Good Morning, Pender Island!
It is a distinct pleasure to watch Pender Island wake up from its winter slumber. As the sun stays longer and the air gets warmer, so too do the hiking trails become more attractive, the shops and markets more active, and the hubs that host our island events seem a little easier to reach from the comfort of my living room in Magic Lake.
Take the volunteer fair, hosted by the Community Hall in late April. This is where I spent a recent Saturday, talking with people about the very thing to which this newsletter dedicates itself: bringing Pender Island together.
Over the course of one morning, I spoke with all sorts – from recent newcomers and a young woman partway through a two‑week volunteerism program that had her working at a nearby farm, to former Pender Post Society board members and current volunteers. Not to mention the like‑minded folks staffing other tables at the fair, like George Fowlie representing Pender Radio, and Carolyn Cartwright‑Owers — who was on hand for the Junior Sailing Program but could just as easily have been wearing hats for Parks and Rec, the Nu‑to‑Yu and a list of other island groups too long to reprint here.
It was a delightful way to spend an early spring day on Pender Island. And when the market closed for the day, I returned refreshed and revitalized. It’s hard not to have a spring in your step after spending the day surrounded by those who so happily walk the talk: it takes a village.
After the fair, I retrieved my hound and set out on a two‑hour hike along the roadways of Magic Lake Estates. Tired but overflowing with good vibes and vitamin D, I marched down to the end of the dock, took a moment for myself and – stripping down only as far as was publicly appropriate – shortly after 3:15 pm on April 18, took my first plunge of the year into Magic Lake.
To be sure, it was a distinct pleasure to have Pender Island wake me up from a winter slumber of my own.