We sincerely hope that all of our members and their families are safe and well.

It’s hard to believe that the summer has come and gone so quickly. The lake certainly seemed to be busier this summer although I don’t think that we have returned to pre-pandemic activity levels yet. However, it was wonderful to see everyone back enjoying Basswood Lake again.

The board has been extremely active again this summer. Our new board members and our returning board members continue to work very hard on your behalf. This newsletter will give you an update on some of the activities that we are currently working on.

Joanne Falk and Phil Conley have retired from their positions on the board effective at the AGM this year. We thank Joanne and Phil for their outstanding service and look forward to continuing to get their valued feedback on the work of the lake association.

As always, we are still looking for new board members so if you are interested in joining the board, please let us know.

We held our spring board meeting on June 20th and our fall board meeting on Sept 6th, both conducted virtually via Zoom. Although we weren’t forced to the Zoom platform this year by the same pandemic lockdown restriction that we have had in the last couple of years, we still found it an effective way to let all board members participate, even if they are not physically present on the lake.

The AGM was held in person this year at Melwel Lodge. It is a perfect place to hold the meeting as we can enjoy a view of our beautiful lake as we discuss the issues that are so important to the stewardship of Big Basswood. Thanks to the Provenzano family, the new owners of Melwel, for allowing us to use their facility and thanks. Also thanks to Monique Brock for looking after refreshments and snacks for us. We welcome them to the lake and look forward to their active participation in the association.

At the AGM, we discussed a number of major topics that will each be covered in greater detail in this newsletter.

The summer, we partnered again with the Sowerby Heritage Society and the North Shore Senitinel for a social evening and performance at the twelve sided barn. We are very pleased that these events have resumed. This year, the event we held another performance by Vernon Bailey and Bill McCleneghan (unfortunately delayed several weeks due to a Covid outbreak). The event was very well attended and $3000.00 was raised for the North Shore Health Network. We look forward to partner with these organization for a number of additional events in 2023 – stay tuned for further announcements.

We also took an active interest in the recent municipal elections, engaging with the candidates whenever possible and publishing an information circular on the voting process and the issues that we felt were important to the lake association. We welcome the new council and look forward to working with them going forward.

In closing, I’m sure you will see that there is a lot going on at the BBLA that impacts the ongoing stewardship and enjoyment of our beautiful lake. However, as our treasurer Cynthia Woods notes in her submission on membership, we still only enjoy participation from less than half the property owners on the lake. We strongly believe that given the importance of the issues that we are addressing and the continued low cost to membership of $25 that we should have a much higher percentage of membership. We encourage you to sign up if you haven’t already done so and to ask your friends and neighbors oh the lake to sign up as well.

Your lake association will continue to work hard on your behalf. Have a great winter and, as always, let me know if there are any issues that you would like to see us addressing.