Photo: Contributed

Photo: LocalMotive

LocalMotive pitching to be part of Summerland Food Hub

Further delay in plans for a South Okanagan “food hub” in Summerland have the district eyeing a new partnership with a local organic farm.

The Okanagan Food and Innovation Hub (OFIH) will be a part of the BC Food Hub Network, which already has 13 facilities throughout the province.

The District of Summerland is proposing to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with LocalMotive Organic Delivery and Community Futures Okanagan Similkameen (CFOS) to locate the Okanagan Food and Innovation Hub in Summerland.

Thomas Tumbach, owner of LocalMotive Organic Delivery and Low Waste Market, will also be presenting as a delegation in front of council during Tuesday’s afternoon meeting.

According to staff’s report to council, following the award of the $800,000 grant, OFIH project partners, the District of Summerland and Community Futures Okanagan-Similkameen (CFOS), have continued to work to try to meet deadlines and terms of the agreement for the grant.

“However, Okanagan Crush Pad has not been able to advance a new building construction at its property of 26405 Garnet Valley Road, citing unfavourable economic conditions of high construction costs and increased costs for borrowing to move forward with a new building at this time,” the report reads.

Due to delays in confirming a location for the Food Hub, staff said there have been delays in meeting the Ministry of Agriculture’s grant deadlines to advance the OFIH project.

Okanagan Crush Pad has now removed themselves as a land/building partner for the project, which is leading the district to look at LocalMotive.

With LocalMotive being recently awarded a $3 million grant to construct a new commercial food storage and distribution facility in Summerland, they look to partner with the OFIH project, by co-locating in the same space.

LocalMotive said their intent is to construct a new state-of-the-art storage, packaging and processing facility for their own operation, with complementary “scaling-up” commercialization services of additional storage space, and regional distribution, while OFIH would provide local farmers and food processors space to test new product ideas and access processing equipment.

Staff said the Ministry is requiring action from both the District and CFOS to move the project forward, or the project may risk losing the $800,000 grant funding, which is pushing up the deadline.

With the possibility of project delays, staff added that the Province may not provide the remaining 50 per cent ($400,000) to this project.

“The District’s financial commitments—should any arise—in relation to the established deliverables and the draft MOU should all be funded through grant monies received from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Finance staff are somewhat concerned that after signing the proposed MOU, LocalMotive may come back to Council with a request to waive related fees and DCC’s on the construction of a facility,” the report said.

“Council has recently supported two construction projects in this manner with foregone DCC’s and fees of approximately $2M. The District has not included such fee waivers in its 2024-2028 financial plan bylaw for the Food Hub project, therefore, should such a fee waiver request be submitted, the District of Summerland taxpayers could potentially be on the hook for those foregone revenues.”

Staff are recommending council to support entering a Memorandum of Understanding with LocalMotive Organic Delivery, which will be discussed on Tuesday. The full report can be found in the afternoon agenda.

Photo: Rotary Club of Penticton

Mya Burghardt is the Rotary Club of Penticton’s Student of the Month for June.

The Rotary Club of Penticton Sunrise is pleased to select Mya Burghardt — an all-round, immensely gifted, fiercely determined, and deeply caring Grade 12 student athlete at Princess Margaret Secondary School — as Rotary Student of the Month for June.

Burghardt’s SOM selection is a no brainer as her outstanding achievements in numerous activities during her time at Maggie provide a textbook example of how focus, dedication and drive in the dogged pursuit of excellence can yield mind-bending results.

She has refined this formula for success to perfection, garnering some 17 academic, athletic, leadership and inspirational awards culminating in Top Academic Student in Grade 9 and Top All-round Student in Grades 10 and 11.

Born and raised in Penticton, Burghardt is the third of four children in a tightly knit family in which being physically active and outside exploring nature are central to maintaining a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle. Empathetic, engaging and mature beyond her years, she has been well-coached at home in core life skills promoting self-fulfillment, career success and social obligation.

Hardwired with an inquisitive, razor-sharp intellect primed by an insatiable quest for knowledge, she has always excelled scholastically. Since Grade 10, she has recorded a stellar average grade of 97.3 per cent while carrying a full slate of demanding STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)-foundational subjects. In fact, she averaged an eye-popping 98 per cent in eight STEM (math and science) courses, achieving the top mark in six of them.

While enjoying the variety of courses she has taken at Maggie, Burghardt has a burning passion for math and the sciences as she finds “their subject material makes sense, often provides a clear answer, and offers insight into all matter of things, both physical and living, in our universe.”

