Gabriola Lions Club Upcoming Activities
Our next general meeting is February 24th 2025 where we will be sharing ideas about our upcoming 50th anniversary this year as well as any other business that comes up.
All our regular club meetings are held at:
Albert Reed Memorial Fire Hall
730 Church Street
Gabriola, BC
V0R 1X3
Meeting starts at 7pm. Our social usually features Lion Bill’s famous marionette show but he has been a no-show for awhile.
Concert on the green 2025
This year’s concert is on Thursday August 7th features Sticky Fingers, a well regarded Rolling Stones tribute band that hail out of Vancouver.
This is one band that will rock Gabriola. You will need to be here, Check out the comments from previous gigs:
Musically, very, very similar to the Stones (in fact if you closed your eyes you would swear that it was not Sticky Fingers but the actual Stones).
“Five Stars and more for this incredible band!”
“I’m hooked! I can’t wait until the next. The dance floor was lively all night. The people around me all expressed how amazing they are.
Many travelled quite a distance. This group played so well together. Thank you so much for proving the Ultimate Rolling Stones experience for us all. Genuinely can’t wait to hear you all play again!!!”
“Excellent Show, Beyond my expectations!”
“Awesome Stones cover band”
“Brilliant musicians, with a special shout out to the amazing guitarist!”
“I had such a great time, highly recommend!”
“Not having seen the real Stones, my life is complete!”
The concert will begin with this Vancouver band that has links to Gabriola. The Boytles started life years ago when youngsters that loved the music of the Beatles started a band that delivered an iconic sound that moved audiences. Over the years, they have evolved into a band that will take you back in time when the 60’s was such a swinging time.
Click the link below to re-visit last year’s awesome concert.
The year is 1975. It was an incredible year for so many reasons:
In 1975, everyone had to have a mood ring while Rubiks cubes, pet rocks, bell bottoms, hip huggers and leisure suits were all the rage. It was the year that introduced us to Saturday Night Live, the disco dance craze, 8-track tapes, Pez candy, Magic 8-balls and the Altair home computer for hobbyists. 1975 saw the creation of Microsoft, the prototype Apple computer, and the start of the VHS versus Betamax video tape battle. It was also the year that the Gabriola Island Lions Club was founded.
This year is the 50th anniversary of your Lions Club.
Stay tuned for our exciting anniversary celebrations.
Gabriola Lions Club Recent Activities
Our last meeting February 10th 2025
Our Previous meeting on January 27th 2025
Welcome to our newest member Ashley!
Congratulations to the last new club members of 2024!
44th Annual Gabriola Lions Club Christmas Dinner
For several hours on the evening of December 9th at the Gabriola Golf and Country Club, the Gabriola Lions Club held their 44th annual Christmas gala and final meeting of the year for 2024.
Once again, our social coordinator Lions Olga enlisted the services of former Lion, Dawn and her catering crew to whip up a Christmas turkey feast with all the fixings including some yummy appetizers and delectable desserts. Besides the wild hijinks and sometimes awkward conversations, there was also some serious business to attend during the gala such as the induction of our two newest club members Nikki Stewart and Aron Capon.
Ferry Lineup Christmas Collection Dec 2024
From December 2nd to 6th, your Gabriola Lions Club members braved the elements to ask our lovely resident ferry users, stuck in the ferry lineup with no escape, to donate to the annual Gabriola Lions Christmas hamper collection.
From our organizer, Lion Kathy: “Zounds! What a fantastic ferry line-up collection we had this year. I would like to pass on my heartfelt thank you to all the members that signed up to do the ferry line-up and to all those generous Gabriolans that, once again, made our efforts so heartfelt.
Left: At the end of the line, Lion Kathy tries hitching a ride back to the front with no results. We believe it was Lion Mike’s hat that prevented any pickups.
Teen Taco Night at the Hope Centre
The Hope Centre teen drop in centre once again asked the Gabriola Lions to repare and serve a teen dinner. This time, the club went totally Tex Mex and prepared and served tacos with all the fixings on Friday, November 8th evening.
Over 40 Gabriolian youngsters showed up to have fun and enjoy the tacos with all the fixings. Despite the shock for Lion Mike, most of the teens even devoured the refried beans!
Many thanks to Lion Shirley who bought and prepared most of the food in advance and even baked a huge chocolate cake.
Congratulations to our new member Ashley Aldis!
The Linda Harrison Estate Sale
Linda Harrison, and her late partner Konrod, decided years ago that should they move away from Gabriola Island they would graciously sell the contents of their beautiful home and donate the proceeds to the Gabriola Lions Club.
This year, that decision has happened.
Over the course of many months, the Gabriola Lions worked with Linda to organize a sale of her home contents that took place on October 12th.
Thank you Linda and Konrod for your huge and generous contribution to your fellow members of our beloved island of Gabriola.
This will be the story of their awesome charitable event.
Lions Betsy shows off her furniture moving muscles in front of Lions Darren, Bill and Tom outside of Linda’s beautiful home.
