Rally Pics

Some Pictures from the Port Hardy Rally. (click on them for a larger view).

Port Hardy Rally

“Christmas in July in Port Hardy”.    Brrrr!  Not so!  We actually had weather as good as the rest of the island and better than some places.  Luckily, we did not have torrential downpours!

 Laurel & Wayne Macaulay really raised the bar again.  This rally was in the planning stages a year ago and it was very evident!  Laurel did a lot of smart shopping and beautiful crafting to put on an event of this calibre and still make money.  Port Hardy provided some great hand-out packages with gifts, which Laurel supplemented with 2 Christmas Trivia games, Christmas Sudoku, and Christmas Word Search. Breakfast every morning and big dinners every night. We were all offered tours of the Hardy Buoys Fish Cannery, the Aggregate plant, a fishing trip, a run on a Pilot boat one evening to take a pilot out to guide a huge ship through the straights, and a Whale Watching tour, where they were lucky enough to have a huge Humpback Whale breech right beside the boat!  In between that busy schedule and eating, some of us actually did some exploring as well. We visited some very good Museums and saw beautiful, lush country, with lots of wildlife and many scenic views.  Deer were plentiful and so were the bears.  Also, ongoing during the week, we were busy building Christmas centerpieces and ornaments for competition.  Laurel had a bin full of supplies for everyone to work from and some really beautiful creations appeared.

Port Hardy is a small town with some economic distress.  The Macaulay’s, with the help of rally attendees, raised some $300 and 7 boxes of non-perishable food items for the local Harvest Food Bank.  Every evening we exchanged a food item for a chance to win a door prize.  As Laurel had about 80 – 90 door prizes we collected a lot of food!  Half of the 50/50 draw, one night the total, went to the food bank as well.
One evening we were entertained with “Christmas Bingo” – e.g. under the “N -bells”, with a  $2 donation for the food bank we could play all games and win prizes of huge, beautiful,  gift baskets. Another night we had Reindeer races and some of us beat the odds!  Every evening there was a campfire and good camaraderie.
The highlight was Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.  What a feat putting together turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, yams, gravy, stuffing, peas, carrots, green bean casserole, cabbage rolls!   And then pot luck Christmas desserts just to make dinner settle in properly!  We had a “handmade by giver” gift exchange which proved just how very talented we all are.  Gifts were useful, beautiful and crafty.  All treasures!

Again, there are not enough descriptive words to do this rally justice.  Laurel, Wayne and their few very busy Christmas Elves worked Miracles this week.  Thank you.

Port Hardy Info

Please contact Laurel Macauley by phone or email if you wish to join the Whale Watching.  The tour will be on the 21st at 1:00 PM.  The cost per person is $84 + taxes.
If you have put your cheque for rally fees in the mail this week, PLEASE  CONTACT  Laurel and let her know.  Email 
taupeview@hotmail.com or phone: 250-468-9744.
Thank you,
Sandy                                          See more in Older Posts

A GREAT RALLY IN SIDNEY!

      (Scroll down for the next Rally at Port Hardy.)

     Many thanks to Ian & Lyn Van Treight for the use of their place for the rally!  Due to our wet spring, a week before we were to use it, the field in Sidney was used for a Carnival and their rigs had to be removed with an excavator.  Kudos to John and Susan Van Schaik for checking around and finding another site so quickly.
On an unhappy note, Susan Van Schaik had a fall the night before the rally after setting up and was taken to hospital to have a very bad break set on her arm.  A few days later she actually underwent surgery to have plates put in the arm.  We hope Susan recuperates well and quickly.  She had some great volunteers to help her pull things together.
    The weather was good but cool and a few furnaces were running. 
    Friday night for dinner each couple was given a whole roasted chicken and the meal was completed with pot-luck sides and desserts.  Wayne and I had another meal and sandwiches from the chicken.
    Saturday morning was a continental breakfast and a then the meeting was called to order.  Because the Executive felt some changes should be made to the by-laws, elections have been post-poned until the new by-laws come into effect.  The proposed new by-laws were gone over by the membership and 30 days notice will be given before the final vote which will be at the Port Hardy Rally.  Swap meet tables were set up and some made purchases and some made money!  Lots of fun!  We then had part of the day on our own until time for Bean Bag Baseball in the afternoon.  The game was a huge amount of fun, lots of hecklers and jeering, but both teams did well.
    Dinner was a humongous "BBQ it yourself" steak each, baked potato, salads and desserts all provided by the rally hosts.  (Wayne and I also had another meal with the leftover steak!)  Afterwards, some warmly dressed people stay out and played card Bingo.  Lots of cash prize winners.
    Continental breakfast again Sunday morning and then everyone helped dismantle the tent and headed home. Another great rally thanks to John & Susan Van Schaik and their crew!

Read up on the next Rally, Scroll Down.