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The RCMP’s famous historical Musical Ride kicks off a BC summer tour tomorrow, with a series of shows in Northern BC, starting in Fort St. John.

The show will be performing at the Williams Lake Stampede Grounds on July 18th, 2013.

The iconic Musical Ride will be performing in BC all summer long, from the Okanagan, to Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and appearing in a wide number of Lower Mainland venues, including the PNE. The tour wraps up in Hope on September 7.

Revered children’s entertainer Neale Bacon, and his 'Crazy Critters' will be visiting the Williams Lake Library on July 13 at 11:00am.

Bacon’s creative show features ventriloquism, magic, audience participation and lots of laughter. The theme of the performance, 'Up, Up and Away', is based this year’s Summer Reading Club.

The 87th annual Williams Lake Stampede's theme this year was 'Fun 'n Games', and the organizers nailed it!

The parade brought a lot of smiles to faces young and seasoned. There were beautiful floats, marching bands, and a plethora of horses and wagons -- but there is no such things as too many horses in a Stampede parade. Many parade entrants distributed water, pop and candies to eager spectators. The most creative candy-delivery system was manned by Fred Ball of Gene's paving, you loaded a hopper full of candy and then showered the crowd with the goodies by way of a conveyor belt.

(More photos on the '' page on Facebook.)

With the intimidating skull flag flapping above the #5 car, Williams Lake's own Brian Bettles won the 72 lap main event at Thunder Mountain Speedway's first Crash to Pass event of the season.

The hit-to-pass class involves completing a predetermined number of laps that must be completed to finish, however drivers must first ‘hit’ a competitor’s vehicle to be permitted to pass them -- making for an exciting race.  While there were no shortage of bone jarring crashes, including a head-in into the concrete blocks on turn four and a small fire in the same car a short time later, there were no reported injuries.  Drivers in this series take most of the same safety precautions that regular race classes do.

Welcome to Williams Lake, indeed.

Leah Selk, Coordinator at the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society has had this postcard on her fridge for some time now, and thought this weekend might be a good time to share it.

“I bought it off eBay years ago while I was in Montreal feeling homesick and nostalgic,” Leah said. “This sign used to be (close to) where the current ‘Welcome to Williams Lake’ sign is, and on the side leaving town it said ‘Goodbye and Good Luck’.”

(Postcard of the 'original' Welcome to Williams Lake sign.)

The Tl'etinqox-t'in riders left their camp at Sheep Creek Bridge at about noon today on the last leg of their annual horse and bike ride to the Williams Lake Stampede.

Since 2002, each year the riders invite other communities to join them in the five-day ride. “We have some riders from Yunest’in along this year,” said Randy Billyboy, Councillor for the Tl-etinqox. The riders left the Tl’etinqox gas bar on Sunday, June 23 at about noon. They’ve hosted Lahal tournaments, drumming, had games for youth, took part in a couple small gymkhanas along the way in addition to enjoying story telling by Elders and visiting around the campfire.

Excitement was in the air on Friday evening as kids of all ages sped down 4th Avenue at the second annual Soap Box Derby sponsored by Cariboo GM and the Horsepower Hooligans.

There were tough-looking replica Jeeps, unibody hot rods decorated with flames and covered with sponsor stickers, while the main body of some of the racers consisted of a slightly modified wheel barrow. Some soaps were constructed of nothing but plywood -- including the steering wheel, and had a hockey stick for a brake handle. The thing they all had in common was that they brought smiles to their occupants, as well as the large crowd of spectators.

The Canada Day celebration in Boitanio Park this year will be filled with family fun in the afternoon.

Boitanio Park will be filled with folks as the celebrations kick off at 2:00pm with a blessing by the T’exelc Williams Lake Indian Band and a welcome by City and CRD representatives.   Quintet Plus, Willow and the Williams Lake Community Band will provide music for the celebration.

The 'Cataline Ringers' handchime choir performed for the Cariboo Child Development Centre pre-school graduation ceremonies on June 18 at Boitanio Park.

12 students ranging from grade 4 to grade 7 from Cataline Elementary, who have been playing since Christmas, played several pieces. One of the pieces performed, a new style for the group, was the story of the ‘Three Bears’. This musical method of story-telling through music was as huge of a hit with the younger children as it was with the adults. The chimes complimented the actions that were happening as the story was being told.

(Click HERE to watch a video of the performanace.)

This weekend the Williams Lake Indian Band is hosted the annual Chief Will-Yum Father’s Day Pow-Wow, which included a hand-drumming contest, a traditional feast, and a princess pageant during the three-day event.

This pow-wow is a modern variation of the traditional event where both First Nations and non-First Nations people meet to dance, sing, socialize, and honor the First Nations culture. Dancers dress up in traditional regalia with intricate quill and beadwork, feathers, breechclothes, buckskin leggings, moccasins and head dresses.  Everyone participates from the youngest tribe members to the elders. It is friendly and inviting, and the drumming is most enjoyable.