Thankyou McKnight`s M

Last November, Tracey and Bill McKnight along with their daughter Jill, made the announcement that they were closing the store paving the way for Tracey and Bill to begin a long-deserved retirement, and allowing Jill to focus fully on her role as executive director of the Delta Chamber of Commerce I have had the pleasure of getting to know the McKnight’s on a personal level as well as business leaders in our community the past six years. In fact, one of my first interviews here at the Optimist when I joined the editorial department in the summer of 2016 was Jill in her capacity as president of the Ladner Business Association Her warm and welcoming demeanor and willingness to promote the LBA and its member businesses told me right away what a special person she is I soon was introduced to her parents Tracey and Bill and those same feelings were apparent in our first of what has been many meaningful and pleasant interactions over the past six years.

The McKnight’s represent all that is good about not only our business community, but our community in general. They have worked hard to not only run a successful business, employing many for years, but have championed for other businesses in the Village, promoted events, volunteered to ensure events could be enjoyed by our community –including the popular Ladner Village Market in June, which they will still oversee.

The doors of South Coast Casuals are now closed, but the McKnight’s heart and soul for the love of our community will always be open and for that, we thank you

The great garage clean-out is almost here

y wife calls me a hoarder I call it being prepared for anything

I have a garage full of tools, toys and general stuff that I use on a regular basis. Guaranteed, as soon as I throw something out, a day later I’m headed to the hardware store to buy a replacement for it, because after all these years, I can finally use it

I consider myself a bit of a MacGyver – I can fix almost anything with a few tools, duct tape, bailing wire and a lot of determination. I like the challenge of keeping things useful, I like working on cars and building things. I have a large woodpile that is used more by the local raccoons than my construction products (That will be taken care of this spring, for sure!)

That’s why Spring Cleanup is a celebration in our household My wife revels in taking all my stuff to the curb, and I revel in bringing it all back into my garage But at least this time, it’s more organized. My wife was horrified when I came home with a lawn mower one year. But a couple hours (and a few choice words) later, it was running and mowing the lawn It lasted a few years until the casing rotted away. Off to the curb with you, the metal collector’s next pick

I have to admit, there are a few things I’ve left out that I didn’t really want to get rid of, but when they were gone I had a sense of relief. Even better is when we put something out and we see it get picked up by someone who could really use it.

When my son was very young, we found a rideon backhoe. He loved that thing for years I used all my MacGyvering creativity to keep it working. Finally, when he outgrew it, we put it out for Spring Clean-up. We saw a family driving around, stopped and picked it up for a very excited young boy. I hope he enjoyed it as much as my son did, until it either fell apart, or he passed it on to the next construction protégé

Who knows what will be lining the streets next weekend All I know is I’m not allowed to pick anything. At least until my garage has a bit of room in it