Last week I wrote about our trip to Ottawa and today want to tell you about a very special event we attended: The Sesquicentennial Gala, which was held on June 30 at the Westin Hotel, downtown Ottawa. It was sponsored by Cardus, a "think tank" group dedicated to the Renewal of Social Architecture – and was entitled Faith in Canada 150. Over 300 leaders of faith gathered in the spirit of friendship. What a fantastic evening! Best bib and tucker! We were the guests of our son-in-law Rev. Dr. Brent Stiller and our beautiful daughter, Karen, who is senior editor of Faith Today Magazine and has written and edited several books on faith. The evening was emceed by Farah Nasser, Global News anchor, and we were delighted to hear a wonderful soprano, Isabel Bayrakdarian, cantor Daniel Benlolo, Air Farce comedian Luba Goy, and Aboriginal leader Ray Aldred. Special guest speaker was the Dr. Angus Reid of the firm of Angus Reid Polls. How often we have heard his name attached to various polls at election time. It was exciting to be there and have such fun. I actually high-fived a fantastic guy who waxed eloquently on the beauty of Nova Scotia. Found out he had been a political appointment of the former PM Harper and it had a lot to do with faith in Canada. The AGM of the Malagash Community Hall was held on July 15 with very few people showing up for the meeting and free barbecue. Too bad really because the community hall is such an important part of any community and is available for suppers of various organizations, birthdays, weddings, funerals, anniversaries, meetings and the list goes on and on. I encourage everyone to support our community hall by joining for a small $5 fee. Feel free to contact me for any further information. Now maybe some of those not attending the meeting could be found at Jost Winery when the Rawlins Cross band was playing. From all reports this was a great afternoon of music with this Newfoundland-founded band. Well over 300 persons at this "ticket only" event. The winery was very busy with customers all through the day. What an asset this establishment is to our community! The next big event will be the Blueberry Festival on Saturday, Aug.19, with Signal Hill performing. This will be a ticket event, $15 through Eventbrite.ca. Planning on attending that one! Jig and Joker is still happening on Friday evenings at our local legion. The legion is open from 6 to 9 p.m. for fun and fellowship and hopefully a chance to "Jig for the Joker" and win some money. Some evenings there is special food and that is always a hit. Plans are being made for the annual Three Harbours Camp to be held at St. John's in Wallace on Aug. 4 at 2:30 and it will run until after worship at 10 a.m. at the church. All youth are invited to join the leaders for Inter-Faith Investigation. They will become private investigators working to solve the mystery of who worships who, and how and why? The program includes many activities, a movie, sleeping over on air mattresses in the basement, and listening and learning in faith. Our first beach ministry was held on July 9 at McNeill's Beach on the South Shore Road and next one will be on Aug. 13. It starts at 5:30 p.m. and all you have to bring is your chair, and bathing suit if you want to take a dip, and some hotdogs to grill. Lots of fun! Have a wonderful week everyone and stay safe. Marian Durling is the Malagash and area columnist for the Citizen-Record.