Saturday, Oct. 3, marked the third annual “Apple Pie Construction Marathon” fundraiser for the Splash in the Past project, this time held at the Barriere Lion’s Hall.
Incredibly, over 330 apple pies were prepared from scratch, each ready to be taken home to be baked immediately, or placed in the purchaser’s freezer for enjoyment at a later date.
All the pies were prepared in a little under nine hours at the hands of local volunteers and were pre-sold at a rate of $10 each with the net proceeds going towards the ongoing fundraising effort for a local splash pad.
The 100th Anniversary Committee first heard of the fundraising idea in 2013 from local resident (and district staffer), Nora Johnson.
While the Committee has taken on a number of successful local fundraisers for the splash pad project such as an outdoor movie, the Annual Family Fun Night & PJ Parties held at the Ridge in February, a Raffle Draw, and Penny Drive to name a few, the Apple Pie Fundraiser has been most profitable to date.
Last year pie sales resulted in a net amount of approximately $2,450 for the project. This year was once again even better with an estimated $2,620 in net proceeds generated.
“The generosity people are capable of utterly amazes me.” says Tasha Buchanan. “From the astonishing donation of nearly 400 pounds of pristine gala apples from BC Tree Fruits Cooperative, the efforts that committee chair Lindsay Arcand went to in order to secure and retrieve that massive donation in the Okanagan, her husband having to make a last minute run to a Kamloops grocer to secure another 100 pounds of apples with three young children in tow, the discounted price for some supplies needed from Louisa and Ivan Lee of our local AG Foods, to the people who relinquished precious weekend time to help make the pies…..continues to just blows me away.”
Pie makers consisted of many Barriere 100th Anniversary Committee members, but also community members who reached out independently to help: Lindsay Arcand – committee chair, Danny Arcand, Liz Wagner, Martin and Susan Matthew, Barb Buchanan, Kathy Matthews,, Edie and Mike Fennell, Lynn and Harley Wright, Juliana Oja, Donna Salle, Jen Power, Audrey Rilcoe, Irene Wassing, Janet Simmons, Nicole Simmons, Nora Johnson, Cam Salle, Paige Arcand, and Tasha Buchanan. All worked so hard on Saturday with a handful of those even giving up their Friday night to pre-make some pastry for the morning.
“Massive appreciation is given to all those who purchased pies and contributed to this fundraiser,” said Buchanan. “Thank you Barriere. Looking forward to next year, and I hope everyone enjoyed the smell of baking apple pie over the holiday weekend.”