Science teacher Cory Hogg said, “I have had the pleasure of being Mya’s physics 11 and 12 teacher for the past two years. Curiosity-driven, self-motivated and detail-focused, she engages in class with purpose and passion. She always lights up the room with her beaming smile, kind and thoughtful acts, and warm exchanges among peers and teachers alike.”

Math teacher Chris Becker said, “Mya is truly an exceptional student. In her three math courses, she was advanced a year, so although younger than her classmates, she was a role model for them.”

A versatile athlete, Burghardt has played on the PMSS girls soccer and field hockey teams and with Pinnacles FC, a local soccer club, since Grade 10. She also played on Maggie’s inaugural ultimate frisbee coed team this past year. As a midfielder in soccer and a centre forward in field hockey, she has been a key member of both teams, having garnered Top Female Athlete, Jr. Girls Soccer MVP and Jr. Field Hockey Impact in Grade 10 and Sr. Field Hockey Impact in grade 11.

These feats as a student athlete, impressive as they are, constitute only two facets of Burghardt’s solid track record at Maggie. It is two others, namely, stellar leadership and selfless service to others, that set her apart and define her unique set of special talents and guiding core principles.

Recipient of the coveted Robyn Muir Inspirational Award in Grade 10, Burghardt is driven by “a burning passion to create an encouraging and inclusive learning environment where others have an opportunity to succeed and excel like me.”

She takes great pride in her well-honed teaching skills, taking different angles for different students as no two process information the same.

Burghardt has eagerly joined in various extramural activities. These include events for fostering a positive school culture, such as Kindness Week, Grade 8 Orientation Day and Remembrance Day Ceremony, and fundraisers, such as 10,000 Tonight food drive for the Salvation Army, Haunted House For Kids to provide Christmas hampers for needy kids and funds for a Dry Grad.

Music is also an important part of Burghardt’s life. She began taking formal piano lessons in Grade 6 and has now completed up to Level 6 in The Royal Conservatory of Music Certificate Program.

Burghardt is quick to credit her dad, her role model, for her healthy, well-balanced lifestyle, noting that “he has always encouraged me to try new things and challenge myself athletically.”

For relaxation, Burghardt enjoys being active in the outdoors with family and friends: hiking, biking, camping, waterboarding and exploring our scenic valley and in winter, skiing up at Apex on weekends. She also loves playing the guitar and teaching the family dogs tricks.

Given her “fervent desire to embark on a career that benefits the health and wellbeing of others,” it is fitting that upon graduation, Burghardt plans to obtain a BSc degree in the biomedical sciences at UBC Okanagan before pursuing doctoral studies in dentistry as a prelude to a productive and rewarding career following in her dad’s footsteps.

This jewel of a young lady with the “human touch” will surely enrich and inspire the lives of all those she meets along the way.

Photo: Contributed

The countdown is on to the 2024 Okanagan Hockey Community Foundation “Tee it Up for Education” charitable golf tournament, and a silent auction is already up and running.

Every year, OCHF hosts the tournament and auction with all proceeds going to providing educational opportunities through sport to those facing financial barriers in the community.

The main golf event is on June 18, but the auction action is underway.

Items up for bidding range are varied, featuring everything from jewelry to hockey memorabilia, golf trips to concert tickets, and much more.

Winners will be notified after the tournament concludes, and pickup will be available in Penticton or shipping can be arranged throughout Canada.

Photo: Robert

UPDATE: 5 p.m.

Fire crews now have a good handle on a brushfire sparked by routine farm activities that grew out of hand on Saturday in Okanagan Falls.

Glen Hall of The Apple Bin said a spark from an abrasive saw went off into the brush while his crews were working and quickly caught flame on his farm.

“There were three of us available to stomp and shovel, but it was absolutely not possible to stop it,” Hall said.

He called 9-1-1 as soon as it was clear the fire was not controllable by them alone, and local fire crews arrived quickly.

Okanagan Falls Fire Chief Fred Dobransky said when they initially got the call, he rushed right over and sized up the fire.

“We were more worried about having any kind of homes compromised,” he said, adding that while the fire got pretty close to some buildings, crews worked quickly to put a guard down.

Recent photos sent in by a Castanet reader show minimal smoke in the area after the firefighters doused the flames.

BC Wildfire Service, the Willowbrook Fire Department and the Kaleden Fire Department were all called in as mutual aid to help tackle the fire, which had quickly spread to the grass, brush and trees.

Dobransky said smoke may remain in the Seventh Avenue and East Side Road area for a while longer, but everything’s off into the orchard area so people can travel into and out of town on both sides of the lake.

