Maxine Dehart

Straight from DeHart

Date: January 3/2007

In one year and out the other! Happy New Year everyone and best in 2007.

Brad Burgart, head professional at Predator Ridge Golf Resort for the past six years is moving on to an extraordinary opportunity. Brad will be the new head professional at the prestigious Capilano Golf and Country Club located in the British property area of West Vancouver as of February 1. And, if that isn’t enough news, Cory Draper, Predator Ridge’s full time teaching professional is also leaving the club and joining Brad at Capilano as their full time teaching professional as of February 15.

The owners of Ric’s Grill on Lawrence and Abbott are opening a new ultra premium steak house restaurant in downtown Kelowna. “Sal’s Prime Steak House” will open in the spring at 366 Bernard Avenue, the former Mongo’s Grill location. Michelle Spicer is the new marketing and hospitality manager for Ric’s Grill and Shine by Ric’s. Michelle replaced Kelly Shepherd.

Joel Wiseman and Stephen Turner formerly of Salloum Langin have opened their own new practice as Mission Law Group at #304-3320 Richter Street. Call 868-8801.

Received a note from Harmony Airways new president. Kirk Henderson. He has over 40 years of business experience including 10 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (domestically and internationally), 17 years in senior positions with Sauder Industries Ltd. and 13 years with the Jim Pattison Group where he retired a few years ago as vice chairman and managing director. His mandate, amongst other things, is to grow the business and continue to provide all passengers with a superior experience from the time they book a flight to when they land at their destination and collect their luggage. www.harmonyairways.com

Canadian PGA Teaching Professional Tara Roden is now working with two really great new golf facilities. For the 2007 season she will be working with the Gallagher’s Canyon Golf Course as their new Academy Director. They will be honouring any lessons which have been left over from your previous lesson packages Current details on the programs for the spring will be posted on her web site as they become available (www.stargolf.ca). She has also taken on a new teaching location for the winter months at Urban Links Indoor Golf Facility on the Westside. Call her at 768-1310 or e-mail star_golf@telus.net or lessens@stargolf.ca.

Cher’s @ Shefield Gourmet on the corner of Queensway and Pandosy are celebrating their first anniversary in business. Owned and operated by Cher Ewing, the restaurant boasts a “fresh approach” to food and coffee. The unique 33 seat bistro specializes in good food, friendly service, regular and specialty coffee, quality tobacco, cigars and related accessories and unique gift items. In-house they offer breakfast – anytime, homemade everything, including baking and soups, salads, wraps, made to order sandwiches, real French croissants, quesadillas, grilled panini’s, and sweets along with snacks and lighter items. Cher also offers a full range of catering for meetings, luncheons or dinners, along with phone in-orders and delivery service to local businesses. All in all, they are a one stop eatery, open seven days a week. Call 712-1250.

Regarded as one of the world’s finest dramatic tenors, Ben Heppner will lead a master class with the Okanagan’s up and coming vocal talents in a unique presentation at the Rotary Centre for the Arts at 12:30pm, Monday, January 15 as part of UBC Okanagan Minds and Music series of matinee events. The master class offers a rare opportunity to see one of the world’s masters, guiding voice students and will be an exciting event for active participants, passive participants and the audience alike. Heppner’s visit was made possible by the Kelowna Community Concert Association. The Minds and Music Matinee is a fund-raising event for only $15. Tickets are available from the Rotary Centre for the Arts box office or call 717-5304. Proceeds will go toward the purchase of a baby grand piano for UBC Okanagan.

The Regional Board and Central Okanagan Hospital District has a new 1007 Board. They are Chair Robert Hobson (Councillor, City of Kelowna); Vice-Chair Aaron Dinwoodie (Westside Electoral Area); Sharon Shepherd (Mayor, City of Kelowna); Barrie Clark (Councillor, City of Kelowna); Colin Day (Councillor, City of Kelowna); Brian Given (Councillor, City of Kelowna); James Baker (Mayor, District of Lake Country); Graham Reid (Mayor, District of Peachland); Patty Hanson (Central Okanagan, East Electoral Area); David Knowles (Westside Electoral Area) and Len Novakowski (Westside Electoral Area).

Local gal, Judy Dyer will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in February. Between February 11 and 21^st, she will be joining a remarkable team of 22 CIBC Wood Gundy employees, friends and family members to ascend through rainforest, desert and snow to reach Mount Kilimanjaro’s 5,894-metre summit. All are participating in the “Climb for the Cure” in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Climbers are from all over Canada and Judy is the only Kelowna breast cancer survivor (4 years) to do this climb. She is employed at the Kelowna General Hospital. One in every nine women will develop breast cancer at some point during her lifetime and one in 27 will die from the disease. Chances are that you know someone who has been affected in some way by breast cancer. Judy is working on reducing that possibility by doing the climb to raise funds for breast cancer research. To help her out you can make a donation in several ways. You can call her at 769-3330; make a cheque payable to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and mail it to Judy Dyer, 2002 Covington Crescent, Kelowna, B.C. V1Z 3M2; or make a secure donation at www.cibcwoodgundyclimbforthecure.com.

