Editor Brian Lawrence compiled this brief look back at some of the goings on in the Creston Valley over the last 12 months, gleaned from the pages of the Advance.
4 — Valerie Comer’s Raspberries and Vinegar earned her recognition in the form of a Word Guild Award for the best Canadian Christian contemporary romance novel published in 2013. The Lister farmer has written a dozen novels since taking up writing 2002, and described her writing as “Christian-centric romance and farm literature”, a genre that reflects her passions.
•Dr. Eleanor Huettmeyer was the latest recruit attracted to the area by the Creston Valley Health Working Group. She became the fifth doctor in the last two years to be successfully attracted to Creston by the award-winning health recruitment program. In addition to general practice, Huettmeyer would also bring her skills as a anesthesiologist to Creston.
•The Creston Valley Farmers’ Market has become one of more than 40 markets around the province to permit liquor vendors to participate, after changes to the BC Liquor Control and Licensing Act this year allowed the addition of wine, beer, cider and spirits vendors at farmers’ markets. Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery became the first wine producer to offer its products at the Creston market early in the summer.
•After placing second overall in the world and Australian blind golf championships in May, Darren Douma placed second in his sight category’s low net division at the Canadian Open Blind Golf Championship. He competed in the tournament held Aug. 5-7 in Truro, N.S., for a net total of 136 to win the silver medal, with a 75-year-old B.C. man earning gold in their B3 sight category.
11 — The Creston Valley Thunder Cats were preparing to start the 2014-15 season on Sept. 13, and head coach Jeff Dubois was confident the season will be another successful one, expecting nearly a dozen players to return. Their experience would help fill the gap left by five 20-year-olds who aged out, those five being among the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s top scorers and defencemen. A number of potential new players were discovered at an August camp in Calgary, and a few excellent locals were playing since the main camp in Creston.
18 — Faced with angry developers and a looming election, Creston town council deferred making changes to the development cost charge bylaw to 2015, when it would become part of Official Community Plan discussions. At the Sept. 9 council meeting, three of the area’s major property developers stated their opposition to a proposal that would see DCCs increased, and also applied to new developments throughout the town, an expansion from the current Alice Siding designation.
•Becky Blair said she first heard of a proposed settlement of the teachers’ strike at 6:10 a.m. Sept. 16. The president of the Creston Valley Teachers’ Association said teachers were ready to get back to their classrooms and students as soon as the deal was inked.
25 — Early in their life together Doug and Nora Crumback couldn’t have imagined owning a large honey-producing operation. But with two years as owners of Swan Valley Honey under their belts, they couldn’t be happier.
“We found this property” — a huge shop that is now their honey production and storage facility being a major selling feature — “talked to (former owner) Doug Knight and realized the Creston Valley is a great spot for bees,” Doug said. “And we stopped looking.”