Maxine Dehart

Straight from DeHart

Date: August 1/2007

Apprentice Shannon Roussel is riding high these days. Harvest Golf Club Chef Paul Cecconi, who has been with the Harvest for four years and his three-year apprentice Shannon Roussel both attended the “Gladmat 2007 Competition”, a huge yearly international food competition in Stavanger, Norway last week. It was attended by chefs all over the world. Before that, Shannon competed in The Canadian Nordic Culinary Team Competition in Toronto and was chosen by the Nordic team to attend the competition in Norway. Not only did she compete – she won! Congrat’s to Shannon, Paul and The Harvest.

Eric Bell who relocated from Victoria is the new manager at Home Outfitters on Banks Road.

Gurvinder Momi owner of two well-known restaurants; Dawatt at 1435 Ellis Street and Chutney at 3011 Pandosy Street has opened a third new restaurant “Da Tandoor” Fusion Indian Cuisine at 237 Lawrence Avenue (former Finer Choice location). The restaurant has been totally renovated and looks great. Da Tandoor is open seven days a week and offers a fabulous menu with such items as baked Tandoori breads, Tandoori Salmon, Rashmi Kabab (chicken mince, casenuts paste and cooked in tandoor), Chicken Shenaz Saute, Lamb Curry, Prawn Goa Curry, Tawa Paneer Takatuk and many vegetarian entrees along with Basmati specialties. The menu is very extensive with a large variety of fusion food. Call 869-4809.

Heard that David Radler was in town visiting the Kelowna Daily Courier. I guess it will be his last trip out here for a while.

Community Western Trust Corporation, formerly of 1679 Pandosy Street has relocated to the newly constructed building at the corner of Harvey and Gordon above the new Starbucks at 201-1110 Harvey Avenue. Trina Speiser, formerly of Edward Jones has also just recently joined the company. Community Western is a locally owned and operated trust company specializing in the administration of estates and trusts. Ian Williamson is the president of Community Western. Call 860-4626

Relocating from Calgary, where she was employed in the non-profit sector, Amanda Sheehan is the new marketing coordinator, community investment for Interior Savings, working in the corporate office at 678 Bernard Avenue. Call 869-8213

Fred Smith is the new sales representative for Andrew Peller Limited on Richter Street. Call 762-3332 or 469-1604.

The business core of Rutland will certainly be revitalized with this new building. Dr. Dale Forsythe and his wife Melody have been working on a development for the last year at their present location at 225 Rutland Road S. The new building will be four floors with an underground parkade. The first two floors will be commercial space with balcony access on the second level. Some of the space will be for sale and the balance will be for lease. The top two floors involve approx. the same square footage and is comprised of 14 condo’s ranging in size from 696 to 1143 square feet, with above average finishing. Pre-sales will start in mid August as will site excavation, with completion in July/08. Dale will be relocating to 255 Rutland Road North in mid-August until completion. He is looking for a non-profit organization that could put their solid one storey flat roofed existing building of approx. 1,230 square feet to good use. Call him at 765-1466 or 869-9876.

Dr. Nicole Barbary and Dr. James Whillans of LifeWorks Family Chiropractic have moved to their new location at #204 – 1740 Gordon Drive. They opened their new practice about three months ago. Call 868-4880

Community Futures has a new board for 2007/08. Ross Hurst was re-elected as chairperson, Barbra Johnston (Natures Formulae) as vice-chair, J.C. “Broc” Braconnier as treasurer and Michael Joss (Mission Hills Winery) as secretary. Directors are Angela Bricker (Sweet Peas/Yellow Brick Road); Jayne Fosbery (Westbank First Nations); James Harvey (Pushor Mitchell Lawyers): Coreen Jenner (K8i-Low-na Friendship Center) Jim Lindberg (retired); Mark Oakley (Central Okanagan Foundation) and Robin Shovar (CIBC). Retired from the board are Kevin Blackmore, (Grant Thornton) Peter Klimuk, Gerry Morton, Laurie Cody and Ched Galardi.

Avalon Event Rentals at @2-1660 Powick Road, owned and operated by Brad and Colleen Gay has been sold. The new owners, Brad and Angela Buchanan are not new to Kelowna. Brad was with Sun Rype for 17 years, his most recent position being the vice-president of customer and corporate business development. Avalon has been in business for over 15 years and located on Powick Road for over 2 years. Brad and Colleen are going to take some time off and are going on a Mission trip to India in November. The “new Brad” says that business will be as usual with all the same great staff and service. Call 861-1575.

Dr. Ian Stuart, former director of the Gerald Schwartz School of Business and Information Systems at St. Francis Xavier

University and former director of graduate programs at the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Business has been appointed Dean of UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Management.

Click Computer Training, owned by Peter Matejcek, who is also an instructor, is one year old. Right Click provides fun and easy computer classes for the self described “technologically challenged” (that’s me) showing them how to use Windows, manage their e-mail, use the internet, organizing and edit digital photos and even how to bank and shop on-line. To celebrate their first year in business, Right Click is donating a new computer to the Kelowna Women’s Shelter. In addition, any courses purchased from August 7-16 will be matched with computer training for the women at the shelter. They also offer free lessons each month for those who are not too sure what classes they need. Call 717-5800.

