P e o p l e A rts H o m e s F o o d c u lt u r e r e c r e at i o n H i s to ry Fall 2011
Life in the West Kootenay/Boundary Region
If you can’t play nice... Women’s roller derby – aggressive, supportive, empowering
Home Free A Grand Forks family raises and races homing pigeons
Wired & Wonderful The region is attracting a strong digital media industry
Let them eat
Cake Three local bakers offer amazing treats for our sweet tooths
BC’s Best Kept Secret ...the view is only the beginning! Call any of our realtors for information On properties in our area.
250-442-2711
Toll Free: 1-800-567-3199
272 Central Avenue, Grand Forks, B.C.
www.grandforksrealestate.ca
contents Publisher Chuck Bennett chuckbennett@ blackpress.ca Account Manager Chris Hammett route3@ grandforksgazette.ca Advertising Sales Karen Bennett publisher@ rosslandnews.com
Marlin Olynyk
Editor & Art Director Shelley Ackerman sackerman@telus.net
SPECIAL PLACES: Photographer Marlin Olynyk captured the sun shining through these summery dresses forming a curtain in his friend’s camper. There’s still lots of time to camp the Kootenay/Boundary region before the snow flies!
Tidbits A taste of what’s happening in the West Kootenay/Boundary, page 4
is published quarterly by Black Press Telephone: 250-442-2191 or 1-877-443-2191 Courier and mail: Box 700, 7255 Riverside Dr. Grand Forks, B.C. V0H 1H0 Route 3 is distributed in businesses throughout the West Kootenay and Boundary regions.
Recreation
Home Free by Karl Yu A Grand Forks family enjoys the unusual hobby of raising and racing homing pigeons, page 5 Food & Drink
Let them eat Cake by Amy Robillard Three local bakers offer amazing treats for our sweet tooths, page 8
Printed in Canada on recyclable paper. Copyright 2010 by Black Press. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork without written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden. The publisher can assume no responsibility for unsolicited material.
Sports
If You can’t Play Nice, Play Roller Derby by Tyler Austin Bradley West Kootenay Women’s Roller Derby — aggressive, supportive, empowering, page 15 Technology
Wired & Wonderful by Erin Handy
FSC LOGO
Our region is attracting a strong digital media industry, page 17 Q&A
CDCSS Helping Castlegar Families by Lana Rodlie Roberta Hamilton speaks about the Castlegar and District Community Services Society, page 30
Cover photo by Carmen Davis, www.freshphotos.ca: Nile shows off one of his mom’s Epiphany Cakes. Mmmmm!
Fall 2011 Route 3
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Tidbits – a taste of what’s happening in the West Kootenay/Boundary Kaslo Sufferfest
Grand Food & Wine Festival
Oct 1 – 2, Kaslo Cross Country Mountain Bike race, Ultra Trail Run, Monster Downhill Bike, Kids’ Races. Test yourself on foot or pedal over Kaslo’s steep, rugged and legendary trails.
616 Vernon St, Nelson Sat, Oct 15 The Annual Grand Food & Wine Festival is held at the New Grand Hotel the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year. It’s a semi formal event and generally features 50-60 wineries including international products but is highly focused on B.C. wines. This event features Louie's catering with a large array of food cooked on premise and throughout the event. Tickets go on sale September 1st, 2011. This event always sells out so get your tickets early.
Grand Forks farmers Market
City Park, Grand Forks Tues & Fri to Oct 8 8am to 1pm Certified organic vegetables, apples, plums, pears and cherries in season. Local wild huckleberries, james and jellies and fresh baking are also featured. Local soap, bath and beauty products and local crafts display the diverse culture of the Kootenay/Boundary area.
Rock Creek Pumpkinfest
Nakusp Farmers Market
The Pavilion, Rock Creek Sat, Oct 22 Come join us for dinner and then bid on a pumpkin or two. Monies raised go to projects for Rock Creek.
Downtown Nakusp Saturdays to Oct 15 Check out this great market on the shores of Arrow Lake!
