Community Futures provides business support for Slave Lake and area.

On August 11, it is holding a free barbecue and open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m at its office in downtown Slave Lake.

Then on August 30, Community Futures and the Slave Lake Native Friendship Centre are holding ‘Empowering Indigenous Businesses’ at the Friendship Centre. Free tickets are available on Eventbrite.

The Smith-Hondo Fall Fair and Rodeo is September long weekend. It has various events. New this year is Monster Pro Wrestling on Sunday, September 3 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Smith rodeo grounds.

We were sorry to learn Trevor Vance is leaving the community (Slave Lake), for Fort McMurray. Trevor’s been a fixture on the baseball scene around here for many years, both as a player and a coach. Most recently, he was the head coach of the 11U Heat, who hosted the Tier 3 provincials on the July 22 weekend.

All the best to Trevor and his family (Cheryl, Mason, Wyatt, Hayley and Cameron) in the Fort Mac phase of their family adventure.

Trevor figures he’ll be back visiting Slave Lake next summer as a baseball coach for a Fort Mac team.

Snow in the Swan Hills? That’s what we heard from somebody who drove through there on July 23. Snow in the ditches, and quite deep. Somebody must have taken photos of it.

Somebody did, and it turns out it was hail. Quite a lot of it!

It’s high time we gave a bit of recognition to former Slave Laker Les Close. He stopped in a few months ago and one of the bits of news he shared was about some stories he’s been writing, based on experiences in Slave Lake from back in the day. He calls it ‘Pranking Dr. Paul.’ Here’s an example:

‘This is a series of incidents that took place in Slave Lake, Alberta over a 20-year period.

‘Disclaimer: Mostly true, but I never let actual facts get in the way of a good story.

‘Dan and Les were doing some repairs on Dan’s house one fine summer day when Dan stood up from his kneeling position and not realizing the awning window was open, hit his head on the protruding frame, causing a large gash just above his eyebrow. The darned thing was bleeding a lot, and Les piled Dan into his car and drove to the nearby emergency station at the hospital where Dr. Paul was on duty.

‘They were ushered into an examination room, and Dan was attended to quickly by the young doctor who asked “What happened here?”

I spoke up and offered this explanation…You see doc, we were having a rock fight and Dan here, well, he lost! Dr. Paul rolled his eyes at me and pointed to the door and said in a firm voice….

‘GET OUT!

That was the start of a long and interesting relationship between Dr. Paul and me.’

Here’s something else people have been talking about: saskatoons. They probably aren’t anything special in lots of places, but the crop in and around Marten Beach has been better than some people have ever seen.

Even people who don’t like saskatoons are picking, because they can’t resist it.

It would be a good year for making pemmican, if anybody is still into that sort of thing.

Blueberries, now, we haven’t heard much of anything, except a few are showing up, here and there.

Here’s another thing: the Woods & Water Recreational Trails Association is holding another free barbecue at the entrance to the North Shore Trail at Marten Beach on Saturday, August 5. The burgers and dogs should be sizzling pretty good by 11 a.m.

Come out and chow down and find out what’s happened and what’s planned for improving the trail across the north side of Lesser Slave Lake!