Dunster Community Groups

Dunster Community Association

Among other things, the Dunster Community Association owns and maintains the Dunster Community Hall, the Heritage Train Station, and the Dunster Community Picnic Site. The Association puts on the Ice Cream Social, the Mid-Winter Buy and Sell, the Summer Farmers Market, and the Dunster Winter Market.

It also provides a bursary to all Dunster students graduating from high school and continuing their education. All of these activities would not happen without the volunteer efforts of community members like yourself. So, if you're not involved, get involved! Come to a meeting, find out what is happening, find out what needs to be done, volunteer for something! The association holds three general meetings per year. Check out the events page for more information.

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Dunster Community Forest

Click here for an update on the Dunster Community Forest

Archie McLean is the chairman of the Dunster Community Forest Society, which is presently comprised of 20  members from the community.

Dunster Community Quilt

The Dunster community quilt blocks are now available at the Dunster General Store. The theme this year is "Simply Berries" and it's just that.  Berries of the Robson Valley worked on an 11-inch block.  There are 20 blocks so LOTS to go around.  It's a great project supporting the Dunster school's swim program for the 35th year.

The first Dunster Community Quilt was made and raffled in 1976. Every year since, a new theme has been chosen for the current, unique version. A number of local ladies interpret the theme in their own way and work it with embroidery and/or applique on their block. The basic rules are"no paint, liquid embroidery or laser printing. Embellishments such as beads, buttons, etc. are welcomed." For many (25+) years, Bonnie Culp was the 'construction person' who drew all of the blocks together into a co-ordinated top. In recent years Marg Johnson has joined her and they have shared the construction challenge. All who are willing, get together, in a traditional quilting bee, to hand quilt the 'sandwich'. This year, "All Buttoned Up" was quilted in the sunshine outside Dunster's Community Hall - perfect conditions!

Proceeds from the raffling of the quilt have always supported the swim program at the Dunster school, now known as the Dunster Fine Arts School. Through this program, every student in the school takes a session of swim lessons each year of their elementary school years - instruction that is, otherwise, not available to our local children.

Raffle tickets are still available from any family who has children in Dunster Fine Arts School, at Dunster General Store, and at Scotiabank in McBride, where the quilt is displayed until approximately October 28. The draw will be at the Dunster school on October 30 at 1 pm.

We are always looking for people willing to take on the challenge of working their idea of the current theme onto a square of fabric and/or helping with hand quilting. For more information contact Marg Johnson at 250-968-4351 or Bonnie Culp at 250-968-4309.

	Dunster Community Quilt # 34 (2009) - "All Buttoned Up" (Click on picture for larger image) Photos by Curtis Culp
	2008 Dunster Community quilt - "Over the Fence" Tickets are on sale at the Dunster Farmers Market or call Marg Johnson at 250-968-4351 if you can't get to the market.  The draw is October 31, 2008 at the Dunster Fine Arts School. (Click on picture for larger image) Photo by Marg Johnson
	2007 Dunster Community quilt - "Tom's Cabin" The center medallion is the scene at Tom's cabin at the top of the Dunster Trail and the surrounding blocks depict flowers native to the Robson Valley. Photos wanted: Marg is looking for photos of quilts raffled before 2000 to add to a Dunster Quilt Album. Your photos will be scanned and promptly returned. If you have information about what year the quilt was raffled and who won it, that would be useful too. (Click on picture for larger image) Photo by Marg Johnson

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Fraser Headwaters Alliance

Robson Valley Music Festival

Sacred Circle Dance

The Dunster sacred dance circle holds more than 400 dances from around the world that represent different cultures, the wheel of life as represented by nature/agriculture and wildlife, the phases in our lives and the challenges we may confront and celebrate.