Club donation to the Gabriola Elementary School
On October 4th, the Gabriola Lions Club presented a donation of $2,600 to purchase new sports jerseys for the school. The Gabriola Elementary Eagles jerseys also sport the logo of the Gabriola Lions Club. Above left, Lion Betsy is pleased to present the oversized novelty cheque to the school with some of the happy students. Above right, we see some of the students embarking on a sports trip with the new jerseys.
Concert on the Green August 8th 2024
This year’s Concert on the Green, August 8th 2024 was a huge success.
Gabriola’s own Poynter Project quickly got the crowd on its feet with some good rocking music that would not quit until the band turned off their amps.
Next up, Vancouver’s Avalanche performed some classic tunes that kept the crowd in a groove all night long.
In addition to the awesome music, the hugely popular 50/50 draw produced a winner that he will never forget and the draw for a trip for two anywhere in WestJet’s world left one happy couple thinking about where they will venture forth.
Of course, there was some fantastic silent auction finds and all that great food & beverages to be had.
All in all, everyone left the concert feeling very satisfied.
Gabriola Lions End of of Year BBQ
On the sunny, warm evening of June 24th, the Gabriola Lions descended on Lions Shirley and Ken’s property to enjoy a wide selection of appetizers, yummy grilled burgers with all the fixings (including sliced tomatoes) and many dessert offerings. While there was some business that had to be done, there was also much comradery and jocularity with a spattering of really bad jokes.
Hope Centre Teen Spaghetti Night
The Hope Centre invited the Gabriola Lions Club to provide a dinner for their last teen drop-in of the year.
This time, the Gabriola Lions put on a spaghetti feast with caesar salad and garlic bread. Okay, there was watermelon too. The dinner provided another opportunity for the Lions to feed and meet the local teens all within their home territory; a centre that provides a great environment for the young teens in our community.
The Gabriola Lions were more than happy to provide some tasty food and inform the youth of what it is to be a Lion serving their community.
The response was so positive that this may become a regular event.
Right: Hope Centre volunteers, with president Lion Jonathon, take to the camera as the local youth that love this centre are having a great time.
Gabriola Lions Donate $20,000 to the Health Care Foundation
The Gabriola Lions Club has donated $20,000 to the Gabriola Health Care Foundation to help pay for the improvement of the clinic’s water system. The donated money will go towards the purchase of cisterns and a filtration system as well as other infrastructure improvements.
Gabriola Lions Club President Jonathon Carlson said, “The Gabriola Lions are proud to have worked with the Foundation since the beginning. We have provided landscape services for years and have funded the purchase of equipment for the medical clinic on multiple occasions.”
On this latest donation, Carlson explains “The building must be kept in the best operating condition as it has always been. All five of the building tenants and their patients will benefit and collectively the tenants interacts with tens of thousands of patient visits annually, so this donation will be a big benefit to our community.”
Text & photo courtesy of the Gabriola Sounder. Artist rendition of the photo.
Gabriola's Ravenskill Cidery Ferments another Donation
Once again, the Gabriola Lions Club was excited to receive a cheque in the amount of $1,320.00 from Ravenskill Orchards and Gabbies Premium Cider for donations from their in-store tasting fees as well as those they collected from the public visiting the Cidery. This generous donation will directly fund the Gabriola Lions efforts to support Gabriola community events, services, and sponsorships. Many thanks to owners Keith and Marti MacKenzie with their enthusiast & dedicated staff and the many customers who visited, tasted the fantastic ciders and made a donation to the Gabriola Lions!
Walk for dog guides May 26th 2024
On Sunday, May the 26th, dozens of dog walkers with their dogs joined the many non-dog walkers to support the Gabriola Lions Club annual “Walk for Dog Guides” held at the Gabriola Sands Provincial Park.
The weather co-operated by not raining, the participants co-operated by have a great time and the dogs co-operated by being so cute.
When it was all over and the numbers were added the Dog Guides of Canada received $1200 from the fantastic Gabriola Island Pledges.
Thank you to the community of Gabriola Island!
Annual Drumbeg Park Broom Elimination
A big thank you to the 15 Gabriola Lions and friends who came out on Wednesday May the 15th evening to Drumbeg Park to help me tackle my main nemesis – the dreaded Scotch Broom.
Also, a big thank you to Shirley and Ken who planned, prepared, cooked and served hotdogs to all those who helped.
Not only did we take the broom back to the new property line, but we also got some broom that was beginning again on the south edge of the pasture. It was also really surprising to see that growing under all of that were 9 juvenile Gary Oak trees!
It was extremely gratifying for us all to see the amount of progress that we were able to make working together with GaLTT. – Lion Dixon.
The Hope Centre Teen Burger Night
The Hope Centre invited the Gabriola Lions Club to provide a burger BBQ on March 8th to feed and meet the local teens that the centre organizes as a teen drop in for support and socialization as part of their teen program.
The Gabriola Lions were more than happy to grill some tasty food and inform the youth of what it is to be a Lion serving their community.The response was so positive that this may become a regular event.
Left: Hope Centre volunteers with Lion Betsy take to the camera as the local youth dig in for a delicious and satisfying dinner.
