritage Committee. It starts at 7:00 pm in the River Valley Middle School theatre. I'll be the MC of the show and a canteen is being provided by the Home and School Association. Here's the lineup.

Piper – Donna Nason

DVD – Video of NB Heritage

Reg Gallant, Jerry Cormier, Allison Inch & Murray Sheils

Allison Inch and Rhonda French – Step Dancer

Doug Losier and group

Noah McCormack on the piano and with his teacher Trish Sennett

Mary Rose Daigle on guitar and piano

Edward Mitchell – Elvis impersonator

Jordan Fisher – Piano

Harbourview Choir

INTERMISSION – Canteen courtesy of Home and School with proceeds to assist with new playground at Westfield School

Piper – Donna Nason

Janna Sherlock – Piano and Song

True North True – Beth Palmer, Lorne Blagdon and Doug Kelly

Brandon London

Bertis Sutton – Piano and Song

Kaitlyn Greer – Highland Dance

Laura Sennett Piano

Erin Boudreau
Saint John Men’s Chorus

Bertis Sutton and Audience – ‘Back to the River St. John’

It promises to be an evening of great entertainment. Hope to see you there.

Sick of Storms and Flooding

It's been a miserable day. The snow and then the rain, especially the rain has made a mess of everything. You know I love the snow and winter but another storm every second day is getting difficult. The torrential rain has nowhere to go because of the ice and snow and it's pooling in all low lying areas. The result is flooded streets. I've never seen as much water on the roads as I've seen this afternoon. In Saint John the bottom of King Street was flooded and smaller cars that stalled while trying to get through the axle deep water were left abandoned. Here in Grand Bay-Westfield parts of Woolastook Drive were under water. River Valley Drive by Scholtens turned into a small lake and the highway coming into town had some dangerous sections because of all the pooling of water. I know people are dealing with flooded basements too. It's a mess and it's probably going to get worse because the rain is supposed to continue into tomorrow. The drive into the city is going to be fun in the morning. Be careful.

The Return of the Rambler

The Rambler is back. After taking a break for the last few months the River Valley Rambler has returned from retirement. It made sense to end the Rambler at the time because most of the content in the column concerned outdoor activities. At the same time I was launching a new column, blog and podcast called Doing Stuff Outdoors so I decided to focus exclusively on outdoors content. It's worked very well. The Doing Stuff Outdoors program and blog is now heard and read by people all over the world. I invite you to check it out at doingstuffoutdoors.com.

But the demise of the Rambler column limited my ability to write about the local River Valley area. Sure there are plenty of outdoor related topics to write about in this region but there are also many other interesting and important things going on. I felt constrained restricting the column to only outdoor content. At the time of the change the River Valley Rambler blog reverted to postings of previous columns from years past. I was surprised to find that quite a few people still checked into the site regularly at RiverValleyRambler.com. Something else happened that encouraged me to bring back the rambler column in this paper and in a new and expanded web site. The popular Bay Info web-page dealing with community events and news shut down at the beginning of the year leaving this area without a regular web presence. At the same time people were telling me they missed the old River Valley Rambler. We're also heading into an exciting and busy period for Grand Bay-Westfield and the surrounding area. Development seems to be happening everywhere and there's a municipal election coming in the spring. The time is ripe for the return of the Rambler along with a redesigned web-site. The Doing Stuff Outdoors column will remain as a source of information about outdoor activities and will alternate with the Rambler column in this paper. But the exciting and interesting content is what I hope will develop online.

I'd like the new RiverValleyRambler.com site to fill some of the gap left by the closing of Bay Info. It has provided a valuable service to the community and I thank the producers of Bay Info for their efforts. RiverValleyRambler.com will continue mainly as a blog providing readers with a collection of thoughts, comments, reflections and ramblings about life in the River Valley area of New Brunswick. It will also contain posts of some of the old columns that have proved popular with some readers. I will endeavor to post new content and photos as often as possible. This is new material in addition to the regular column you'll find published in this paper. But for that to be successful I will need your help. I'd like to fill the site with useful and interesting information and stories about life in this community. That's where you come in.

If you have a story suggestion send it to me. If you've written a story about a person or an event happening in the area send that along as well. If you have birthday or anniversary wishes to pass on or community news of any kind send that too. I'm looking for all sorts of local content. If you have some great photos of the area, old or recent, send them too and we'll find a place for them on the Rambler site. If you know of something interesting going on in the community let me know about it and we'll pass the information along. In addition to photos and text, I'm planning to include video and specialized audio content on the site as well.

More than anything else I'd like the River Valley Rambler to become a place you visit on a regular basis to find out more about your community. I'd like you to be able to go to it often and always find something interesting, entertaining and useful there. But for this to work I'll need your input. I can't do it all myself.

The River Valley Rambler has a new email address. Send your stories, suggestions, community events and photos to rivervalleyrambler@inbox.com and check out the new site at RiverValleyRambler.com.