Dear Community,

As you know, Gibsons Aquifer is under threat from excavations, dredging and construction activities needed to build the George hotel, condos and marina project. These activities could result in the loss and/or contamination of our drinking water supply and the poisoning of our harbour. More info here.

On Saturday October 7, we hosted a special Thanksgiving Rally and fundraising event in Dougall Park to bring new to light to the dangers our drinking water supply and environment face if the George development is allowed to proceed as planned. We had a few hundred people visit us throughout the day, to listen and learn about the risks and issues, and what we are doing to stop dangerous works from taking place on the George development site. Including legal actions to overturn permits issued to the developer by the Town, to force the developer to deal with the serious risks to the aquifer and environment posed by this project.

We want to express our deepest thanks to all those who contributed to this effort and helped make our special Thanksgiving Rally a success. Our sincere appreciation and gratitude goes out to all those who donated goods and services, time and energy and money to help support this cause. 

We want to extend a big thank you to The Jeevious Family and Grant Olsen for arranging the day's incredible lineup of performers! And to all the musicians that entertained us throughout the day. We had a stellar lineup of Sunshine Coast musicians that included Ken Dunn and Anna, Stereo Steves, Jenica Vaneli, Bonar Harris, Pamela Messner, Sully Messner, Mz Jeevious, Simon Paradis, Greg Willy, Washboard Rd, The Jeevious family and The Midds who all contributed their time and exceptional musical talent. Extra thanks to those musicians who went full steam ahead during the periodic cloud bursts. The stage setup and sound were great! 

Thank you to Stevo Knauff for the excellent MC’ing. To the articulate and impassioned speakers who joined us throughout the day including: Suzanne Senger, LeeAnn Johnson, Barry Janyk, Harriet Hunter and Andre Sobolewski. Thank you for getting solid and accurate information out to the community. And to the performers who brought your hearts and voices to this important issue. 

Inside Kinsman Hall we were provided with a delicious assortment of goodies, sweet treats and special Thanksgiving turkey hot dogs. Thank you to all of those stalwart GABC and GWDA volunteers inside the hall running the show including Barry 'whirlwind' Barrone and Marcia Timbres, grill master Judy Bonkoff, Mike Storr, Inge and Dave Harrison, Mike Bonkoff, Brad Benson, Natania Wingrave, Lucy Andrade, Anne Miles and Julia Currie. Thanks to John and Deb at Seaweeds, Strait Coffee for the coffee donation, Alan Sirulnikoff and Georgina Brandon for the 'Famous George' posters and Fernando Ferreira for the Gibsons Deserves Better banner.

Thank you to Ally for running the Silent Auction table featuring works and contributions from so many talented artists: Ben Tour, Caroline Weaver, Dean Schutz, Simon Haiduk, Tessa Rand, Lara Jamison, Tina Komendat, Stacey Lynne King, Cody Chancellor, Bonar Harris, Jacqueline Gillis, Al Davis and Mary Davis. Thank you to Wayne Harjula from Mellon Glass studio for the repurposed glassware made especially for the event in support of pure Gibsons water! We have so many wonderful and generous artists in this community! 

We are excited to let you know that we will be continuing a Protect Gibsons Aquifer Online Auction, so we can keep raising money for this important cause. If you are interested in being involved in this, or contributing in any way, please contact us.  

And finally, a big shout out to our organizer rockstars The Jeevious family, Al Davis, Grant Olsen and Nick Caputo for being the first ones there, the last to leave and bringing this all together. You seriously rocked it.

In pure Sunshine Coast fashion, we all came together within a matter of weeks, pooled our collective experience, strengths and talents together for the positive purpose of protecting our most valuable assets - our drinking water aquifer and our environment… and it paid off. We raised a good deal of money and awareness; informed and engaged new supporters and put on an epic all headliners Flash-Musicfest on a rain(bow)y October day in Gibsons. 

THIS is what Community is all about! 

So please stay tuned folks. If you missed us on Saturday, don’t worry, there will be more to come. GABC’s legal team is confident we can win our case against the Town of Gibsons, and overturn the permits that would allow dangerous excavations on the waterfront. We have already raised over ½ of the money we need and with support like we received on Saturday, we feel inspired and confident that we will raise enough money to ensure the aquifer and environment are protected.

We hope you will share this message of thanks with all those who have contributed and invite others to engage and support these efforts. For more information, please contact us via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and get on our mailing list. Visit our website www.gibsonsalliance.ca for more information and DONATE here.

With gratitude,

GABC Society Board of Directors: Suzanne, Nick, Brad, Natania, Marcia, Graham and Katie. 

Please join Gibsons Alliance of Business and Community Society (GABC) for a

THANKSGIVING​ ​RALLY​ ​AND​ ​FUNDRAISER TO​ ​PROTECT​ ​GIBSONS​ ​AQUIFER AND OUR ENVIRONMENT!

Where: DOUGALL​ ​PARK 

When: SATURDAY ​OCTOBER​ ​7th, ​2017 ​11am​–​​6​​pm

What: Live Music​ ​and​ ​Speakers ​on​ ​the​ ​stage​ ​-​ ​information​ ​and​ ​donations​ ​in​ ​Kinsmen​ ​Hall

Are​ ​you​ ​thankful​ ​for​ ​Gibsons​ ​world-class​ ​drinking​ ​water​? ​ ​So​ ​are​ ​we! ​ ​And​ ​we​ ​want​ ​the​ ​next generation​ ​to​ ​be​ ​able to be thankful​ ​for​ ​this​ ​amazing​ ​source​ ​too.

But​ ​Gibsons​ ​Aquifer​ ​is under​ ​threat and we need your help to protect it. 

The Town of Gibsons wants to giveaway Winn Road in a two-part deal they are calling a “Land Exchange.”

The Town has drafted a Land Exchange Agreement outlining its intent to “exchange” ownership of publicly owned Winn Road for ownership of land between a hotel and condo building in the proposed George hotel and condo complex.

This land area is described in the Agreement as a “road dedication area,” or “public plaza.” This area was labelled a “Pedestrian Plaza” when the George project properties were spot-zoned in October 2015. In reality, this land is an undevelopable “view corridor” that the Town of Gibsons requires of any development in the Gibsons Harbour Area.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF GIBSONS B.C.

Dear Mayor and Council:

Please reference the questionnaire entitled, “WINEGARDEN PARK DRAFT MASTER PLAN”, recently issued to collect input by the citizens of Gibsons on proposed work to Winegarden Park.

Given that the design of the George project has created the necessity for bulk of the work envisioned in the questionnaire to, “integrate our park with the George Hotel project”, which includes the destruction and replacing of the existing band shell, raising of the park walkway as much as 10 feet, loss of the path’s present asphalt- paved surface, (and substitution of this same surface to wheelchair-unfriendly sloping gravel), I question the fairness of asking anyone but the developer to supply funding which is needed to “integrate” our park with a commercial development to the exclusive interest of a few.