This week’s column is dedicated to Jim Haire, long-time employee of Sears (retired) and a good friend of the Ramada Hotel. He passed away one day after his 65th birthday on June 11.
John Tietzen, the majority owner of the Wendy’s chain in the southern Interior and the founder of the annual Dreamlift Day fundraiser, has sold his ownership share in the nine restaurant locations.
Tietzen sold his interest in his operating company, Inland Restaurants, to Ken Park, from Grand Prairie, Alta., who already owns four Wendy’s restaurants in that province. With this purchase, Park will become the largest franchisee of Wendy’s in Canada. Park plans to retain the Inland Restaurants name along with the other minority share owners and staff. Park also plans to maintain Tietzen’s charity support legacy, most notably being the Wendy’s Annual Dream Lift Day. The proceeds from that event benefit the Sunshine Dream Foundation program to send children with terminal illness or physical disabilities to Disneyland for a day. That fundraiser passed the $1 million mark in donations at the last Dreamlift Day this past January. So what is John going to do now? He is on his way to Vancouver for shoulder surgery. After that he plans to spend time at his joint venture business, the Township 7 Vineyard and Winery in Naramata, which he and his partner, Mike Raffan, have owned since 2006.
Lisjen Marketing & Store Supplies, owned and operated by Cheryl Park and Randey
Ferster, has opened a showroom at 103-1641 Commerce Ave. in Kelowna (behind Trail Appliances). The store is really unique, offering a variety of fixtures and supplies to set up and operate a complete retail outlet such as variety of slatwall and gridwall panels and accessories, pricing and tagging guns, garment tags, tissue paper, mannequins and acrylic brochure holders. Basically, Lisjen is “the store for stores.” A new addition to their ever evolving inventory are parade supplies, carrying a fantastic supply of top quality pom poms, metallic and vinyl twist or fringe, floral sheeting and vehicle and bicycle decoration; everything to make your parade and float spectacular. Open Monday to Friday, call 250-763-1690; www.lisjen.ca.
Tigerlily Fashions, owned and operated by Jan Johnson and Lori Burns, have opened a new store in the rear of their existing building at 575 Bernard Ave. Through the years, these gals have built up many great contacts for clearance merchandise, and they have now decided to bring these deals to you. Alleycat Fashion Outlet will be a fun place to find amazing deals on women’s fashions, being the only shop of its kind downtown, featuring designer labels such as INC, Jones NY, Gilmour, Anne Klein and Renuar, all at deep discount prices. The Tigerlily building will be accessible from both Bernard and the alley facing Lawrence Avenue. Call 250-762-8384; tigerlilyfashion@shaw.ca.
Congrats to well-known businessman Mel Kotler on receiving the prestigious Rotary Paul Harris, presented by Lois and Cliff Serwa of the Mission Rotary Club.
Lesley Moore is the new executive director of The Kelowna Museums Society. Relocating from the Lower Mainland, she most recently was senior cultural analyst with the federal department of Canadian Heritage in Vancouver, and prior to that worked in a variety of positions, including curator of archaeology, curator of a golf museum, director of a municipal museum and manager of a heritage village.
Eco Clean Dry Cleaning Centres has opened a new production facility at 1620 Water St. (across from the Fire Hall) offering complete dry cleaning and laundry service. Eco Clean is now one of the Okanagan’s largest environmentally-friendly dry cleaners. You can still pick up and drop off your items at Spall Plaza, their most well-known location. Bart Dyck is the vice-president and co-owner of Eco Clean. Call 778-484-5844 (downtown) or 250-762-2879 (Spall). www.eco-clean.ca.
Sarah Badger is the new manager of George Richards Big & Tall Menswear, 2339 Highway 97 North in the Dilworth Centre (beside Staples). Badger formerly worked for Tip Top Tailors for 10 years in various locations including the Orchard Park Mall. Check out the Big & Tall sidewalk sale until June 17. Call 250-979-1435.
After a month of stocking and consignments, Game Changers Sports Consignment, owned and operated by Jane Fletcher at 110-1854 Kirschner Rd., is open for business. Check out their mini hockey rink, soccer pitch and basketball courts at the back of the store. Browse the varied selection of sports gear (water, ice, snow, grass, pavement and games) and bring in your unused, unwanted or outgrown sports gear for them to sell for you. Open Tuesday to Saturday. Game Changers will be open longer in the winter to accommodate skate rentals. Call 778-753-5635; www.gamechangerssonsignment.com.
Tammie Watson, partnership specialist for Canadian Blood Services for the past five years, has accepted a position in the funds development department with the B.C. Cancer Foundation.
Amy Zurrer is the new communications coordinator for The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. Zurrer has 12 years experience in public relations, media, journalism, marketing and publishing. Call 250-861-3627.