We dance with reverence and respect for those dances we reclaim. The ancient dance forms, thus renewed by our creative attention and participation, nourish our understanding of the body as sacred. This occurs on three levels: our individual bodies, the collective body of the dancing group moving as one, and the body of the earth upon whom we dance. Ultimately we seek the integration of ancient and modern forms of dance and ritual in a movement event that represents the DANCE OF LIFE itself. Circle dancing is a catalyst for integration within the self, communities and earth that has immediate as well as far reaching effects. There is a healing quality within the dance itself which enables people to become more poised and self confident within their bodies. The body and the heart learn these simple and flowing dances with ease.

The circle gathers at the Dunster Community Hall every second Saturday from 7pm to 9pm. For more information contact Debby Ladouceur at 250-968-4429 or Nancy Taylor at 250-968-4358.

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Three Valleys Community Development Co-operative

The Three Valleys Community Development Co-operative was formed by a group of interested citizens of the Canoe, North Thompson and the Robson Valleys . A few people gathered in the fall of 2001 to look into the possibility of forming a co-op but it was not until a meeting on May 13, 2002 that 22 people from all over the Three Valleys area came together at the Dunster Community Hall and decided to go forward with the idea.
The first year was spent consulting with and holding workshops with co-op facilitator Ramona Frey and with Dr. Teresa Healy and her class at the School Of Environmental Planning at the University of Northern B.C.
In March of 2003, the Three Valleys Community Development Do-operative was officially registered in British Columbia . Since then, we have had some very active times organizing the Valemount Farmers Market, being a sponsor of the Fall Local Harvest Supper in co-operation with the Dunster Community Association and presently are actively trying to organize a Local Growers and Producers Group to:
1. Encourage more growing of local produce and making of local products.
2. Encourage a sense of community and support and sharing of knowledge and machinery among local producers.
3. Develop more local markets for locally produced products.
4. Develop more markets for locally produced products in nearby areas (Jasper/Prince George, etc.).
5. Develop a public education program regarding local food sustainability.
The meetings began in November of 2009 and are being held monthly during the winter months. There has been an e-mail list set up to keep interested people in touch with the meeting dates and to share information. For more information or to be added to the growers and producers e-mail List contact Pete Amyoony at 250-968-4334 or send an e-mail.

Trappers Association

The Dunster Trappers are part of the Robson Valley Trappers' Association, which extends from Crescent Spur to the Kinbasket Lake and south along Highway 5 including the North Thompson River drainage. There are seven traplines that are whole or partially overlapped into the Dunster footprint.
Taplines are government registered areas that a trapper owns the right to manage and harvest fur from. Trappers are required to complete a trapping certification course before they can obtain a license to trap and must practice humane trapping standards that have been set out by countries worldwide that are involved in the fur trade. Trapping is one of the local sustainable industries in the valley.
Local trappers have a meeting in February in Chuck's shop and a family picinic at the Dunster Picnic Grounds in September. The picnic is open to all and includes a potluck lunch, campfire coffee, games, demonstrations and information on 'what's new' in the trapping world.
For information in the Dunster area, contact Claude Hill at 250-968-4459 or Chuck McNaughton at 250-968-4400.

Dunster Community 4-H Club

The 4-H program provides young people with an opportunity to learn how to become productive, self-assured adults who can make their community and country a good place in which to live. This is fostered through project and program work, experiences with their 4-H club members and leaders and their participation in district, regional and even provincial programs.
The goal of the 4-H program is youth development. The objectives of 4-H clubs are knowledge, leadership, citizenship and personal development.
4-H is an organization dedicated to young people. The purpose of the 4-H program is to prepare girls and boys for their future as adult citizens. 4-H stands for head, heart, hands and health. The 4-H pledge describes the significance of the four H's:
I pledge:
- My HEAD to clearer thinking,
- My HEART to greater loyalty,
- My HANDS to larger service,
- My HEALTH to better living,
For my club, my community and my country.
The philosophy of the 4-H program is explained by the 4-H motto: Learn to do by Doing.
For more information contact Pat Cousineau, Dunster, 250-968-4479.

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Page last updated February 10, 2010