Lots going on in the media lately. If you haven’t heard, CKOV 63 is going FM Country later this month and will be “B103”. Listen to Power 104 this Friday at 2pm and you will find out some more news about that station. On September 1, 1150AM will take over news, talk and sports with new co-hosts, one being Whitney Dean and the other name will be released shortly. CHBC-TV is also doing some major changes in the near future.

Okanagan ATV Tours is celebrating five years in business. Owned and operated by Richard Lamontagne and Alex Charles the company is expanding like crazy. They now have twelve new quads and a new twelve person shuttle van. ATV tours are a four season business with tours being offered in the spring, summer, winter or fall; in all weather. The company employs only experienced tour guides, whether for a half day, a full day, overnight or for custom trips geared to your group's specifications. The tours explore the area’s fabulous backcountry through forest paths and along mountain-top trails. All tours include safety and operation orientation, helmets, gloves and weather gear (depending on what time of year), refreshments and snacks at the mid-way point and photo opportunities. They offer every level of ATV enjoyment, whether you are a beginner wanting an easy ride or an expert looking for a challenge. They offer quads that seat two people, quads that take children and quads that take people with disabilities. www.okanaganatvtours.com or okanaganatvtours@shaw.ca or 717-0733 or 878-9068.

Had a nice chat with Orchard Park's general manager Norbert Gelowitz and mentioned to him how nice the centre was looking with the new paint colours and the wonderful landscaping. The new landscaping uses less irrigation with natural grasses and Okanagan plants. There are also more new stores going into the new wing and the old Walmart hallway. They are “Alter Ego by RnR”, “Tristan & America” (quality ladies apparel), “West Coast” (men’s apparel), “Children’s Place” and “L’Occitane en Provence” (high-end body care products). Most of these stores are the first to open in Western Canada. It just gets better and better to shop at home.

Ryan Dore is a young entrepreneur who has teamed up with Art Bosma and is a new partner running the day to day operations in “travelkelowna.com” The site is a Kelowna Travel Guide for tourists and locals featuring everything you would want to know about in the tourist industry, including accommodations, calendar of events, attractions, tour companies and even the Ogopogo. It receives over 750,000 hits per year, is very cost effective, has a direct link to your website and Ryan will work hand in hand with his clients for their online advertising. Call 869-7891

The 5^th Annual Donna Kerr Charity Golf Tournament with all proceeds going to the Kelowna SPCA is Friday, August 24 at Michaelbrook Ranch Golf Club with a 5pm start – 19 holes. Tickets are $40 which includes dinner. Lots of prizes and fun. Call 860-9488 for tickets.

Congratulations to Debbie Smith of Encore Printing and Vincent Kruggel of Manteo on the birth of their first child, Hayden Griffin Kruggel.

Local technology company, Canada Web Hosting recently made #11 in Profit Magazine’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Canada. The company moved up 42 spots from its 2006 ranking. Since January 2005, the company has expanded to over 70 employees with offices in Kelowna, Vancouver, Toronto and India. Brian Shepard is the CEO of the company.

Congratulations to Sandy Higginson of Milestones Restaurant and Andre Desrosiers on their upcoming marriage on August 25

Mission Hill Family Estate is hosting an outdoor concert by Quebec recording artists "Similia" on Sunday, August 12 at 8:30pm at the winery’s amphitheatre. A special dinner package is offered. Twin sisters Nadia and Annie Labrie play the flute and guitar and are known for their masterly interpretations of classical pieces, but they also include Latin American music and contemporary compositions in their extensive repertoire. For more info or reservations call 768-6483.

Kelowna Farmers’ & Crafters Market are celebrating Farmers Market Week from August 5-12 with a Kids Market Day on Wednesday, August 8. They are open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8am-1pm and Thursdays from 4pm-8pm at the corner of Springfield and Dilworth. Bob Callioux is the market manager. Call 878-5029

Not sure who it was and haven’t heard yet, but thanks to whoever put on the incredible fire-works display in the Mission on Saturday night. It was so close, it seemed like it was in our own back yard and we want to thank you!

By the way everyone, I won’t be doing a column next week on August 8^th. See you on August 15^th.

TaylorMade Golf Tip of the week – By Jason Laczkovics - The Okanagan has had a lot of rain lately, hopefully it is done with now but it brings up the issue of what to do when faced with casual water. You do not get relief simply because your ball comes to rest on ground that is very wet or spongy. An accumulation of water must be visible above ground. To take relief the player must lift the ball and drop it without penalty within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. Jason is the Golf Operations Manager of The Okanagan Golf Club and Greg Murtland is the territory manager for TaylorMade.

P.S. to John Chow - Just so you don’t think that I’m a poor sport, congrat’s to you and Chris on winning your golf match against Ione and me.

Birthdays of the week – it’s mine on August 6; Happy 40^th James Moller, Lakeview Irrigation (Aug.6); Steve Francis, United Way (Aug.2); John Gilbert (Aug 2); Fran Pratico (Aug.6) and Randy Cairns (Aug.2).

Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna hotelier. Phone her at 979-4546, fax 860-3173, E-mail maxdehart@telus.net and web-site www.welcometokelowna.com (click on Business)