Straight from DeHart - July 6, 2016

This week’s column is dedicated to a long-time friend, Lynn Hamilton who passed away after a long battle with ALS on June 16 at the age of 64. Lynn ran a successful home cleaning business and loved animals, especially her great danes which she had many throughout the years. Personal condolences to husband Dave, children Kevin and Tabitha, her entire family and many friends.

DunnEnzies Pizza has opened a second location at 1886 Dayton Street (Landmark 6). Owned and operated by Deb Dunnigan and Karyn MacKenzie, the original DunnEnzies at 1559 Ellis Street just celebrated their 6^th anniversary on July 1. The new larger location still offers all their delicious speciality traditional and infamous pizzas. They have added white pizzas, pressed Italian sandwiches, calzones, design your own salads, daily combo specials and grab and go. The restaurant now offers eat-in and take-out with community tables to seat 16 and 12 eat-up bar stools along with a large patio and bright red patio tables. Open Monday to Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 3 to 9 p.m. with full delivery. Call 236-420-3062.

Effective Sept. 5, Natasha Girard is the new executive director of the Central Okanagan Hospice Association (COHA). Currently, the director of Hospice Kingston for over 10 years, Natasha has focused on organizational growth and sustainability and led initiatives including integration of organizations and planning for a capital project to build a residential hospice. Prior to joining Hospice, Natasha worked as a legal assistant in St. Catharines, Ontario and Alberta. In the interim call Nica Garziotto at 250-763-5511. Marion Henselwood is the president of COHA. Call 250-763-5511.

Total E’Clips Salon and Spa, which opened six years ago in the Spall Centre location has been sold. The salon was owned and operated by co-owners Linda Russell, who has since retired and Kathie Jones. The new owners, Garry Chalmers and Asmaa Barkouta will be retaining the business name of Total E’Clips Salon and Spa for the short term and will be changing it to a new name later this year. The Total E’Clips Salon and Spa Lakeshore location at #107 – 3957 Lakeshore Rd is still under the ownership of Kathie Jones. There will be some positive changes over the next few months taking place in that location, including completing some planned renovations. Call 250-764-8117 www.totale-clips.com.

Sunday brunch is back at Lake Okanagan Resort. Owned by the Liu family for the past couple of years, many staff changes have also taken place. Both relocating from Edmonton, Philip Caragannis is the new food, beverage and recreation manager and Chef Paul Gareau is the new executive chef. Philip and Chef Paul have extensive experience in the food and hospitality industry. The brunch is served on the lower level of the resort and also on their massive patio overlooking Okanagan Lake. Eggs benedict is their specialty made from scratch. Renovations will be undertaken to the upstairs dining room, kitchen and bar. Along with the Sunday brunch, breakfast is served from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday to Saturday with dinner served daily from 4 to 8 p.m. There is a BBQ at the Barefoot Bar from 11 to 6 p.m. and their Tikki Bar which is literally right on the beach and fully licensed serves great burgers. All food areas are open to the public, resort guests and residents. It’s a great place to visit by boat as they have a full marina with moorage. Call 250-769-3511.

MotoVida Cycle at 1254 Ellis St. has acquired the rights to be the local Moto Guzzi dealer. Produced in Mandello del Lario, Italy since 1921, Moto Guzzi is the oldest Italian manufacturer of motorcycles. It has been a favourite of MotoVida’s for many years and co-owner Brent Giesbrecht has personally owned six Moto Guzzis, because he just loves the sound. Candace Giesbrecht is a co-founder of MotoVida Cycle and Brian Milligen is the new CEO. Call 778-478-2732.

Relocating from Sun Peaks Resort where he was the executive chef for several years, Darren Kashin is the new club chef at the Kelowna Yacht Club. Former chef, Ryan Swaby is relocating to Calgary.

Kelowna City Manager Ron Mattiussi has received the Local Government Management Association’s Distinguished Member Award. The award recognizes the extraordinary contribution of a member to the association or to a local government or organization to their high ethical standards and is not presented every year. Mattiussi celebrates his 10 year anniversary as city manager and was director of planning for the City of Kelowna for 11 years.

Happy 63^rd Anniversary Bud and Jo Stewart (June 28).

A Buyer’s Choice Home Inspections (ABCHI), one of North America’s fastest growing home inspection businesses has expanded into West Kelowna. Local resident, Al Brown has launched ABCHI’s operations along with the support of the company’s regional office in Port Coquitlam as a franchisee. Brown is bringing ABCHI’s collection of processes and systems to West Kelowna and surrounding areas with his goal to make home inspections easy for homebuyers of all ages and backgrounds to understand. With a background in the insurance repair and restoration industry, coupled with his carpentry trade skills, Brown’s work experience has given him the perspective to provide excellent work. For more information call 250-486-2593. www.ABuyersChoice.com.

