PENINSULA
NEWS REVIEW BREAKING NEWS: peninsulanewsreview.com
Loss of a legend
Longtime Sidney Fire Chief Mel Baldwin dies at the age of 83 Page A3
Bracing for Bed Races
Teams putting the final touches on preparations for July 7 event Page A7
Veterans to march on Sidney Day
Leeanne and Jack Guthrie at the fruit stand outside their Brentwood Bay home. The stand typically sells baskets of raspberries for $5. (Nick Murray/News Staff)
Nick Murray News Staff
Fruit stand robbed on first day of season Leeanne and Jack Guthrie dismayed to find money and fruit stolen Nick Murray News Staff
Winning pair
Two Island soccer teams claim Provincial Premier Cup championship Page A10
Friday, June 28, 2019
A family’s roadside fruit stand in Brentwood Bay was robbed on the first day of the season. Leeanne and Jack Guthrie spent hours on Sunday picking raspberries at their son Jonathan’s small farm and were excited to get the
season underway, selling them at their stand. However, by evening they found they had been targeted by a thief and their stand’s fridge and cashbox were empty. The baskets typically sell for $5 and the couple can make $60 on a good day. “The reason we were so upset was we had just opened it up, dusted it off, put the fridge out and the first two baskets go missing,” said Jack. “We just thought, ‘Already?’ It was a real kick in the stomach, so disheartening,” agrees Leeanne. The couple have lived in their home on Wallace Drive for 32 years and have run the road-side stand
for much of that time. The stand was already there when they moved in and their house, built in 1938, once sat on a large strawberry farm. To them, the stand is a community resource, and running it continues the legacy of the area’s small town charm. Over the years, the stand has also grown to be a focal point for their family, with the couple moving from selling flowers to plums, from their backyard tree. Their son Jonathan fell in love with agriculture selling the plums and is now a farmer, running Mt. St. Michael’s Farm in Saanichton with his wife Kate. Continued A5
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Some of Sidney’s elder statesmen and women are shining their shoes and fixing their medals in preparation for Monday’s Sidney Days celebrations. Members of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 37 and Sidney’s Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans (ANAVets) will form a colour party, carrying around 10 important flags. As well as the national Maple Leaf flag, the Union Jack (to represent the Queen), the NATO flag, branch flag, B.C. Provincial flag and colours representing the army, navy and air force will be included. Setting off at 11:20 a.m. from Sidney Tire and marching behind the pipe band, the seven-strong colour party will be followed by about 15 veterans who will all perform an “eyes right” at the raised viewing platform containing local dignitaries, outside Starbucks. As well as being an important part of Sidney and the Saanich Peninsula, the veterans are keen for their presence to remind people not only of their past service but current endeavours too. Continued A5