Auburn Bay Things to Note:
• Auburn Bay School – Needs Volunteers!
• Lakeshore School – Bear Feast Festival
• Rain Barrel Sale
• Community Gardens
• Shade Structure
• Good Food Box Program Details
Life around Auburn Bay has been quite busy these past months! We hosted a rain barrel sale, a Mother’s Day Planting Event, we’ve been preparing the community gardens site for the upcoming season, planning the upcoming Stampede Breakfast, developing a plan to build a larger shade structure on the LOC site, and other items that have come up as we grow as an organization.
Thank you to everyone who purchased their rain barrel early this year, hopefully you were able to secure your $50 barrel rebate from the City. This year’s process was quite intensive as it took over four hours to offload the truck, which meant that many of our volunteers had to return home for work. Fortunately, I was able to take the whole day off and spent over ten hours in the hot sun. I was lucky to have a couple of volunteers help pull together the orders and cover so that I could have a break and rehydrate.
The Community Gardens are almost ready for planting. We just need to top up a couple of beds with some additional premium garden soil. We were fortunate enough to get Youth Central out to give us a hand with some of the prep work. Please remember these beds are rented by local gardeners who tend to them each day and are not a free U-pick. If you are facing food insecurity, please reach out to us and we will include you on the list to receive food we donate back to the community at the end of the season.
Plans are moving ahead with the Shade Structure, with a variety of grants being applied for that should cover most of the costs of building it. I have had a chance to talk to a number of people over the past couple of events about the project and they were quite excited to hear about it. This could be an open space classroom, an area to host family events (birthday parties, potluck dinners, etc.), a space for us to host story time, arts and crafts workshops, day camps, and so much more. We will be providing more details and asking for community feedback on how to set up access to the site in the coming months. Unfortunately, with the City of Calgary owning the land, we have to follow their guidelines on what can be built for the long-term sustainability of it.
The Community Kitchen Good Food Box program is open to any person who would like to purchase affordable and delicious produce. Please see the ABCA website and Facebook page for the link to the online order form. You can get a small box (approximately 20 to 25lbs) for $30, medium (30 to 35lbs) for $35, or large (40 to 45lbs) for $40, delivered to Auburn Bay once a month. Please check out the post on our website for the Google form to place your order. The next one will be June 2 for June 13 delivery.
Auburn Bay has a large number of Facebook groups. There is a Pet Group, Seniors Group, Grillers Group, Ladies Group, Food Lovers Group, Gardening Group, Community Garden Group, Ladies Clothing Exchange Group, Business Group, Buy-Nothing Group… the list is nearly endless. Make sure to go and check these fabulous interest groups out.
Carla Obuck
President and Sports and Events Director, Auburn Bay Community Association (ABCA)
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