Cottonwood Falls Park, Nelson Saturdays to Oct 28
Cottonwood Falls Market
With a Flexible Choice Mortgage, you’re set for life. 1 888 368 2654 www.kscu.com Page 4
Route 3 Fall 2011
The Cottonwood Falls Market is located next to the Japanese garden, and you'll be sure to see and hear the rush of Cottonwood Falls. The market itself features an array of different vendors and products, and the performances of local musicians. The market is only a short walk from Baker Street and Nelson's downtown. Rock Creek Quilt Show
The Pavilion, Rock Creek Nov 5 & 6 Rossland Mountain Film Festival
Rossland Miners Hall Nov 18 – 21 “The Biggest Little Film Fest in Canada” is a four-day event that takes place in Canada's Alpine City. The focus of the event is on local talent. Filmmakers, artists and new media workers showcase their creations to a Kootenay regional audience. www.rosslandfilmfest.com
20th Annual Grand Forks Art Gallery Wine Tasting
Gallery 2, Grand Forks Sat, Nov 26 Gallery supporters are treated to an evening of tasting and learning about many of the subtle qualities of taste, aroma and food matching that can be experience with the fine wines of B.C. Call to reserve your tickets. 250-442-2211 18th annual Rekindle the Spirit of Christmas
Downtown Rossland Sat, Dec 3 Come celebrate the start of Yuletide season in the brightest little ski town in the Kootenays as Rossland lights up for the holidays. Step back in time and enjoy an old fashioned Dickensstyle day of sleigh rides, roasting chestnuts, carolers, bonfires, outdoor vendors, and in-store specials. www.rossland.com
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recreation
Home Free
A Grand Forks family enjoys the unusual hobby of raising and racing homing pigeons
story by
Karl Yu
Photos by
Chris Hammett
B
rad and Alisa Siemens are members of a fast-disappearing group. No, the husband and wife from Grand Forks aren’t members of an ancient tribe or cult, rather they breed and race homing pigeons. The Siemens say that the sport of pigeon racing is big in the United States and Europe, compared to Canada, and even then, there seems to be decreasing interest in those areas. Brad says that he and his wife are amongst the youngest homing pigeon racers and breeders out there. “Kids nowadays aren’t into pigeon racing. Not many kids live in an area where they can have homing pigeons. They have iPods and computers and Nintendo Wii,” Brad explains. “The sport is dying out around the world,” adds Alisa. The two are part of the Boundary Racing Pigeon Club — which has members in Grand Forks and Keremeos — and the most amazing thing about the Siemens’ pigeons, and homing pigeons in general, is their sense of direction. Despite sometimes being ➤
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Opening page: The Siemens’ three girls, Amy, 9 (centre), and 6-year-old twins Megan (left) and Jessica (right), are learning the art of handling and training the family's pigeons. Above: From left to right, Megan, Alisa, Amy, Brad and Jessica Siemens, each with a white pigeon, pose for a quick family snap.
released as far as Prince George, B.C. (in a race that takes nine hours), the pigeons somehow almost, always find their way back home to Grand Forks, and although the Siemens don’t know exactly the reasons for this, there are some ways to ensure the pigeons know where home is. “For a homing pigeon, once they fly out of the nest, you’ve got about a three- to four-week window where you can move that pigeon to another person’s house and it will stay there,” says Brad. Between five days to a week after a homing pigeon is born, Brad says a metal ring is put on the pigeon’s leg for identification purposes; it has the year of its birth, a number and the club name followed by the union (Canadian, American, European etc.). “If you don’t band them before they’re seven days old, that back leg won’t slip over the band and you can’t get a ring on their leg and you can’t race them in the pigeon union because people could cheat — it’s an honour system,” he said. A rubber ring is added to the pigeon’s other leg and is used to clock a pigeon’s time during a race — Brad says that the number on the rubber ring must coincide with the metal ring. “It’s a sealed clock, once it’s in there and stamped you can’t monkey around with that rubber band,” explains Alisa.