This is neat news. Former Kelowna United Way Executive Director Len Lifchus (and the person who got me started with United Way) has just been issued with an Order in Council from Dalton McGuinty, Premier of the Province of Ontario, appointing him to the new Board of Directors of the Cultural East Community Care Access Centre. Len is now living in Peterborough, Ontario and is the C.E.O. of the Untied Way of Peterborough & District. Not surprising, Len is the perfect person to be involved in this type of project. www.uwpeterborough.ca

The Poem “The True Wealth” about the Okanagan Mountain Park Fires written by Sherry Cote has made it into the semi-finals in an International Open Poetry contest. They have further informed Sherry that they wish to publish the poem. Winners will be released soon. Call 762-7387.

Okanagan College’s School of Business is headed for the “ Business Super Bowl”. Tamara Guild and Wade Stolz, both fourth-year students in the College’s Bachelor of Business Administration program have been selected as one of six teams of finalists who will complete in the final round of competition at the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition on Jan.11 at Queen’s University. The event is the who’s who of business competitions in Canada and affirms for us that we have some of the brightest undergraduate business minds in the country.

The Board of Directors of the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan will launch a full-colour, high quality quarterly magazine in mid-February. It will consist of articles, stories and visual presentations celebrating the culture of our community, and the artworks and artistic performances that emerge from it. “Okanagan Arts” is a joint venture with Jeff Pexa’s Wheat King Publishing of Kelowna, publishers of Okanagan Experience. The magazine is being edited and designed by Robert MacDonald, founding director of the Banff Centre’s Arts Journalism Program. For more info call 861-4155

Got an update from Lori McCormack of Allan International Models on our very own super model Owen Steuart who is home for a couple weeks and then is on his way back to New York on January 5^th. He is doing fantastic these days and is climbing the models.com list of the world’s top 50 models. He’s made it to #17. After New York he is off to Milan and then Paris for the men’s designer collections fashion shows.

Evelyn Wardie of Modern Voice and Talent is helping out and coordinating the Snowfest Variety Show at the Kelowna Community Theatre – Rehearsal Hall on Saturday, January 27^th from 1-6pm. They are looking for all sorts of volunteer talent, including magicians, acrobats, vocalists, jugglers, belly dancers or any other talented acts. If you can help call her at 869-4198 or e-mail mvt@shaw.ca

For the first time last year, the Kelowna and District Safety Council sent two full busloads of riding enthusiasts to the Vancouver Motorcycle Show at the Abbotsford TRADEX. Back by popular demand, two more buses are planned for the January, 2007 as well. It’s B.C.’s largest motorcycle event where all major manufacturers travel coast to coast with their huge corporate exhibits to offer the riding community its first glimpse of the new 2007 motorcycles, gear and accessories. The KDSC has scheduled one bus for Saturday, January 27 and a second bus for Sunday, January 28^th. They are one day trips and the cost of the trip is only $55. Call Tanya Meyer at 765-3163 to register.

Not sure if you heard that Big White Ski Resort was voted as the #5 most luxurious ski resorts in the world by the readers of Luxury Travel Magazine, Australia’s #1 travel and lifestyle publication.

Accolades to Senior Pastor Tim Schroeder and his congregation at Trinity Baptist who have certainly supported the community this holiday season. Their joint Christmas Eve collection for the Holding Hands for Hospice campaign added a whopping $16,425 with cheques still coming in. The Holding Hands for Hospice campaign is a vital and exciting initiative to raise $3 Million for a $7 Million freestanding Hospice House in Kelowna, providing quality end of life care for residents of the Central Okanagan. Trinity Baptist has certainly played a vital role as a partner in a very meaningful community project and with supporters like that, they are sure to reach their goal. Walter Gray is the chair of the campaign.

This will be the last naughty and nice segment of the column until next year’s holiday season. In saying that, I am only going to praise some of the “nice” people of our city to start off the New Year. I’ll leave the naughties for next year. Several people and businesses really shone over the holiday season this past week. They are Steve Lachner and the good guys at Competition Glass; Kristen Weibe of the Carlton Card Shop in Orchard Park; Jeremy Dahl of Montana’s Cookhouse; Laura Barmentloo and the gals at Rafters Home Store and Sandy and Gregory at Lakeside Casino.

Quote of the week – Praise loudly and blame softly. (Catherine II)

Birthdays of the week – George Van Wilde Rode, Dockside Marine (Jan.2); Wayne Pierce, Creative Mortgage (Jan.1); Bill Dishaw (Jan.5); Stephen Kratzer (Jan.7); Ken Thom (Jan.3).

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)