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authority records
Salmon Arm 4-H Club
MS 71 · Corporate body · 1961-1991

According to the BC 4-H Club website, the Boys and Girls Club came into being in 1914. In the first year, over 200 young people between the ages of 10 and 18 were involved in competitions sponsored by the Department of Agriculture. The first clubs focused on potatoes, but later expanded to poultry in order to attract more young people and widen the influence of progressive farming practices on the BC farming community (see footnote below for source). When a local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club was formed in Salmon Arm is not known, but the Club was first mentioned in the Salmon Arm Observer in 1917.

The Boys and Girls Club was renamed 4-H in 1952. The name stood for the 4-Hs were: Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. The Four objectives of the 4-H are:

  1. To train the heads and hands of the boys and girls.
  2. To give them broad and big hearts.
  3. To improve their health by giving them an interest in outdoor life.
  4. To encourage, on the part of all Canadians, a strong and more intelligent interest in agriculture.
    The objectives are accomplished by competing and exhibiting at Fall Fairs.

The motto of the club is “Learn to do by doing.”

Oddly, the first mention of the 4-H Club in the Salmon Arm Observer was in 1951 as members of Armstrong, Kamloops, Salmon Arm and Lumby 4-H Clubs joined together to attend
the PNE in Vancouver.

Over the years there were multiple branches within the Club including Beef, Dairy, Horse, Goat, Honey Bee, and Clothing Clubs. A 4-H District Council served the area from Sicamous, Mara, Grindrod, Deep Creek, Salmon Arm and Sorrento.

Footnote: History of BC 4-H Club https://www.4hbc.ca/contact/history

Salmon Arm Grebe Festival
Corporate body · 1996-1998

The Salmon Arm Grebe Festival functioned under the umbrella of the Salmon Arm Bay Nature Enhancement Society (SABNES) which was formed in 1988 to lead the effort to protect the local marshlands and enhance the nesting areas of Grebes and other species in the area.

In 1994, SABNES commissioned a study to determine the feasibility of staging a festival centred around Grebes to draw attention to the species and Salmon Arm’s unique location in providing habitat for the largest nesting colony of Grebes in Western Canada. In 1995, prominent festival organizer Dick Finkle was commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce to make recommendations about holding a Grebe festival. In 1996, SABNES organized a “Celebration of the Grebe” day and the success of the event resulted in consideration of a multi-day festival moving forward. In October 1996, the Salmon Arm Grebe Festival was officially announced and a committee was formed comprised of SABNES members, local business owners and citizens who were tasked with planning and coordinating a three-day festival in 1997. The first Salmon Arm Grebe Festival was held May 16 – 19, 1997.