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During race season, which lasts from April until early July, Friday nights are when the pigeons are shipped to the starting line (otherwise known as shipping night). Besides Prince George, pigeons have raced from such starting points as 100 Mile House, Quesnel, Williams Lake and even Meziadin Junction in northern B.C. “That’s how a race works, Brad explains. “All the birds are in the same truck, they’ve got one starting point and 15 finish points.” “Your winning bird is based on average speed, not the average time, because the lofts (finish points) are all different distances from the release,” adds Alisa. The Siemens say that the pigeons don’t fly in a straight line but rather follow valleys and can be thrown off by fog and wet weather. Grand Forks area is a good place to train homing pigeons, as there really aren’t too many birds of prey, allowing the pigeons to fly freely. “You lose a couple of birds, but it’s pretty good in this country,” says Brad. “The coast is full of a lot of raptors and (the pigeons) get pretty chewed up, but here we really don’t lose many pigeons at all. We’ve had fantastic results, birds come home, they like coming to this nice, dry country.” Brad, who grew up in Abbotsford, began to take an interest in the birds in his childhood when his grandparents sold their farm and he was given their pigeons. From there he got into homing pigeons with some friends from school. “Once we got our driver’s licences, you could go out fishing for the weekend and you could take your birds with you and let them go. It kind of evolved.” “I married Brad,” quips Alisa when asked about her roots in homing pigeons. One thing that annoys the two is the stereotype about pigeons being diseased. “You put 20 people living in a tree above some cars and it ain’t going to look very pretty either,” says Brad. “It’s not fair to say that they’re disease-ridden.” Besides racing the birds, the Siemens use pigeons for release at outdoor weddings. “We’ve been breeding pure whites, it’s kind of a rare breed and hard to get pure, solid white pigeons,” explains Brad, adding that Alisa has already done a number of wedding releases this year, most recently at Grand Forks’ PV Ranch Adventures. “We really feel that the white homing pigeons that we have been releasing at weddings may have some merit in the general public’s opinion of pigeons,” Alisa says. The two say that prepping racing pigeons is a big commitment — it’s not just like putting your dog in a kennel and playing with it sometimes when you’re at home. “It’s 24/7. It’s part of our farm and we might as well have them, and if we’re going to have them and feed them, we’re going to race them,” Brad says. “Sure (the pigeons) fly every day but they’ve only got to work between three to six weekends a year, and that’s a pretty good gig.” “It’s like a samurai thing, a forgotten tradition,” explains Brad.
Brad and Alisa release of some of their “special occasion” white pigeons (left); the white pigeons come home to roost (above).
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ORY ION HIST R E C R E AT C U LT U R E ES FOOD FALL RTS HOM PEOPLE A 2011
Life in the West
y Region Kootenay/Boundar
NICE... IF YOU CAN’T PLAY — aggressive, derby Women’s roller ring supportive, empowe
HOME FREE
family raises A Grand Forks pigeons and races homing
ERFUL WIRED & WOND g a The region is attractinindustry strong digital media
Let them eat
Cake rs offer Three local bake for our amazing treats sweet tooths
To advertise in the Winter issue, contact Chris at 1-877-443-2191 or email route3@ grandforksgazette.ca
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Food & Drink
Let them eat Cake
T
There is something deliciously decadent about cake — the sweet scent of fresh-baked batter, the glorious tufts of rich butter cream, the luxurious bite that leaves you wanting more. This lovely thing we call cake dates back to ancient times when Europeans celebrated eating sweet bread topped with boiled sugar and egg whites. Although the delicacy has come a long way, the tradition of the birthday cake or the wedding cake still defines our celebratory moments. A cake truly does instigate big smiles and no matter what the occasion, three local gals seem to deliver the broadest grins. The young lovelies are: Melissa Owen, pastry chef and owner of Epiphany Cakes and Pastries in Nelson; Becky Gilhula, pastry chef and owner of Sweet Dreams Cakery in Rossland; and story by Lisa Luckett, owner of the newest cupcakery in the area, Lucky photos by Cupcakes in Nelson. Whether you are looking for a sweet nibble of yummy goodness for Sunday night dinner, a themed birthday party or an extravagant wedding celebration, look no further than their edible creations. ➤
Amy Robillard Carmen Adams
Are we lucky or what? Three local bakers offer amazing treats for our sweet tooths Above: Red Seal Pastry Chef Becky Gilhula with one of her marvelous cakes. Left, above: A selection of Epiphany cakes. Below: A beautiful wedding cake by Becky.
