The ladies earned their cooking badges last night at Camp Hoo-Ha.
The Laurel Packinghouse was filled with more than 90 women who ate, drank wine from Niche Wine Company and painted kitchen utensils before tearful speeches made by Joanna Schlosser was promoted to camp director of the Kelowna chapter, as the baton was passed from founder Mel Mckay.
“It’s mixed emotions I am super excited because I know Joanna is totally competent and the right person. But at the same time, it’s hard to hand off your baby… but it allows me to focus my time on other parts of the business,” said Mckay who hopes that one day Camp Hoo-Ha will become a Canada wide event. “We want to grow slowly so that we keep that magic, if we grow too quickly we might lose that.”
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Learning new skills, making new friends and networking without any pressure is what Camp Hoo-Ha strides to do while embracing the nostalgia of childhood camp days.
“It’s a space where women can make real authentic connections and I think that is really hard in this day and age, for me I am honoured that I was able to create a space,” said Mckay.
There is always a skill that is learned. The first event was bra fitting and on Feb. 6 it was a cooking demonstration and Schlosser announced that a sex-ed class will be the third event in April.
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“It’s a really fun event and a lot of people talk about how they are new to Kelowna and are coming to the event in search of friends. It’s really nice to be able to do that for other people,” said Schlosser said in a previous interview.
Then the night was taken over with a hilarious camp-fire cooking lesson that included truffle chicken lead by sommelier Mia Papadopolous and Krafty Kitchen + Bar owner Chris Shaften who has appeared on Top Chef Canada.
Anissa Hendley loved the first event so much she brought her friend, Tasha Betts along to earn their cooking badge together.
“I had a couple of co-workers at the last one and we had a blast,” said Hendley. “I knew she (Betts) would love it, it’s a blast.”
“It’s great to meet other women, I am single and in my age group there isn’t a lot of time to get together and do things just for yourself so I get forgotten because I am chasing children around and doing all those things so when Anissa showed me this group and I looked online I thought it’s a moment for me,” said Betts.
The next event will be in April and will be announced in the Camp Hoo-Ha Kelowna Facebook page.
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