Keremeos and the Lower Similkameen experienced a snowy Christmas season this year as several days’ accumulation before and after December 25 began to pile up.
Pedestrian traffic on Keremeos’ Seventh Avenue had to slog through large amounts of curbside snow and slushy back alleys in order to access main street businesses through Christmas week. Access to the bus stop on Sixth Street was also an issue through the week as snow piled up on the curb.
Street corners were especially difficult for seniors to negotiate, with street snow piled up at the intersections.
The Review fielded several complaints from residents on Thursday, December 27 over the unusually large accumulations on the village’s main business block. The village office was closed through Christmas week, but Keremeos Mayor Manfred Bauer noted that village plows were being hampered by vehicles parked in the street through the week.
“We don’t have the equipment or the manpower to deal with an excessive amount of snow,” he added in an email response to the Review on December 27.
Two village maintenance personnel were available on December 28 to clean up Seventh Avenue and nearby alleys. By New Year’s eve, steady progress had been made to clean up the curbside snow on main, as well as Seventh Street.