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feeling of getting lost in the creative process.” Immediately, Melissa enrolled in the Pastry and Bakery Arts program at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts on Granville Island in Vancouver. That was in 2001 and the blossoming pastry chef has never looked back. For four years, Melissa perfected her craft working as a pastry chef in and around Vancouver before her son Nile was born and their family moved to Nelson. In 2006 Melissa opened her own little pastry shop, Epiphany Cakes — a name that would always remind her of how the Bundt cake influenced her sweet path in life. Epiphany Cakes always uses organic flour, organic sugar and happy local eggs! For special orders and gluten-free options please visit www.epiphanycakes.com or call 250-352-9980. Cakes and cupcakes are also available at Pixie Candy Shoppe, 509 Baker St. Nelson. Melissa Owen, pastry cheft and owner of Epiphany Cakes.
Epiphany Cakes, Nelson It seems that most pastry chefs are born from one particular cake and Epiphany Cakes’ Melissa Owen’s moment of epiphany started when the Egyptian-American first moved to Canada. “I had never really baked much. I studied Fine Arts at the University of Oregon and then I moved to Vancouver. I wasn’t able to work for my first year in Canada while my immigration paperwork was being processed. To keep busy, I spent a lot of my time creating in the kitchen.” One creation was a seemingly insignificant Bundt cake, “As I was baking a Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake with pretty sugar glaze dripping off of it, I recognized a wonderfully familiar feeling. It was the
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Sweet Dreams Cakery, Rossland Red Seal Pastry Chef Becky Gilhula’s affair with the sweeter things in life didn’t start with a cake, but with a cookie. At the tender young age of seven, Becky started baking cookies for her father’s lunches and hasn’t taken off her oven mitts since. “I feel like I have baked my entire life,” says the 34-year-old owner of Rossland’s recently opened cakery. Becky started her formal career working in a kitchen at Panorama in Invermere. She enjoyed creating edible art so much that she enrolled in Baking and Pastry Arts at Vancouver Community College and completed her apprenticeship at the Rimrock Hotel in Banff Alberta in 2005. Her life took a sweet turn when her automotive mechanic husband, Jeremy Richards and she purchased a heritage bed and breakfast in
Photo courtesy Lisa Luckett
the little mountain town of Rossland in 2010. This outdoor enthusiast is in charge of operations at the B&B and is the sole baker at the cakery, making Becky a pretty busy lady. It seems that locals are as taken with the new arrivals. Her 27 dozen cupcakes always sell out in the first hour at Rossland’s summer markets and she was completely booked up for summer weddings by May. Her secret: “Unlike a lot of cakes out there, mine taste as good as they look!” For a complete list of delectable cakes, please visit: www.sweetdreams cakeryrossland.com or call Becky at 250-362-5156. For your own slice of heaven drop by The Alpine Grind at 2207 Columbia Avenue, Rossland.
Lucky Cupcakes, Nelson Lisa Luckett is feeling pretty lucky about her recently opened Lucky Cupcakes at 564 Baker Street in downtown Nelson. The elegant, 7-foot-wide space is serving up delicious cupcakes that are known to sell out before closing. “The idea came from my 12-year-old daughter who had an idea of a cupcake stand. We started selling at the markets and we opened the space in August of this year.” Originally a fibre artist, Lisa’s creative spirit has taken her from creating beautiful things with wool, silk and fabric to creating delicious things with sugar, flour and butter. “We use premium ingredients that capture the essence of simple and delicious food,” Lisa explains. With a little help from her pastry chef mother-in-law, Lisa is learning all the tricks of the trade.
The brand new Lucky Cupcakes in Nelson offers a delicious selection.
