Champney's West Day's Events Aug 3 – 5, 2012

Friday Aug 3

• There will be a kitchen party at the hall from 7:30 - 11 pm. This is a “music and friends event” put off by The Goose Cove Kitchen Party Group, who are donating their time and effort as a fund raiser in support Champney’s West Aquarium Project. Tea / Coffee and a sandwich lunch will be served. Admission is $7 per person. There will be 50/50 ticket sales.

• There will be an 80's party at Johnny's place from 11pm - 2 am. Darrell and Krystal Freeman are devoting their time and the use of Johnny’s Place in hosting the Party. BYOB, come as you are and socialize. Music by Darrell admission is free. Remember to recycle and have a good time with regard for others.

Saturday Aug 4

• As always down home cooking will be available. Soup, sandwiches and fish and brews will be dished up at the town hall from 11am - 2pm. Prices will be posted.

• 50/50 Bingo games start at 2:30 pm

• Games of chance will be taking place down on the waterfront during the afternoon. Come on down and try your luck!

•The waterfront will be hoping with musical entertainment throughout the day provided by local artists. Come listen to the down home sounds, admission is free.

Sunday Aug 5

• There will be a fundraising breakfast hosted by a wonderful group of people that have decided “to be here by choice in Champney’s. It runs from 8:30 am - 12:30 and only cost $ 8:00 per person. All proceeds of this event will be donated to the Aquarium fund, please come visit for breakfast; chances are it will be more than you can eat!

• The recreation group will have games of chance down on the waterfront during the afternoon starting at 1Pm. Games include ring toss,

• The first annual walking on water event will start at 1 Pm. Come check this out all you need is to have your own shoes that you can walk on water with! The trick is to be able to use your shoes to be able to walk on water out to a buoy, navigate it and get safely back to shore. The person with the best time get’s bragging rights and the company of Martha and Bertha in a photo op.

• The great Atlantic Cardboard boat races start at 3pm, get your boats built and get ready to have a time to remember. There are boats already lining up and crews preparing to show their muster in this race. This year we will also have a $ 50.00 prize for best boat judged as most creative by a panel of judges, and a $50.00 prize for winner of races as an honor for their achievements. Entry boats will race each other this year “two at a time” and compete for bragging rights. There are also challenges being issued and sponsored races that will take place to the finish. Boat crews can challenge each other and donate to the cause at the same time. These changes will deliver additional amusement.

• There will be a treasure hunt for Kids after the cardboard boat races. They will be using metal detectors to find buried things. Everyone gets a cold drink and the person that discovers a marked winning $1 coin gets a $10 prize. This event is held with donations by the freeman family.

• Various singers will be performing on the water front during the day and after the boat races and until the fireworks start at 10 pm.

• Rosie’s Snacks will be donating 15% of Hog Dot and Hamburger sales made during Champney’s West days to the recreation group and the Aquarium Project. The take out is located on the waterfront.

 Ella Freeman Memorial Heritage House is now open daily. The Museum will be open throughout the Champney’s West Celebrations. This would be a good time to visit. The museum contains an artifact display, an audio/visual display, and an in depth written history of the people and the place. There is a vast amount of written materials and numerous pictures of early settlement circa 1675 and up to today. To Read more about the Heritage House Click Here

Artistic Rendition of Champney's West Aquarium

The picture below is a scaled down image of an artistic rendition painting of the future aquarium. The actual painting by Cathy Driedzic is on display at the Recreation Center in Champney's West, along with a descriptive brief on the project.

Cathy very kindly made this painting, which allows us to provide a visual impression of what this community hopes to achieve by this project. Having this rendition or vision of how the end result could look like, helps us tremendously in delivering the message, goals and objectives of this project.

A Few Words on the Artist

Cathy paints fresh and luminous watercolour paintings. Her use of transparent colors and a limited palette produce paintings that are filled with light and a sense of calm. Her watercolours have been exhibited in galleries in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, France and are currently in several galleries in and around St. John's. Her prints and drawings are also shown in her home studio, which is listed in the Studio Guide of the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Cathy has won awards for her drawing and painting in New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Her artwork has been selected for the collections of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the City of St. John's.

Her husband Bill has committed his spare time and his knowledge in fostering this project by being a champion and diligent supporter, since day one. We feel very fortunate that Cathy and her husband Bill have a summer home in Champney's West. They have become very much involved with community activities and they have decided to be “Home by Choice Residents”, devoting a tremendous amount of hours helping the community in any way they can. Bill and Cathy have both volunteered their time and put their abilities to work in support of making the Champney's West Aquarium a reality.

