This week’s column is dedicated to Don Jamieson who passed away on April 28 after a long battle with cancer. Don and my husband Chris worked together at BC Tel (now TELUS) for many years. We shared many good times with Don and Thelma. Personal condolences to Thelma, his entire family, past colleagues and many friends.
Impression Floors has opened at #1 – 1725 Baron Road, in the former Tile N All location, which has moved a couple of doors down in the same complex. Owned and operated by Garry and Patrice Raven, they are not new to the industry as the Raven’s owned and operated Cottagecarpets.ca in Richmond for the past 25 years and Garry was previously in the industry for 10 years prior to that. They still own the Richmond location. Impression provides a wide spectrum of flooring options with many carpet styles, including green environmentally labeled products. They sell and install hardwood, laminate and vinyl plank, which is a new product that looks like hardwood and is versatile and easy to maintain. They service both residential and commercial installations from the single room to a large complex and the installers have comprehensive knowledge of flooring installation. Some of the brands they offer are Beaulieu Canada (Peerless), Shnier, Kraus Canada, Mohawk and Karndean. Call 250-979-7419 www.impressionfloors.ca.
After 10 years of working at Okanagan Strata Management, Greg Bickert, R.C.M. has started a new strata management company, Inspire Property Management Ltd. at 200 – 1505 Harvey Avenue (above Canadian Western Bank). The company is accepting new strata, condo and homeowners association clients. Inspire offers an array of strata management services, from basis bookkeeping and chairing meetings to full administration and maintenance services. Greg is pleased to assist any Strata Corporation, particularly self-managed strata’s that are interested in hiring a strata manager for the first time or other strata’s that are looking for more expedient and dedicated services than their current manager provides. Call 778-738-0234 or greg@inspirem.com.
Dustin Erickson is a UBCO student and owner of Floatspace. He has been recognized with the 2016 Enactus University Entrepreneur Award of the Year for Canada. This prestigious award is given to a full-time student who is balancing a growing business. www.floatspace.ca.
Antico Pizza Napoletana owned and operated by Tony Katsabanis at 347 Bernard Ave. is celebrating its first anniversary, tomorrow, Thursday, May 12. On that day they will offer Italian coffee and cheesecake for free with any pizza purchase. Antico will feature other great specials for the entire weekend along with a new pizza addition to the menu called Isola which is a margherita pizza with prosciutto cotto, pineapple reduction and a drizzle of 20-year aged balsamic for $15. Call 236-420-4000.
The Project Literacy Society marks its 30th anniversary serving residents in the area. Incorporated in 1986, Project Literacy was the first independent literacy organization chartered in B.C. They have served more than 6,000 individuals who required support to achieve their full potential at work, home and in the community. Today, they help 400 people to meet their education, employment and personal goals by providing free individual tutoring in English and math. To celebrate, they will host a number of events including a community open house. If you are a former learner, tutor, volunteer or board member or would like to get involved with the society, they would like to connect with you. I am proud to say that I was involved in the first official board of The Project Literacy Society along with my brother-in-law and sister in-law Rod and Diana Warnock who did a tremendous amount of work to get the organization started. Christine McWillis is the executive director. Call 250-762-2163 or Christine@projectliteracykelowna.org.
Sir Barber Shop, owned and operated by barber/stylist Lana Tarasewich has relocated from Lawrence Avenue to 1679 Pandosy St. beside City Pizza. Sir also offers tanning and employs two additional barber/stylist staff. Call 250-763-4719.
Rick Gee, former chair of Okanagan College’s Education Council and longtime professor of Computer Science will be recognized by Okanagan College with the Distinguished Service Award at the College’s Summer Convocation ceremony on June 29. He has dedicated more than three decades to supporting students and enhancing academic standards.
May marks the 15th anniversary of Bobbi Moger starting her mobile fitness business, Pursuit Fitness. She is a personal trainer and group fitness instructor for both land and water fitness classes. Bobbie specializes in training 50 plus clients and seniors fitness programs. What started with instructing fitness classes for seniors in many of the retirement homes has grown into offering many other programs, including in-home and gym personal training programs, Osteofit and fall prevention programs, fibrofit (warm water pool program for those with fibromyalgia, arthritis, pre and post rehab) and nutritional coaching for weight loss. You can also read her bi-weekly column on senior’s fitness in the Kelowna Capital News. Call 250-317-3508 www.pursuitfitness.ca.
Wanda and Dan Truong of Mekong Restaurant at 1030 Harvey Ave. are celebrating their 29th year in business. As in all previous 28 years, they are celebrating by drawing for a trip for two to Victoria. All you have to do is enter when you are in the restaurant. Call 250-763-2238.
