Submitted by Margaret VanIderstine, Chair
The B&S Committee would like to extend a heartfelt expression of gratitude for all the people who helped with our fundraising throughout 2019; the list is very long and worthy of praise and extends far beyond our municipal boundaries. Our local farmers, fishermen, vendors, residents, and council members all played a vital role to the success of our efforts. Of course, without the support of those who came out and enjoyed and supported our fundraisers our efforts would have been in vain; so thank you to our close-knit community residents (including Beach Point, High Bank, Abney, Gladstone, Guernsey Cove, and surrounding areas) for coming out and enjoying the fruits of our labour, your support really means a lot.
Note from Chair: As Chairperson of this committee I am excited to share this report to provide the community with a breakdown that shows specifically how your community support is recognized in the books. I apologize that the figures may not be 100% accurate; they are represented to the best of my ability. We are confident that our growing expertise in our annual events will only get better and thrive in the future. Council is excited to have started some new community traditions and we look forward to seeing more residents’ involvement & presence in our celebrations! ☺
New volunteers and committee members are always appreciated and welcomed! Also, a new Facebook group – that is open to all – was formed for any who would like to join; please do extend invitations. It is called Municipality of Murray Harbour PE, please find it and feel free to be active and make posts. No rules really other than to be considerate to everyone with no slander or malicious talk or putting down of anyone; as well please refrain from posting of sales etc. Locals can of course offer flyers to their upcoming events etc! Thank you all for understanding, Councilor VanIderstine.
List of Events from 2019
Festival of Small Halls
Our festival was almost lost to us in 2019 as we, the new council, did not get active with the application process before its annual deadline. These resulted in losing our Saturday night time slot. We are working on getting our Saturday evening back and our contact person from Small Halls, Debbie Atkinson, is doing everything in her power to accommodate in 2020 but we still may not have it; tentative date is currently Tuesday June 16th; but don’t mark that in your calendars yet because Debbie is working on getting us back a Saturday night date. Keep your fingers crossed and we will keep you updated as soon as a date is finalized. Last year our portion of the proceeds – @20% of the total ticket sales – resulted in just under $300, net* (*net refers to how much money is made after all the bills are paid). We felt this is a great success because the main point of this event is not to “make money” but to share community time by enjoying fellowship, music, and snacks. It’s also great to get visitors to come and experience our culture in Murray Hbr., and hopefully come back again; this is great for our local businesses as well. ☺
Canada Day Celebration
We held a two-day event; a Ceilidh with revenue of $200 on day one. The following day, July 1st, we held a celebration with games (we are planning to have a bigger variety in 2020; ideas are welcome), a dine-in luncheon offering wings or lobster as well as hotdogs and steamed mussels, $1030. We hope to see more children in 2020. Our cake auction was a great success raising $900!! Thank you to all the local residents and businesses who were kind enough to provide baked goods. In total our net profit was approximately $2130. Thanks to everyone who helped out; so many were behind the scenes.. the volunteers, donators, and of course the residents who supported by coming out and participating, and of course our local businesses, farmers, fishermen (lobster donations are a huge act of giving); your generosity made this event possible. Also a special thanks to the baker of our CA Day cake which was enjoyed with ice cream.
End of Summer Fun Day
We held what we hope to become a tradition with a end of summer BBQ & CornBoil. We also used up the remaining mussels, which was donated by Montague Foodbank (they had a huge abundance and wanted them to get eaten); 50% of the proceeds from our mussel sales this year went back, as donation, to the foodbank. The Fun Day landed on a really nice day in late August and while we were happy with the turn out we would love to see even more visitors and residents (and children please) to attend in 2020; we planned some games and will expand on them in upcoming years. Thanks again to the generosity of those who helped and all who supported! ☺We earned approximately $90 from this event; however, this isn’t about a profit but about a growing of community culture. Thanks to all who popped by and hung around. Many thanks also to our buskers, the Jackson brothers, Alex and Darren, who always come and play when asked. You may know them from the Farmer’s Market.. so talented!! They do this for fun but it is nice that we can remember to reward them into their fiddle case; many thanks to those
who brought and threw in their spare change. ☺
Fall Take-Out Fundraiser
This fundraiser was possible thanks to the “left over” lobster we had from our CA Day celebration. We purchased/donated some turkeys to ensure we had enough meals to accommodate all those generous people who purchased the meals. 100% of the desserts were donated by local residents (and council). Almost everything was donated by locals. Special thanks to a local potato farmer who never stops giving to this community and provided 100% of the root vegetables for this event! No names will be mentioned as that would not be fair to all the other generous sponsors who we value as well, the list is long and you are not forgotten; you are all appreciated; as are the many volunteers who did so much work in preparing and serving these meals. Our expenses were very low (~$60), our net profit was approximately $1270.
Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser
This event was spearheaded by the gang from the Farmer’s Market; many thanks for them and their generous aid to the community. The net received was $485. In addition, $140 was donated to Emma’s Cupboard for SKC’s lunch program. Thanks again, and thanks for inviting Santa to stop by; memory serves that he was chauffeured in by our local Fire Dept!! ☺ Fun!!
Beach Point Christmas Banquet
This banquet was hosted by the village but held at the Northumberland Arena due to the size of the crowd (160 people). This banquet was originally one of the banquets that our mayor, Paul
White, typically handles privately however due to the financial burdens that our “village” is under he generously gave the banquet to the village to host and to earn the income from. That is a huge donation, with many thanks, respect, and recognition deserved. BP Processing agreed with Paul that the village can host it for them. So many people helped to prep, serve, clean up, organize, etc etc.. many thanks to all! The final amount that was contributed to the village after all expenses ($442) were covered was $3578!
Summarized Fundraising Report for 2019
| Fundraiser Activities | Expenses | Net Income |
| Small Halls | $ 122 | $ 295 |
| CA Day Celebration | $ 740 | $ 1390 |
| MH End of Summer Fun Day | $ 230 | $ 90 |
| Fall Take-out fundraiser | $ 130 | $ 1200 |
| Pancake Breakfast fundraiser | $ 120 | $ 485 |
| Beach Point Processing Christmas Banquet** | $ 442 | $ 3578 |
| Flower Baskets: In Memory of* | — | $ 150 |
| Total | $ 1784 | $ 7188 |
*Many thanks to those who donated for the purchase of a memorial flower baskets for their loved ones. The costs of the flowers were lumped in with the purchase of our flowers that were planted in the flowerbeds therefore the expenses associated with them are not included in the above because they are unknown. Note: With the changing of the guard (aka, the change of CAO) we fear that possibly someone may have been overlooked, and if so, we humbly apologize and ask that you would please contact council so we can recognize your loved one in 2020 with a flower basket. Thanks for understanding.
In Memory of: Lucy MacNeill, Phyllis Harris, Terry Pickens, White family members, Edgar family members; and in special thanks to Howard Moore.