“I come from a strong background of creative spirits in the kitchen so this is a natural progression.” Popular flavours include the Chocolate, Sea Salt, Caramel and Strawberry, Callebaut White Chocolate with Cream Cheese that are all baked from scratch using organic flour. Lucky Cupcakes offer regular and mini cupcakes, gluten-free options as well as special orders of personalized cupcakes. For a special treat, drop by the shop at 564 Baker Street for eat in or take out! For more information, visit www.luckycupcakes.ca or call 250-352-7370.
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Sports
U
If You Can’t Play Nice
Play Roller Derby West Kootenay Women’s Roller Derby – aggressive, supportive, empowering
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Tyler Austin Bradley Photos by Cody Belter & Jeremy Marczak story by
U
Urethane
wheels squeal
Cody Belter
to a halt on polished
concrete while derby girls roll through their practice paces at the Rossland Arena. Normally these bleachers sit empty for the summer, with ice rinks melted down for the off season. But with the arrival of roller derby this past 18 months and the inception of the West Kootenay Women’s Roller Derby Association, packed houses of raucous derby fans and participants are breathing new life into underutilized spaces. Practices run two to three nights a week here and scheduled bouts draw fans from throughout the basin. A fast-paced sport that pits two opposing teams against one another, the basic premise is this: each “jam” or round of play sees five players a side take to the track. Four players per team are blockers whose goal is to prevent the opposing jammer from passing them, while advancing their own jammer through the pack so that points can be scored. Only the lead jammer (whomever is ahead of the pair that are racing) is in a position to score these points, and every opportunity to hip-check, block, or squeeze the jammer off course will be taken to prevent the points from amassing. The pace, even at practice, is dizzying. ➤
All photos by Jeremy Marczak
Left: Rossland's Gnarlie’s Angels Forget Me Knocks and Celine Die-On (in red) do battle with Lethbridge’s Deathbridge Derby Dames in January. Clockwise from top: Lady Lockdown, Chainsawndra and Inger the Stinger of the Lumberjackies critique from the sidelines; Dam City Rollers fans cheer on their team; Team-O and Bearing Fatale of the Killjoys lead the pack; Beretta Lynch and Texa Massacre of the Babes of Brutality set the refs straight; Vicious Kind of the Lumber Jackies puts the pressure on Sweet Vengeance of the Dam City Rollers. Fall 2011 Route 3
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zak Jeremy Marc
The scene is much the same throughout the West Kootenay — the preceding summer’s teams of Rossland’s Gnarlie’s Angels and the Salmo Babes of Brutality are now joined by the Dam City Rollers (Castlegar), The Lumberjackies (Nelson), The Valley Vendettas (Slocan Valley), The Killjoys (Nelson) and the latest addition, Trail’s Bloodshed Betties. As one can infer from the team names, modern roller derby (played on a flat track as opposed to the banked tracks of old) brings together a diverse mix of women from all walks of life, the scene dominated by those best able to balance dexterity, cardiovascular fitness, strategy and physicality. Of the action itself, players, complete with their own derby names and accompanying alter egos, gravitate to the sport for a variety of reasons. Heather Bartlett, aka Hydrojane Bomb, notes that “Derby isn’t something I do, it’s part of who I am. It’s cheesy to say, but derby makes me love myself. I’m renamed, and I’m flying when I’m skating the track, the sound of wheels on cement, no matter what happened in my day. Derby is a constant.” Nurses, teachers, realtors and more by day,
Castlegar’s Team-O and Salmo’s Texa Massacre show that it's not all hard knocks and nastiness.
when the skates go on and the jams get rolling, rivalries and aggression take to the track in a major way. Boasting the largest league in Canada now,
“Sometimes that prize trophy is idling right in front of you.”
