Advance editor Brian Lawrence compiled this brief review of some of the goings on in the Creston Valley found in the pages of the Advance over the last 12 months:
2 — Town council passed readings of an amendment that would allow the Vigna family to construct a gymnastics studio on property adjacent to the Dairy Queen. The plan was ultimately approved at the May 12 meeting, allowing the Creston Valley Gymnastics Club to have a permanent home after 34 years.
•Better at Home and the Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors, both operated by Valley Community Services, celebrated their new home in the basement of Rotacrest Hall, following renovations of nearly $350,000, which included a $150,000 Columbia Basin Trust grant and over $190,000 from the Regional District of Central Kootenay.
•Creston Fire Rescue personnel spent four and a half hours late March 26 and early March 27 attempting to free a lone occupant in a tractor-trailer rollover east of Creston on Highway 3.
9 — Spectrum Farms kicked off its spring season by shearing one ram and six pregnant ewes, which were a recent addition to the Erickson Road Farm run by the Kootenay Regional Association for Community Living to provide income and employment for people with any disability.
16 — The College of the Rockies unveiled its 2015-2020 strategic plan to an invited Creston audience. The plan was the culmination of a yearlong process that included consultation with communities, students and staff, and included a new vision statement: “To create and deliver the most personal student experience in Canada.”
23 — Town council approved the rezoning of the “bunker” at the corner of Northwest Boulevard and Vancouver Street, giving a green light to developer Chaplin West Ventures to find backers to create a bistro and craft distillery.
•Wendy Seifert — herself a newcomer — became one of the first faces new residents will see when she took over as hostess for the Hi Neighbour Welcome Service. Hi Neighbour started in 1967, with the Advance, Overwaitea Foods and what is now Pharmasave sponsoring it from the beginning.
30 — Johann Harnisch, son of Creston’s Michelle and Rudy Harnisch, was in Nepal during the April 25 7.8-magnitude earthquake. Part of a team of dentists, doctors and students, he stayed to assist with relief operations.
•Town council adopted a five-year financial plan, which would see taxpayers pay an additional $130,000 of RCMP costs, as the reserve fund is slowly being drained. Other increases included a consumer price index factor of 0.3 per cent and a $36,000 addition to the infrastructure replacement reserve.
•Footlighters Theatre Society celebrated the conclusion of its 20th season, having been formed by theatre enthusiasts who “wanted to do a variety of plays and musicals,” said Frank Goodsir, one of the founders.