SunRype has launched a Special Edition Hard Cider to commemorate its 70^th Anniversary. Made with 100 per cent B.C. apples pressed in Kelowna. SunRype Brand Okanagan Apple Cider contains seven per cent alcohol and is fermented in small batches to create the signature apple taste that is crisp and dry. The retro design is an adaptation of the original SunRype logo, circa 1946. The amber bottle features a photograph of early century apple pickers in the orchards of the Okanagan Valley to celebrate the rich fruit growing history. In the 50’s SunRype launched Canada’s first cider, B.C. Sparkling Cider which was processed and bottled by the Caribou Brewing Company in Penticton. Today, the cider category has exploded, hence the launch of the special edition cider. SunRype is an iconic Canadian brand but has continued to innovate to stay relevant with today’s consumers with the launch of many new food and beverage products. The cider is available in 650ml bomber-style bottles at select private liquor stores in B.C. Dave McAnerney is the president and CEO of SunRype Products Ltd. at 1165 Ethel Street. Call 250-860-7973.

The Rotary Club of Kelowna – Okanagan Mission has awarded two Paul Harris Fellowships to two locals, Dr. Stan Valnicek, Plastic Surgeon (Chief Medical Officer) and Kim East, RN (Head Care Coordinator) of Restor International Inc. The Paul Harris Fellowship is awarded by the Rotary Foundation to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to their community, whether locally or globally. In this case, it is for the work with Restor International in providing ongoing burn surgeries and medical and wound care training at the Gamby Hospital in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia with the help of Rotary Clubs locally and internationally. Restor International is a non–profit humanitarian organization based in Kelowna that provides free reconstructive surgery to disadvantaged children and adults in developing countries. www.restorinternational.ca

Kudos to equipment operator Richard Jomphe who was selected as one of the City’s BEST Award recipients in March. The award was given for his dedication to service and its impact on landfill operations when the Tana compactor broke down late one Friday, expecting it to be down until Monday. Richard removed the broken starter and rebuilt it in the shop out of three old ones. This meant it could be used while waiting for a new part to come in. His creativity and ingenuity also saved the city more than $120,000 in replacement parts when he created and implemented a successful in-house modification for four front-end loaders.

OGO Carshare Co-op now has a vehicle parked and ready to use at KGH. The care is conveniently parked in the South East corner of the Dr. Walter Anderson parking lot and is a joint venture between both OGO and KGH. Statistically, a single carshare vehicle in a single carshare parking spot replaces on average a total of 15 private vehicles helping to ease parking and traffic pressures in the area the cars are at. This is the first OGO vehicle in the hospital area and the 10^th vehicle in the carshare fleet. OGO is a community owned carshare program and is a leader in re-thinking how we walk, drive and live within our city. Christian Brandt is the executive director of OGO Care Share Co-op. Call 250-864-0560. For more information or to join visit www.ogocarshare.ca.

Chiropractor, Dr. Kari Primak, 2016 National Rider of the Inside Ride National Tour, along with the Inside Ride Team, will host a cycle challenge event on Mon., July 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Stuart Park on the skating rink. One hundred per cent of funds raised will be distributed to pediatric oncology programs including care and research being conducted at BC Children’s Hospital. There will be teams of six people each riding on stationary bikes as hard as they can for 10 minutes. Each team is responsible for raising a minimum of $1,000 amongst the six members and at the end of the hour there are prizes for the best team spirit costume, mileage and fundraising. www.kelowna.theinsideride.com.

Happy 61^st Bud and Joan Darrough (July 2).

The 2016 Get To Know Contest invites youth ages 19 and under to upload their nature-inspired entries to be featured in an online gallery while offering them a chance to win wild prizes. This year, they are continuing the Central Okanagan Gallery. The contest runs from May 1 to Nov. 1. Youth can visit the Enter Now page for more info about the contest at www.gettoknow.ca. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for a chance to see artwork from other contestants. Sneha Philip is the program coordinator of Get to Know. Call 250-980-3969 or sphilip@gettoknow.ca.

Birthdays of the week –Happy 100^th Stan Bjornson (July 3); Happy 65^th Mardi Amrein (July 9); Gladys McCulloch (July 5); Ian Robertson (July 5); Peter Angle (July 6); Laura Golinowsky (July 6); Don Volk (July 6); Dennis Gerace (July 7); Michou Szabo (July 7); John Walker (July 7); David Spevakow (July 7); Don Richmond (July 8); Leanne Moyer (July 9); Sherri Rea (July 9); Marc Whittemore (July 9); Donna Good (July 10); Shirley Hutt (July 10); Sherry Huva, my niece (July 10); Gary Bakelmun (July 11); In memory of Doreen Ross (July 12).

Maxine DeHart is a Kelowna City Councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662, fax 250-860-3173, E-mail maxdehart@telus.net and web-site www.KelownaNow.com (click on Columns and Maxine DeHart).