Another interesting and unique year has drawn to a close. Our staff members at the PQB News wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2025 and thank our readers for your patronage and feedback during the past year.
Today, we’ll take a look back at the 10 most-viewed local PQB stories from 2024 based on our website analytics. We thank all of our readers who visit the site at www.pqbnews.com each day.
1. 2 major motion pictures shooting in Parksville and Qualicum Beach
Filming was underway on the movie thriller One Mile as well as its sequel, with the productions anticipated to contribute approximately $4 million to the economy on Vancouver Island. The film stars Ryan Phillippe as an estranged father determined to rescue his daughter, played by Amélie Hoeferle, when she is captured after they run across a hostile group of people in the woods.
One Mile and One More Mile was to be mostly shot in Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Port Alberni, according to producers, father and daughter Aaron Kaplan and Jaiden Kaplan.
2. 80-year-old Good Samaritan dies in wake of Qualicum Beach crash (March 11)
The son of an 80-year-old Alberta man who died on Vancouver Island after helping a woman involved in a Qualicum Beach crash said it was in his dad’s nature to help others before “tragedy took him.”
Ronald Hare of Calgary said his father Patrick Hare was the kind of person to hold doors open for people and help out whenever he could. RCMP say a suspected impaired driver hit the woman’s damaged vehicle which was partially on the road, striking the pair who were standing nearby, and Hare “likely saved her life” by pushing the woman out of the way. Ronald Hare said his father had only been on Vancouver Island for a few hours when he stopped to help the woman, and he died in hospital days later.
3. Regional District of Nanaimo waste separation bylaw to take effect in 2025 (July 27)
The Regional District of Nanaimo's new waste diversion bylaw will require businesses, multi-family dwellings and institutions to have separate bins for different types of solid waste and recyclable material, and will take effect in January 2025.
The Mandatory Waste Source Separation (MWSS) bylaw will require all waste generators to have designated bins for garbage, recycling and organics.
4. Vandals damage property throughout Parksville Qualicum Beach (July 8)
Vandals were busy in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area in mid-June.
In Parksville, a residence and a vehicle were vandalized with eggs and graffiti; a Canada Post box was reported vandalized; and more vandals were turning on residential exterior water taps. In Bowser, a sports facility was vandalized with damage to various doors and a municipal water utility building was vandalized with damage to a wall. In Qualicum Beach, a municipal water utility building was vandalized.
5. RCMP say 1 person dead following single-vehicle incident near Parksville (July 26)
Oceanside RCMP were investigating a fatal single-vehicle incident near the commercial vehicle scales on Highway 19 near Parksville. Oceanside RCMP Sgt. Shane Worth confirmed that a person died in the incident, involving a commercial vehicle. Police said that at 6:08 a.m. on July 26, emergency crews responded to a single-vehicle crash on the Inland Island Highway between Exits 46 and 51 in Parksville.
The initial investigation has determined that the truck was travelling north, lost control, collided with the cement centre median and came to rest in the southbound lanes of the highway. One passenger died at scene. The driver and a second passenger were transported to hospital.
6. Parksville woman to appear on ‘Naked and Afraid’ reality TV show (March 12)
A Parksville woman was one of just a handful of Canadians to ever make it onto the ‘Naked and Afraid’ reality show.
Meagan Forsythe, who goes by Sunny, was paired up with a British soldier and put her survival skills to the test in the wilderness of Colombia for the Discovery Channel series. Each episode chronicles the challenges of two strangers who meet for the first time naked and must survive for a period of time, although Forsythe was not allowed to say how long she was in the jungle. The Ballenas Secondary graduate had to be careful every time she left her shelter and watch out for scorpions, pumas and coral snakes — even the caterpillars were venomous.
Forsythe was not allowed to tell people she was competing on the show until after it was done.
“They thought I was in Arizona doing medical training,” she said. “Only my partner knew and a few people that I trained with because they could tell that I was training for something.”
7. RCMP: Parksville Qualicum Beach resident reports being scammed out of $40K (Nov. 25)
A Parksville Qualicum Beach resident went to police to report being scammed out of $40,000, following instructions from a caller and allowing access to the resident’s devices. Of the funds lost, $10,000 was from a bank account and $30,000 from a line of credit.
The incident was the latest in a string of scams reported to Oceanside RCMP after PQB residents were victimized. Another resident reported being scammed out of $6,000, responding to a unknown text number requesting money be sent by e-transfer to unknown email addresses. One day later, a resident reported being scammed out of $4,000 responding to a person in an online relationship.
8. Fireworks will not be part of Parksville Canada Day 2024 celebrations (Jan. 29)
There was to be no Canada Day fireworks display in Parksville for 2024. The City of Parksville took over the festivities, after the events were organized by the Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce for years, according to Amir Tabatabaei, chamber executive director.
“Financially it’s become incredibly expensive to run Canada Day,” Tabatabaei said. “Last year we had probably, easily 25,000 people there over the course of the day. I saved in comparison to the year before, but still spent in excess of $20,000. Just the firework display costs nearly $20,000.”
When factoring in costs like musical entertainment and setting up portable toilets in the community park, he estimated Canada Day costs more than $50,000. Tabatabaei said the chamber needed to be fiscally responsible.
9. Nightmare on Elm Street: Thieves target 4 vehicles in Qualicum Beach (Sept. 28)
Thieves continued to keep the Oceanside RCMP busy.
On one summer day, money was reported stolen from four unlocked vehicles in the 200 block of Elm Street in Qualicum Beach. During the same week, a off-road motorcycle, a red mobility scooter, two bicycles, sunglasses, two evening gowns, medication and binoculars were stolen in the PQB area.
10. Parksville neighbours saddened after tiny figurines removed from park
Some residents were frustrated with the removal of several small painted figures, doors and rocks from Shelly Creek Park in Parksville.
The figurines included characters familiar to children, such as Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Rabbit, as well as tiny doors marked with their names. Carved owls were also attached to the dead tree.
"They'd been there for the last four or five years," said Fred Smith. "Grandparents take their grand kids through there, and parents take their kids through there and they really enjoy it, looking at Piglet's door and all the painted rocks and everything, and now everybody's so upset around here. We can't think why they would have done that."
The City of Parksville said it was removing all personal decorations from parks, such as flowers or personal objects left on benches, trees, park furniture and playgrounds because items left on city property impact park user experience.