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VIDEO: Committee could use $5,000 to organize 75th celebrations, Lake council told

Although the main event is scheduled for August, there will be lots going on, group says

It’s going to be like a backyard party that lasts all year long.”

That’s the idea for Lake Cowichan’s 75th anniversary in 2019.

A committee of energetic local residents is already hard at work planning the celebrations.

Yes, the frontier village of Lake Cowichan was incorporated as recently as 1944.

Since then, the area has lived through the booming post-war years of the forest industry in the 1950s and 1960s, felt the pinch of hardship when the Hillcrest mill operation closed, again when Western Forest Industries logging and sawmill closed down, and finally when TimberWest’s sawmill at Youbou closed.

Some people moved away from the area but others stayed. And new residents have been attracted by the Lake’s many assets.

Lake Cowichan has endured the loss of its own school district, and seen the closure of many schools in that time as well but through it all, the strong heart of the community has continued to beat and in 2019 locals will have something to celebrate as the town enters a new era.

Loretta Puckrin, a co-chair of the committee, spoke to Lake Cowichan town council Oct. 2 about the possibililty of getting $5,000 from the town to help fund next year’s celebrations.

Council was scheduled to address that idea at its finance committee meeting on Oct. 9.