the WKWRDA is, by design, not nearly as fractious as the teams it oversees. The local association (a registered non-profit) works hard to increase the visibility and long-term viability of derby in our region, and in so doing elevate the reputation of the West Kootenay as a centre for derby fanaticism and aptitude. Enter the league’s touring team, The Kootenay Kannibelles. Comprised of some of the best players from the WKWRDA league/ house teams, the Kannibelles were something of an unknown going into the Western Canadian Finals in Kelowna this spring. Little was known of them, and their initial pairing promised to quickly derail the upstart ‘Belles. Matched up with certified powerhouse Red Deer in their first tournament bout, the Kannibelles lost by a mere five points, winning their following two matches against Calgary and Saskatoon decisively. The impression left was such that the Kootenay Kannibelles are now ranked 5th in Canada, no small feat for a crew still counting their age in months. WKWRDA board member and Gnarlie’s Angels player Shannon Marion (Injure Spice) cites much of the ‘Belles’ and league’s success
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to the commitment of volunteers and/or all the assembled teams’ players. Fundraisers have been integral in helping organize and pay for venue rentals, insurance (a significant cost to the league), “beverages,” and so on. “I don’t know a group of women that works harder than our board,” Spice muses post-practice, kneepads, wrist-guards, helmet still in place. Of the time commitment to derby, assistant coach Phil (Phil Your Pants) Loosley of Gnarlie’s Angels states of his efforts and those of his partner Terror Australis, “It’s completely taken over our lives.” This was evidenced in January when the Angels ventured east to compete against the Deathbridge Derby Dames in Lethbridge, Alberta. Avalanches in the pass, massive temperature fluctuations, and additionally harrowing road conditions proved no match for the nowseasoned road warriors, but the ability to now play and hone their skills closer to home is appreciated. Seven local teams mean more possible match-ups, and more surprises to be expected on the flat track. “The level of play, and the number of those competing locally has really come up,” echoes head coach Cousin Vegas. Another success for local derby has come in the form of individual merit and recognition, with league star Bobbi Barbarich (Beretta Lynch) of the Salmo Babes of Brutality earning a berth on the Canadian National team following a gruelling battery of fitness and strategy tests. “Tryouts were probably one of the toughest things I’ve ever done, mostly because I wanted it so bad. I nearly had a heart attack before we started. The psychology of anticipation and confidence was the biggest challenge… When I saw the email from Coach Pauly in my inbox, I couldn’t look at it for a couple hours. When I finally did, I hyperventilated a tad, cried a little, then grabbed my boyfriend and we hiked Jumbo Pass,” said Barbarich. Scheduled to play alongside players from across Canada on the squad come December, Barbarich is looking forward to playing the likes of Finland and the USA at the Roller Derby World Cup, to be held in Toronto December 2nd to the 4th. Here at home, preparations and planning for the upcoming derby season continue. Alliances are struck and community-based efforts abound as the buzz around derby increases in volume. Partial revenues from past bouts have gone to Habitat For Humanity, Rotary, skatepark organizers, and the Nelson Leafs — a variety of local organizations (and, obviously, spectators) benefiting from the energy of our speed-demon women, the endurance, ingenuity and commitment that exemplifies the West Kootenay spirit. “Derby girls of the West Kootenay are knitting together our communities in a new way. We’re team players, but when the bout’s done, we’re all playing the same game,” Hydrojane Bomb notes. Find out more at www.kootenay rollerderby.com
Marketplace To Advertise contact Chris at 1-877-443-2191
Check out our newest feature – fresh bulk food now available!
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ORY ION HIST R E C R E AT C U LT U R E ES FOOD FALL RTS HOM PEOPLE A 2011
Life in the West
For 250
Region Kootenay/Boundary
There’s Nothing Like it!
NICE... IF YOU CAN’T PLAY — aggressive, derby Women’s roller ering supportive, empow
HOME FREE
family raises A Grand Forks g pigeons and races homin
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DERFUL WIRED & WON ing a The region is attract industry strong digital media
Bef at:
Let them eat
Cake ers offer Three local bak for our amazing treats sweet tooths
Island Tides
To advertise in the Winter issue, contact Chris at 1-877-443-2191 or emailLtd, route3@grandforksgazette.ca Publishing Box 55, Pender
Phone 250-629-3660
Fax 250-629-3838
Fall 2011 Route 3
Island,
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gallery 2
Grand Forks art & HeritaGe Centre
20tH AnnuAl Wine tAsting FundrAising event november 26, 2011 A Do Not Miss Evening – Reserve Your Tickets Early
BoundAry ArtisAns FAire
december 2nd and 3rd
Visit the Gift Shop for a great selection of functional and decorative products by local artists and artisans. We now carry a large variety of books of local interest.