They have also both endeared themselves in the hearts of population of the whole community. They have given us smiles, time to chat, thoughts, advice, help and input and friendship. They have spent so much time in planning and working with everyone to help foster initiatives toward strengthening the future of the community, that it becomes difficult to thank them or recognize them enough, mere words don’t really explain level of enthusiasm and dedication that they have given nor our appreciation.

Thanks Cathy and Thanks Bill!

More information on Cathy’s work can be found by visiting her website Visit Cathy.

Updates from the Group

We will have more details available here on July 27. The volunteers are having a series of meetings and are working on the details and chores required to help make this project a reality. When you have time, please check back here for updates on the progress of the Aquarium project. Book mark and share this link.

The Champney's Recreation Group has many individuals that spend a great amount of volunteer hours dealing with applications, writing proposals, answering calls or making them, dealing with regulatory issues, raising money and dealing with all aspects needed in moving things forward. This behind the scene support often goes unnoticed, yet it is so important and needs to be recognized. Tip your hat to them, a truly devoted and dedicated group!

We ask you our website visitor to do us a favor, take a moment and comment below, your input is important to us! We are all volunteers and your opinions matter, remember if you don't voice them we can't hear them!

It's time very soon for Champney's West Days! and preparations are underway. We are going to release news so have a look on here Thursday, rumor has it that some exciting things will take place this year.

Reminder to members: There is a meeting scheduled for 8 pm on Tuesday July 24 of the entire recreation group. Let's all do our best to attend it!

Be well and be you ... Thanks

About Champney's West

Champney's West - locally known as the Island - Is located in Trinity Bight along the north shore of Trinity Bay. The town has 56 full-time residents whom work hard to add to the quality of life and to keep the community alive and active. During the summer the population increases when many vacationers and part time residents spend time in the community at summer homes.

The Island has a very interesting and lengthy history dating back at least 337 years. At various times in it's history well over 200 residents called Champney's West home. It was once a thriving fishing community due to it's excellent harbor and proximity to fishing grounds. Today the harbor remains in top condition with many renovations having been recently made to fishing stages (rooms). There are however far less full time fishermen than seen in days gone by.

Sometime during the spring of 1675 the Brigantine Mary, a 100 ton sailing ship was commissioned to navigate to the new world specifically the isle of Newfoundland. The "Mary" was under the command of John Le Cross, a well known fishing admiral of the time.

After making the journey across the Atlantic Ocean, Captain Le Cross reached the Island of Newfoundland and entered Trinity Bay on the north side. He then traveled on until he reached the land mark known as the Horse Chops. From the Horse chops he sailed further into the bay and came upon the entrance of a inlet known as Salmon Cove. Upon entering salmon cove he apparently made the decision to investigate the potential of the area with the view of determining the suitability of the location for establishing a "plantation".

The written account of the voyage is contained in the log of Captain Le Cross and a quote from it reads as follows:

[upon entering the mouth of the harbour we took soundings on the western side of the harbour where one stand alone rock lying adjacent to a point running to the south exists, it seems to be the only visible rock protruding from the water the depth of five fathoms was observed, lying to the east of this point is a low sloping point of land, this itself assures a safe and sheltered cove. Moving northwards a small island was observed lying no more than a hundred feet eastward of the mainland, here advantaged us to make fast the Brig between the mainland and island. was here that we observed an in draft lying to the west with only a minute amount of water remains at bottom tides, the low sloping land at waters edge gives us a fair advantage where we can place rooms and plant crops. One can only perceive as to the sheltered safety of one place. Thence northwards of this little island is the bottom of this long sheltered harbour, this here that a river of such is observed, one can only imagine the ease of cutting lungers and timber farther in draft. On either side of the river there is ample amount of water to tie a hundred ships. To the east of the island there is a small inlet charactered by steep sloping hill which offer the most ample protection from prevailing winds. Water depths can be from 5 to 20 fathoms in depth and one could navigate at anytime within this cove]

Captain Le Cross established a plantation in the area of Salmon Cove, likely in what is today known as Champney's West. This was at the time were the Migratory Fishing industry was ending in Favor of a "planter" live here type system. Please visit our history section for a more in depth presentation of the known history of Champney's West. Read More Champney's History Here.

Working Toward The Future

Since our successful Come Home Year and dedication of the Ella Freeman Heritage House in 2010, the Champney’s West community has been planning to add a wonderful new attraction on the Bonavista Peninsula: The Champney’s West Aquarium. Please take a moment to learn more by clicking here!