Happy "News" Year!
- kc dyer
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Celebrating 2025
For many readers, it feels like the news is never good these days — stories of injustice and conflict always seem to float their way up into the headlines.
Still, here at The Watershed, we also love to shine a light on all that is good in our little corner of the world. We regularly welcome newcomers, celebrate successes and wave a fond farewell to those who move on.
2025 has brought good news stories in the arts, business and sport; people have shown kindness and support for others, and we've learned that there are a lot of very loveable dogs to be found in and around Lions Bay.
Here's our list of some memorable news items to celebrate from 2025:
Lunar New Year arrived in January, with a celebration of the Year of the Snake. After a successful sale of calendars and door swags at the Christmas Fair, Lions Bay Arts announced a $2,380 donation to the Squamish Food Bank.
February brought the Invictus Games up the Sea to Sky to Whistler. We also marked Family Day with a welcome to new babies and neighbours and more — a tradition carried on throughout the year.
A March call-out brought many helping hands to the task of clearing ivy from the garden beside the Village Hall. This was followed by a second neighbourhood ivy pull on Sunset Drive in September.
Local running group the Rainforest Racers remembered Barbara Enns at the Vancouver Sun Run in April and raised money to help combat Parkinson's Disease in September.
We spent the spring months looking at all the ways to support local businesses by Buying BC, including local snacks, pet food, breakfast items and even booze.
We always love the chance to shine a light on our amazing Public Works crew, which we did in May, and also later in the year, when their innovative thinking transformed a moss-laden culvert into a fully-functional water channel, solving a headache for local residents while saving taxpayer dollars.
Lions Bay BearSmart members helped residents learn how to best prepare for the return of our furry friends. The local bears (and the humans who live nearby) managed to co-exist without conflict this year, including this mama and baby bear spotted in a local cherry tree on June 20.
On the political front, our local MP Patrick Weiler teamed up with MLA Jeremy Valeriote in July to call for rail investment in the Sea to Sky corridor.
This summer, Lions Bay joined the Protected Areas Initiative, registering 15 hectares of protected land — a small step toward the goal of 30 percent of Canadian lands and waters protected by 2030.
In July, the Climate Action Committee kick-started their new Community Recycling Depot, fully funded with a grant from Recycle BC. Not only does it keep batteries, small electronics, plastics and more out of landfills, it saves residents the long drive to the North Vancouver transfer station.
The long-standing tradition of outstanding Lions Bay House concerts continued with Tio Chorinho sharing their joyful sound in July, and the Dan Brubeck Quartet jazzing things up in October. Huge shout-out to the Leger family for their hard work on these concerts, reaching a milestone of 125 events over the past nine years.
We lost a few beach days to high E. coli counts this summer, but our local "Goose Samaritans" were on poop patrol to help Lions Bay beaches regain their sparkle.
The Sound was full of cetaceans this summer, as humpbacks and orcas came to hang out with the sea lions and seals to enjoy this year's bumper herring crop.
In August, we took a closer look at the works of Rod Baker, whose books describing his life's journeys make the perfect summertime reading. We also cheered when a group of neighbours teamed up to avert a Cat-astrophe with the successful rescue of a treed kitten.
In September, the Village came out in support of our local firefighters, who would go on to contain a blaze and save neighbouring homes in the wake of a devastating house fire on Thanksgiving Day.
In October, we featured the exciting successes of Lions Bay's culinary queens: Jessica Weiss of Red Couch Bakery and Lauren Gibson of Melt & Munch who shared a kitchen while making the world more delicious one bite at a time. We also shared the joy of a new book launch with local writer Maria Escobar Trujillo, whose Cartographies of the Woods brings her time in a small mountain village to lyrical life.
Village residents celebrated 'Socktober' along with Squamish Helping Hands Society (SHHS), by donating socks that contributed to more than doubling the organization's goal, and ensuring more warm feet this winter. A collection of warm winter clothing is still ongoing — check out the story to see how you can help.
In November, Council supported the province's efforts to increase protection for local Glass Sponge reefs and Rockfish. We also took a three-part look back at the decades-long efforts of the Village Trail Blazers to build and maintain local hiking trails.
We celebrated the Climate Action Committee (CAC) in December by showcasing the active steps they have taken toward climate resilience this year. In addition to the new Community Recycling Depot, they also worked with members of the Infrastructure Committee (IC) in support of the fully-funded water meter project, as well as replacing the fossil-fuel-reliant furnace in the Village Hall with a much more efficient and less expensive heat pump.
The local knitting group, who meet weekly at the Lions Bay Store, put their craft skills to good use for SHHS in December, with a welcome donation for women who find themselves unhoused over the winter.
This year we celebrated a number of lives well lived, including Barb and Dave Enns, Louis Peterson, Peter MacPhee, Helen Nogatch and Jo Wright. Each of these wonderful people was a big part of life here in Lions Bay, and is sorely missed.
All year long we shone a light on the selfless efforts of Lions Bay Search and Rescue (LBSAR), including an August long-weekend double-rescue by land and air plus a treacherous mountain face rescue at Yak Peak just off the Coquihalla, a triple call-out on one long day in September, and a storm-tossed rescue on Unnecessary Mountain in November. What an amazing team!
Our favourite story of 2025 has to belong to Archie. After a summer of hard work for this teen, and for the second year in a row, he donated all his lemonade stand earnings (amounting to nearly $900) to LBSAR. Way to go, Archie!
What is your favourite good-news story of the year? Tell us below, or email us at editor@lionsbaywatershed.ca
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Thank you for capturing and sharing all of the "what" and "who" that contribute to making Lions Bay the special place that it is. For shining light on what is so delightful and special in our community and on those who truly support and care about the residents, neighborhoods, our natural environment, our domestic & wild animal residents, plus all the committees & volunteers, LBFR, LBSAR, and staff and council. Cheers.