FAll exHiBitions Art Galleries
Golf Granite Pointe, minutes from downtown Nelson
Explore, Dine and Shop Historic Baker Street. A true adventure in itself
This Winter Ski Whitewater or Cat Ski at Baldface Lodge
Visit Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art & History
Visitor Centre 225 Hall St. Nelson BC V1L 5X4 Ph: (250) 352-3433 Toll Free: 1-877-663-5706 Email: info@discoverNelson.com Web: www.discoverNelson.com Photos by David Gluns
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August 13 to october 29 Connections Realized –Kootenay School of the Arts at Selkirk Faculty Show november 5 to January 28 Precaution –Florence Debeugny, photography Faces of Nature – Ted Diakow, paintings Selections from the Permanent Collection
HeritAge gAlleries
Grand Forks Heritage Gallery Permanent Exhibition october 4 to February 11 East Heritage Gallery The Forest and the Community Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10:00am to 4:00pm Saturday 10:00am to 3:00pm 524 Central Avenue Grand Forks, BC 250-442-2211 • www.grandforksartgallery.ca
Technology
Wired & Wonderful Our region is attracting a strong digital media industry story by
Erin Handy
Above: Filmmaker Amy Bohigian runs youth filmmaking camps, empowering kids to bring their creative visions to the screen. Below: Illustrator Nicola Shilletto from Pink Dog designs creates fun custom branding pieces for clients.
G
Valerie Rossi
row a thriving, unique, and intensely creative digital media industry here? You can’t do that… or can you? A quiet generation of artistic technicians in the region are helping to rewrite that outdated economic story — overcoming the challenges of our “rural” or “remote” location, and using Kootenay culture to their advantage to build both a hotbed of tech talent, and a very bright future for the next generation of designers, illustrators, audio technicians, videographers and other media artists. The region has always been beautiful; it’s an environment that attracts the artistic, the entrepreneurial, and other smart, passionate people escaping city life. But the predominant attribute of the region in the 1990s was wild, not wired — posing a significant obstacle for early digital pioneers. ➤
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From left: Motion graphic work for Electronic Arts gaming by local multimedia powerhouse Juicy Studios; Samples of work by Zeb Hansell from Zeburock Multimedia; Crawford Bay programmer Gef Tremblay creates art out of code.
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duction to a whole gamut of digital skills: from traditional graphic arts, web site development, video and sound production, to animation and digital design. “Selkirk was great for building confidence and was powerful in the sense of instilling a ‘you can do this’ attitude,” said Carlson, who met business partner Jeremy Kenning and several of his current employees at the school. “It’s that community of people pushing each other and collaborating that got us started.” Post-graduation, Selkirk’s graduates have continued to benefit as the program’s director has become a key contact for inquiries from companies seeking new media talent. “JT (Jason Taylor, head of the Digital Arts and New Media program) keeps hooking me up here and there as people call him looking for animation or sound work,” said Zeb Hansell, who currently runs Zeburock Multimedia from his home in Fruitvale. Hansell has created animated films for Columbia Basin Trust and the popular local production Ski Bum: The Musical. The Kootenay Association for Science & Technology (KAST) hosts the annual 24 Hour Web-Dev Showdown, a contest that challenges web developers to show off their skills by creating a site overnight for a local non-profit or small business.