Three new businesses have opened in the Towne Centre Mall on Bernard Avenue. Ten Fashions Bridal Boutique, owned by Rosemarie Gottsch, and Mavazi Apparel, owned by Amanda Zais, are both store-front locations facing Bernard Avenue. Jeffrey Paulsen’s Kelowna Website Design was the third business to open in the downtown shopping centre.
Leitha Costentino has left Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School and relocated to Calgary.
Loren Desautels will celebrate his 25th anniversary as a financial advisor with Mutual Life/The Mutual Group/Clarica/Sun Life, located at 2139 Springfield Rd. The company has changed names several times, but Loren has been there the entire time. Call 250-860-6403.
Andrew Carter, formerly of Kelowna Mercedes, has joined the team at AutoSport Kelowna, 1210 Leathead Rd. Call 250-491-9348 or Andrew.carter@vwag.ca.
Minit Market, on Dilworth Drive (beside Liquor Store), is rebranding the store name to Havana Room at Minit Market. Owners Jonathan and Rhonda Wright boast the only walk-in humidor with controlled temperatures for cigars. The store also offers the largest selection of cigars in the valley, including the brand My Father, which is from Nicaragua and has a rating of 95 by Cigar Aficionada Magazine and rated the number three cigar in 2009. Havana Room is one of only four stores in B.C. that carries My Father cigars. Also look for a large selection of Stanwell, Peterson and Brigham pipes and accessories. Melonie Dodaro, of Top Dog Social Media, is helping with the rebrand marketing. Call 250-762-3737.
Lawn FX is a business that strictly deals with taking care of your lawn. Owned and operated by John Kilsby for the past several years, Lawn FX can help you achieve that beautiful lawn you might be struggling to achieve every year. Services offered include power raking, aeration, over-seeding and top-dressing—all of which are extremely important to that perfect lawn. Lawn FX is not a one-time quick fix solution as Kilsby can help you with your lawn by doing yearly much needed maintenance. Call 250-215-7210; www.lawfx.ca.
Personal congratulations to former senator Ross Fitzpatrick, founder of CedarCreek Estate Winery, on receiving an honourary doctoral degree from UBC Okanagan. He served in the Senate from 1998 to 2008.
Speaking of CedarCreek Estate Winery, located at 5445 Lakeshore Rd., chef Christopher Thomas will be leading the culinary team and restaurant this season at the winery, open June 15 to Sept. 23. Thomas is currently the executive chef at his concept restaurant The Bullwheel, and opened the extremely popular 6 Degrees Bistro at Big White. With over 10 years of national and international culinary experience, he was recently cooking for Cirque du Soleil, touring various countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Korea and China. This year the Vineyard Terrace will serve brunch on Saturday and Sundays and this year offer a Yoga and Brunch package. Call 250-764-8866, ext.107.
Country fans now have a new station. Starting on Monday at 10 a.m., Country 100.7 (CIGV-FM) is welcoming CMT’s Casey Clarke to its on-air line up. Country 100.7’s program director and Okanagan Mornings co-host is Troy Scott joined by Roo Phelps.
The website www.dineinkelowna.com is now up and running. Owned and operated by Nicholas Lucier, the site now has 70 restaurants, menus, locations, hours of operation, beverage menu, links to Facebook and entertainment around town. It’s local only and very reasonable. Take a look. If you like what you see and would like to be added to the site, contact Nicholas at 2dinein@gmail.com.
Long-time Kelowna residents Ed and Roanne Collier are both taking early retirement and moving to Nova Scotia. Ed worked for Argus Properties for 17 years and Roanne was at the Parkinson Recreation Centre for 12 years. Roanne and I worked together at Scotiabank on Bernard Avenue in the early ’80s. They are riding their motorcycle across Canada to Nova Scotia, leaving Kelowna on June 22. Roanne’s 60th birthday is July 21 while Ed turned 60 on April 30.
The Kelowna Falcons are teaming up with Kelowna Firefighters to raise money for the B.C. Professional Firefighters Burn Fund on Thursday, June 21, at Elks Stadium, for the 6:35 p.m. showdown between the Falcons and visiting Walla Walla. Tickets are only $10 (kids under six free) and can be purchased at the Main Fire Hall on Enterprise Way, by calling Pat at 250-317-7431, or at the gate.
Birthdays of the week: Jeff Gilbert, Kelowna Chrysler, (June 11); Nova Tourney, Ramada Hotel (June 11); Al Horning (June 11); Don Makela (June 11); Wayne Judiesch, Macdonald Realty (June 12); Brian Burnell (June 14); Vern Burnell (June 19); RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon (June 19); Brian Tapp, Jamieson Vitamins (June 18); Carol Chapell (June 18); Dr. Ian Leitch (June 18); RoseTopham (June 20).
