Well, he’s done it again – drop into Save-On-Foods at Orchard Plaza in Kelowna and check out Eric Falkenberg’s 2019 iconic Coca-Cola holiday display.
This year it’s all about Frosty, Polar Bear and a huge Coca-Cola bottle. It’s absolutely incredible and will be on display until mid-January. The display took Eric two weeks to build and boasts 2,400 Coca-Cola cases.With 12 cans in every case, that works out to a whopping 28,800 Coca-Cola cans used for the display. Eric has received two prestigious Canadian Master Merchandiser Awards from the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers. This year he won for Large Surface Themed Event. In 2018, he won for Large Surface Single-Manufacturer. It’s worth a special trip into Save-On-Foods to see this master work of art.
Made in India restaurants, located at 2-1790 KLO Rd. and 112-1677 Commerce Ave. in Kelowna, have opened a third location at 105- 9685 Highway 97 in Lake Country. The new restaurant is owned and operated by India educated chefs Brijesh Negi and Sheeshpal Singh along with business partner Pawan Kumar. The new location has 50 seats with eat-in and take-out and a set lunch menu, however, the new location won’t offer a buffet. Among the popular menu items are samosas, onion bhaji and fish pakora; rice and several types of naan bread; beef and chicken curry, mango chicken, lamb roagan, laal maas, kadhai, saag paneer, and yellow daal tudka. Sides of raita, Poppadoms and desserts are available. www.madein-india.ca. The restaurants are open noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Monday, closed Tuesdays.
The new executive director of the United Way Southern Interior BC is Kahir Lalji. He has over 10 years non-profit leadership and community development experience including deep roots with United Way. With a fellowship in development and leadership and evaluation and a Masters in Gerontology from Simon Fraser University, Kahir has worked with a diverse set of stakeholders in creating healthy, inclusive communities. He is also the current president of the B.C. Original Minds Association.
Smitty’s Family Restaurant is coming back to town. The long-time familiar restaurant will open at the Ramada Hotel & Conference Centre, in the former Perkins Restaurant location. Wolverine Industries, owned and operated by Wade Thomas, is the general contractor of the new Smitty’s renovation and build-out.
The 32nd annual North-West Flower and Garden Show with Sun Fun Tours and super hosts Don and Donna Burnett takes place Feb. 27 to March 1 in Seattle. As the second largest flower and garden show in North America, this year’s Spring Fever theme has more beautiful displays and decorative flora than ever. The trip includes accommodation, deluxe motor coach transportation, passes to the festival, some meals and much more. Check out www.northwestflowerandgardenfetival.com or www.sunfuntours.ca for more information. You can also contact the Burnetts directly at don@thegardenexpert.com.
Congratulations to Twirling Umbrellas of Kelowna on being a semi-finalist in the category of Best Company in the 2020 Small Business BC Awards. Twirling Umbrellas specialize in web design, search engine and optimization and digital marketing for brands with ambition. The business will now be invited to submit an extended application form which will be used by the judging panel to determine the Top 5 Finalists who will be invited to pitch why they are B.C.’s best.
Valens GroWorks of Kelowna is rebranding to The Valens Company and will trade on the TSXV under the ticker VLNS. At a time when Canadian cannabis companies are struggling to be profitable, Valens announce their revenue guidance for Q4 2019 in the range of $27 million to $30 million, a significant increase over its third quarter 2019 revenue of $16.5 million. Tyler Robson is the CEO and Everett Knight, executive vice-president, strategy and investments.
The fourth annual Winter Blues Festival is Jan. 25 at Creekside Theatre in Lake Country. This event festival is a sell-out every year so get your tickets early. Headlining this year’s show will be the Maple Blues Award winning Harpdog Brown and the Uptown Blues Band from Vancouver. Festival attendees will also have the opportunity to sample various stages at one venue featuring local blues favourites such as Rick ‘Poppa Dawg’ Halisheff, Brandon Schmor, Kath and the Tom Kats and James Hay Trio. Tickets available online at www.creeksidetheatre.com.
The Okanagan Heritage Museum, located at 470 Queensway Ave., will celebrate Canada’s game with a one-of-a-kind travelling hockey exhibition created by the Canadian Museum of History until Feb. 29. It looks at how the sport has influenced lives and what that reveals about us as Canadians. Admission is by donation.
The 2020 Hospitality Blood Drive is Jan. 1 to 31, 2020. This year, Canadian Blood Services has expanded the blood drive to include more hospitality partners so that the competition is even greater. Who wins? Hospital patients in need of blood. In BC, 10,000 blood donations are needed each month to serve hospital patients. One in two people can donate, however, only one in 60 donate. You can book your group at bookagroupbc@blood.ca
or individually at www.blood.ca. Call 1-888-236-6283. Gayle Voyer is the territory manager of in Kelowna. Call her at 250-979-8053 or email gayle.voyer@blood.ca
Birthdays of the week
Marie Yvonne Cleaver (Dec. 25); Doug Gilchrist (Dec. 25); Raquel Rose (Dec. 25); Candy Hamilton (Dec. 25); Curtis Scriber (Dec. 25); Jim Ramsay (Dec. 25); Chris Cleaver (Dec. 26); Barry Carter (Dec. 26); Kate de Kruif (Dec. 26); Terry Balfour (Dec. 26); Alex Fong (Dec. 27); David Burke (Dec. 27); Jon Roung (Dec. 28); Ute Freitag (Dec. 29); Randy Topham (Dec. 30); Derek Edstrom (Dec. 31).
Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna city councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662; email max@maxinedehart.ca; website www.maxinedehart.ca.