Hudson’s Bay is hosting The Spring Shoe Event on Saturday, May 14. Join in as the store presents this season’s shoe and sandal trends, introducing new brands of Kari Lagerfeld, Bzees by Naturalizer, Feiyue, Ipanema, Vince Camuto, Keen, HiTech, Columbia, Teva and Merrell. Tickets $10 are redeemable towards your footwear purchase. Prices are 20% off regular, sale and clearance-priced items and mystery bags of $50 for the first 15 customers spending $150 or more on ladies footwear. There will be fashion shows at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and a wardrobe clinic with a personal stylist following the show. To top it all off, Maxine DeHart (that’s me) will be having fun with my Step into Leadership presentation at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. The presentation is a lot of fun, so come and join me and find out how your shoes show your type of leadership skills.
Ogopogo Odyssey, a book by Dorothy A Hawes and illustrated by Maggie Parr is now on the shelves. Growing up in Vernon and a teacher of English literature, it was hard not to be aware of the many stories that circulated about the mythical lake creature. The book is about Colin, who while visiting his grandparents in the Okanagan, has a chance meeting with the famous lake creature known as Ogopogo. Later, deeply perplexed with his Ogopogo sighting, Colin meets an elderly native woman on the beach. She tells him of the legend of the Ogopogo with the First Nations Okanagan culture. Will Colin see the Ogopogo again? The book is an excellent story and beautifully illustrated and is ideal for the 4- to 8-year-old range. Available at Mosaic Books, Pioneer Market, Quails Gate Winery, Save-On Foods on Cooper Road, Towne Centre Card Shop and Bookland in Vernon. If there is any doubt about the popularity of the Ogopogo story, Nancy Wise of Sandhill Book Marketing says that another book they carried on the famous creature named Ogopogo: The Misunderstood Lake Monster has sold more than 28,000 copies since it first came out, with requests for it from Australia, Italy, Germany, Japan and the US.
Kari Primak is cycling across Canada in the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride to raise awareness and funds for Pediatric Cancer Research. Sears is the major sponsor for this ride and Kari is the only B.C. rider. She is hosting an event outside Sears on Saturday, May 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. collecting donations and promoting the ride, riding on her wind trainer for six hours. The ride will be passing through Kelowna on Sept. 7 and there will be a large community event at Sears in Orchard Park where families of children affected by cancer will speak. For more information check out www.sears nationalkidscancerride.com/ride/2016-national-riders/kari-primak/.
Congratulations to the following Kelowna City Yards Department employees who received long-term service awards. Brock Doyle, Steven Egely and Lloyd Hopkins (10 years); Wyatt Melynchuk (15 years); Dianne Doty, Neil Hunchak, Gary Callioux, Stephen Bryans, Gordon Phillips, Alan Weninger and Richard Yakiwchuk (25 years) and Louise Ludvigsen (30 years).
Rosebuds Designer Consignment and Tickle Trunk & TTM Events, along with the Stewart Centre Shops and Services at 1855 Kirschner Road are hosting their inaugural Spring Parking Lot Sale on Saturday, May 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be good food, good fun, in-store specials and great deals from all the merchants. See drum circle and demonstrations, a surprise visit from Batman, balloon animals, caricatures and casino spin to win. Supports goes to the Arthritis Society and Elizabeth Fry Society.
The Community Shredding Event, sponsored by West Kelowna Community Policing and RBC, is Saturday, May 28 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of the Royal Bank, 3650 Gosset Rd. in West Kelowna. Sponsorship shredding services are being provided again this year by Okanagan Paper Shredding. Shredding helps prevent identify theft and fraud by having your personal and confidential documents safely destroyed. Cash donations will be collected for the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club Westside Youth Centre. Call 250-707-8022 or wkcp@shaw.ca #mce_temp_url#
What’s Happening Around Town
Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans garage sale, Saturday, May 14, 270 Dougall Rd. North. Tables $5, pancake breakfast and burgers. 250-765-1810.
Kelowna Women in Business, May 18th at the Hotel Eldorado, 5 to 7 p.m. presents The Art of Inventing & Re-Inventing Stories of Change. Register at www.kwib.org.
Birthdays of the week: Anne Zazuliak (May 10); John James (May 11); Ron Sutcliffe (May 11); Arnie Schneider (May 13); Joy Huculak (May 13); Ono Curaloto (May 13); Kent Harris, (May 13); John Schlosser (May 14); John Davina, (May 15); Stan Martindale (May 16); Michael Dorsel (May 16); Lori McCormack (May 16); Judy Syrnyk (May 17); Jerry Reiber (May 17); Graham Bell (May 17); In memory of our dad, Edward Abram (May 16); In memory of William Wesley (May 13).
