2014 September Pender Post

If you appreciate teamwork, you must appreciate the number of people of Pender who participate to make the Fall Fair the remarkable event it is. The car parking crew, the traffic directors, cash handlers, ticket takers, judges, ribbon givers, M.C.s, entertainers and the exhibitors, young and old, in every category imaginable (and then some) . . . the list goes on and on. The scary thing is that the team that plans all year long to bring it all together actually has a list of all the jobs. Eventually the organizers are able to put names beside each task or each team. A lot of work, a lot of fun - a day that begs to end with a beer garden and a cozy dinner for 500. All those organizers, exhibitors and participants can sleep late on Sunday, knowing that another Fall Fair has successfully entered the Pender Island history books. Not so fast! As Casey Stengal, the highly quotable manager of the New York Yankees once said, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” In the case of Pender’s Fall Fair, it ain’t over until the dishes are all done and the grounds returned to their pre-fair state. Those unglamorous tasks require more crews, more elbow grease, and a good portion of Sunday to complete. The Recycling Society wants to recognize all those participants and fair goers who again made the effort to make this a garbage-free fair. Good work, folks. Thanks as well to the recycling staffers who roamed the grounds helping and advising. Mother Nature appreciates you too. I am pleased to have this chance to thank the kids (Penderites and visitors) for participating with such creative enthusiasm at the PIRS sponsored Imagination Station. Again, the girls and boys let fly with hammers, saws, glue, imagination and noise. It was fun to be part of it. A special tip of my recycled hat to the Imagination Station helpers, those grown-up kids, Derek Young and Dave Dossor. Thanks also to all the entrants on the recycled art categories (functional or artistic). The level of skill and creativity keeps getting higher and higher. Check the PIRS website, (www.penderislandrecycling.com) for photos of the winning entrees. Speaking of creative skills, PIRS would like to sponsor a Repurposed, Rebuilt, Reuse, Recycled Work and Art Show. This will be an opportunity for you uniquely talented artists to display and sell their specialized creative works. The show would likely be a spring event and take place right at the depot. Start planning, and please contact the depot for details. On a much more mundane but very important topics, firstly, the wasp season has arrived. For the sake of our customers and staff, please make an extra effort to rinse before recycling. Secondly, I remind you once again that the Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection day at the depot, is Saturday, Sept. 27, 11:00am - 2:00pm. It will not be as much fun as a creative art exhibit, but HHW day is very important to our island. Let’s all make an effort to take those containers of known and unknown and perhaps dangerous substances to the depot on September 27, so they can be disposed of in a professional and safe manner. Community effort, kids having fun, and a garbage-free fair . . . small wonder they are all good days on Pender. Mike Wiley