“Nothing’s been blocked off. We’ve got no hoses across any roads at this time, except Peach Cliff Drive,” he added.

“We’re still dealing with some guards at this time here with BC Wildfire but we’re pretty close to mop up at this time here. We got some hot spots in the center of the fire, but the perimeter is basically under control right now, and we have a good guard down around everything.”

Hall said the situation was a stark reminder of current drought conditions and that it is a good time to be sure there is “no [wildfire] fuel in the hillsides and stuff in the vicinity of homes, it’s really important.”

No structures have yet been damaged, but the farm has lost some trees at the base of their property.

BCWS said in an update that the fire is tracked at 1.45 hectares and is classified as under control.

“Ground resources responded and are digging hard guard around the perimeter. With the resources currently on site we don’t anticipate this fire growing beyond its current size.”

– With files from Chelsea Powrie

Kober, who previously spent 16 years coaching multiple Canadian Olympic teams, mentored the B.C. Freestyle Team, coached the Chinese Olympic Freestyle Team, and guided Canadian mogul skier Mikael Kingsbury to his Olympic gold medal in 2018, has been back with the local team for two years.

While residing in Penticton, his own children grew up within the club.

The club shared in their announcement that Kober is regarded as one of the world’s premier mogul coaches and has been instrumental in the recent successes of many of their own athletes, facilitating opportunities such as Grady Parsons and Emelie McCaughey’s invitations to the BC Mogul Team and numerous podium finishes and personal bests for our Performance Team.

“Despite his temporary departure, Rob will remain an integral part of AFC, serving as an ambassador and mentor to both coaches and high-performance athletes. While we bid him farewell for now, we eagerly anticipate witnessing his achievements in this exciting chapter of his career,” AFC said.

Rob will continue coaching AFC Water Ramp Camps through August 2024.

AFC is asking for coaches to apply for the roles of Head Coach and Assistant Coach for their high-performance team. For more information on these positions, reach out to [email protected]

Photo: File photo

A slight increase of employees joined the District of Summerland’s “sunshine list”, which accounts for the municipal employees who earned over $75,000 during the past year.

Municipalities are required to disclose the names and salaries of employees making above that number each year by law, remuneration of the Mayor and Council, and a roll of Suppliers of Goods and Services with total payments greater than $25,000.

The district’s 2023 Statement of Financial Information shows that seven more employees for a total of 60 were added to the list.

A financial report going before council on Tuesday outlines the list and details the salaries of each employee over the $75,000 threshold, as well as those of elected officials.

According to information in the municipality’s 2023 Statement of Financial Information, the district spent a total of $9,547,171.32 on employee remuneration in 2023, with a total of $121,836.23 in expenses, $6,031,391.37 of which went to the sunshine list.

The highest five remunerations, not including expenses, for 2023 were:

Graham Statt, Chief Administrative Officer: $187,931.64

David Svetlichny, Director of Finance: $155,696.62

Ryan Robillard, Electrical Utility – Foreman: $151,760.86

Jeremy Storvold, Director of Utilities – $146,244.26

Joseph Mitchell, Director of Works & Infrastructure – $143,937.89

The salary for Mayor Doug Holmes was $38,896.02, while Deputy Mayor Erin Trainer received $24,426.25 and each of the other five councillors received $17,503, for a total of $150,865.88. Expenses from all of council totalled $28,940.09, which is up by more than $10K from 2022, which was $18,492.93.

Photo: Dirty Laundry Vineyard Instagram

A Summerland winery earned the top spot on Friday night, at the 45th annual Okanagan Spring Wine Festival.

This year, the event kicked off by revealing the results from the 2024 BC Wine Awards Top 50, determined by a panel of esteemed professional wine judges.

For the first time, in place of the traditional medal system, the wines with the highest average scores were recognized as the “BC Top 50.”

The nearly 370 B.C. wines from 90 producers were blind tasted and scored individually, then averaged to produce the list of wines, including the highest score being named the Wine of the Year, which is unanimously chosen by the judges.

This year, the recipient of the Wine of the Year was awarded to Dirty Laundry Vineyards in Summerland for their 2022 Cellar Series Gamay Noir.

The event marked the first public tasting of the coveted wines, positioned as a Buyer’s Guide.

The reception was held at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre where the B.C. wine industry gathered to honour the award-winning 2024 B.C. wines.

The fifty winning wines and the Wine of the Year were presented with their commemorative Riedel decanters by the ContainerWorld Group of Companies’ Manager of Business Development, Flavia Aarden-Kilger.

