Monday September 18, 2017 saw a donation of memorabilia to the City of Fernie from Glen and Chris Bossio.

The couple live in Lethbridge but the family has long roots to Fernie. At one time the Bossio brothers had several businesses in town and were well known.

Glen’s father Joe was the son of Patsy and Teresa Bossio. Joe was born and raised in Fernie as was Glen.

Glen moved away a couple of decades ago for work and now retired he said with more time on his hands he decided to have a look at some of the memorabilia in his possession and that included a jersey, leather coat and formal wool sweater that the legendary hockey team the Fernie Rangers wore during the fifties.

He had the jersey cleaned and placed under glass in an oak cabinet and then thought it would probably be more appropriate to bring it to Fernie since this was the place his father came from.

He also brought an original Free Press from 1959 with the account of the fire that burned the Fernie Arena down to the ground and also caused the death of Fernie teen Dominic Ferrarrelli and also a photo of the Annex A hockey team circa 1954. These items will be placed in the Arena so they can be viewed by the public.

It’s been an interesting time with the mine rescue competition held by the City that was very successful. Thanks goes to our coordinator Elke Weber and the committee for all the work to organize the event, and thanks especially to our sponsors, volunteers and competitors because without them this event couldn’t happen.

The other event in town was the Chautauqua Fall Fair that was absolutely wonderful, from the kickoff event at the Heritage Library on Thursday evening that had the Ktunaxa dancers and Angie Abdou reading from her latest very intriguing novel to all of the events in between that offered art, music, food and entertainment for all ages and interests.

Some to mention are the musical acts on Friday evening and Saturday, the formal British Tea organized by the Seniors headed by Marjorie Thompson and Helen Milligan and a Ukrainian dinner prepared by local ladies thanks to Sharon Switzer. At the dinner a verbal presentation on the internment camps in Canada by Lubomyr Luciuk was very appreciated and during the day a most amazing celebration on city hall grounds by Wildsight Elk Valley. Saturday morning had a dedication of a plaque to the 34 men that lost their lives 100 years ago in the Coal Creek mine, and Sunday also had a interdenominational service by Rev. Andrea Brennan. The four day event also had a pancake breakfast and a show of locally grown vegetables and the most delicious looking cakes, all was perfect, this was an epic experience enjoyed and still talked about by everyone. Thank you to Ron Ulrich and historical society for bringing the idea forward last year and thank you to the individuals that participated and came out to enjoy the festivities. It certainly made our city proud that a festival of this quality was realized and it’s all thanks to volunteers. This proves people in this town are pretty special. Thank you so much everyone.