“ContainerWorld continues to support the Okanagan Wine Festivals and the BC Wine Awards. We are proud of BC wineries and honoured to be a part of this ever-growing, exciting, and evolving industry. The Okanagan Wine Festivals and BC Wine Awards showcase the best of your wines. These awards put BC wines in the spotlight. Congratulations to all the winners,” Aarden-Kilger said in a press release.

It was hosted by the Okanagan Wine Festivals Society, which produces three seasonally inspired Okanagan Wine Festivals in winter, spring, and fall. It is also responsible for Signature Wine Events, including the TASTE and SIPS Series, and it produces and runs the province’s most prestigious and oldest wine competition, the British Columbia Wine Awards.

Photo: Pixabay

The City of Penticton said the draft plan for managing the city’s urban forest, Penticton’s CommuniTREE Plan, is now ready for review.

Community members are invited to come out to Gyro Park on Saturday, June 15 between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. to see the results and share their comments.

Launched last year, the project introduced residents to Penticton’s urban forest and identified areas with a need to build up tree canopy.

The draft plan is set to help the city reach the recommended canopy targets for the expansion and maintenance of the urban forest over the next 20 years.

“The plan outlines four different scenarios, including a recommended scenario to show how canopy cover will likely change over the next 20 years in Penticton,” Ysabel Contreras, Parks Planning and Capital Projects Coordinator with the City said in a press release.

“Nine big moves have been identified to summarize the Action Plan and guide the development for each scenario. We’re inviting the community to join us and learn more about these big moves, review the scenarios, and share their comments about whether the draft plan aligns with what they envision as a framework for the City’s first Urban Forest Management Plan.

An arborist will be on site to answer to answer questions about local trees. They will also be available to consult about resident’s tree health concerns. The city encourages residents to bring a picture of their trees.

Casey Richardson

Even with a decent amount of showers in the Okanagan recently, Penticton’s dam manager said the lake is still sitting a foot below the full pool target and he doesn’t expect that to change.

“So, when I’ve been talking to people who asked me, ‘Is the lake level doing well? I say, ‘Well, we’re doing okay. I won’t say we’re doing well, but we’re doing okay,’” he added.

The seasonal targets, including the full pool, were developed years ago as part of a major Okanagan basin-wide consultative process.

The rain over the last week and a half managed to add a few centimetres to the lake. Environment Canada said rainfall totals were at or below normal throughout the Okanagan in May.

There is still a little bit of high-elevation snow left to contribute to water levels.

Okanagan Lake will continue to rise for another one to two weeks before it levels off, and then starts falling throughout the summer, as per usual.

“On years like this, most of the time, we’ve been able to sort of get closer to our targets by the time we get into the fall and into winter. So that is generally comforting. But of course, if we had a very hot summer, with a lot of evaporation, that might be harder to do,” Reimer said.

People can expect to see fairly low flows in the Okanagan River through Penticton, as Reimer said they want to make sure that there’s enough water in the river channel for irrigators and for fish as well as for the returning salmon.

“Last year, we had a little bit higher snowpack, and so we had a little bit more outflow at the dam but unfortunately, we didn’t get those rains in June that were normal. And that was one of the reasons why Okanagan Lake sort of started off low and continued low all through summer and winter to the point where we are now,” he added.

“I would actually say I’m pleased where we are on Okanagan Lake right now with the water level and the fact that we’ve been able to capture as much of the water as we did. And it’s been because we’ve had pretty minimalistic outflows all the way through.”

The plan is to maintain those low outflows until the lakes and rivers further south need the assistance of more water.

“I want people to be aware of that, we are going into the second year of very much drought conditions and water conservation is helping everyone. It’s helping, the farmers when you’re eating their fruit, drinking their wine, it’s helping the fish in the river, and it’s really helping your whole community.”

The BC River Forecast Centre said in its most recent report that low snowpack, early snowmelt and lingering impacts from ongoing drought are creating significantly elevated drought hazards for this upcoming spring and summer.

“We’ve been really trying to capture every drop, so that has been a big difference between last year because we’re coming into the second year of what appears to be a drought.”

The BC Wildfire Service has been gearing up for a busy fire season if the drought persists. Wildfire season in the Southern Interior typically hinges on if it rains in June—the Okanagan’s wettest month historically— or not.

Many interior cities are also already at elevated stages of water restrictions.

Photo: Brayden Ursel

Minimal outflows from Okanagan Lake heading forward as dry conditions expected to continue

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