Valerie Rossi
“When I moved here, the technology was changing,” recalled Brian Chard, who happily claims to be one of the original six web developers calling the city of Nelson home at the time. “I went from highspeed in Vancouver to only dial-up here... Now that high-speed has fully arrived, it’s great to see how the industry has flourished with major positive change.” With electronic infrastructure catching up, and the region’s lifestylebased reputation growing, a multi-media migration began as creative types searched out environments that fuelled the mind, body and spirit — but still allowed them to actually eat and pay the rent. Small digital ventures began to bud. “It’s a great place for creativity. During breaks I can get out quickly and sit in nature, and just clear my mind — it definitely helps my design work when I’m in a happy creative space,” said Nelson-based illustrator Nichola Shilletto, who has transitioned from window painting and business card design, to provision of a whole suite of professional branding services with her company Pink Dog Designs. Scott Carlson co-founded Rossland-based Juicy Studios in 2003. “It can be tricky,” starting out in a small and relatively remote community, admits the company’s self-proclaimed Director of Awesomeness. “But the cost of living is low when times aren’t great, and when times are great, the community is really proud and supportive.” Currently, the times are great for Juicy. The company has clinched some amazing contracts: filming sports commercials on location around the world for North Face (a high-end outdoor apparel company), and creating “cinematics,” mini-movies crammed with special effects for a new video game being built by Vancouver-based industry giant Electronic Arts. Carlson credits the Kootenay’s environmental appeal with his decision to stay and start the business after graduating from Selkirk College’s Multimedia Production and Design program. He had originally intended to move back to Vancouver to work. Because you can’t do digital arts here, after all. The Kootenays are a resource-based economy too far removed from such a new and innovative global industry. Fortunately for a sector packed with potential, Selkirk College chose not to buy into the myth. The college’s two-year diploma program began by offering an intro-
Selkirk College is helping share the love of digital media with the next generation. Rossland Secondary School student Shaylee Hill, 16, participated in a digital media boot camp at the Trail campus this spring.
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“KAST knows that digital media is an industry that’s really taking off in the Kootenays,” said executive director Kelvin Saldern. “Supporting economic diversification and innovation is what we’re all about.” KAST also manages a tech directory for local media businesses in partnership with sister agency Tech Village, allowing customers to find the digital artist who best meets their needs and encouraging collaboration and sharing between small companies in the region. That sharing is a key piece of the digital media model that has blossomed in perhaps the unlikeliest of places. Slocan City is home to the non-profit Slocan Electronic Arts Centre (SEAC), which grew from one young man’s preoccupation with cameras and all things film-making. Jacy Shindel now works as a videographer for CBC Television, but in 2003, he was just a young man with a dream. “It was a brilliant idea,” said SEAC volunteer Ruby Leanne Brunelle, an audio artist who lives in the valley. “Let’s encourage our youth to do the things they want to do.” The group spent a year grant-writing and amassed a large collection of cameras, editing software, sound equipment and other gear. It rents the equipment cheap to budding digital artists, and free to environmental projects and youth. Brunelle found the SEAC equipment to be a huge boon when writing her business plan for her own venture, the Fable Cottage kids music series, and uses it to host film and animation workshops for kids and youth in the Slocan. In 2007, a workshop-produced film on the year’s forest fires in the area took home the top documentary prize at the regional Under-19 film festival, an initiative of the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture (RCAC). This year, the RCAC and KAST are building up to the U19 film festival by partnering to offer youth film-making workshops with the help of documentary filmmaker Amy Bohigian of Nelson-based Watershed Productions. Bohigian has a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard, and, of course, the ubiquitous credentials from Selkirk’s Independent Digital Film program. “You can teach so much about how to listen to each other and how to communicate an idea,” she explained. “With youth, there is an opportunity to make real change outside the classroom… and build life skills; that’s something I’m really passionate about.” ➤
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LINKS & CONTACT INFO: Gef Tremblay feels the Tech Village digital media directory: same. The soft-spoken www.techvillage.com/directory Crawford Bay programmer KAST: www.kast.com is a Montreal transplant RCAC youth film-making: who answered a call from www.rosslandcac.com/node/346 the local school principal Selkirk College: selkirk.ca/programs/ last year that could change SEAC equipment rental: 250-355-2599 the direction of his profesZeburock Multimedia: sional life. He taught the zebontheweb.com kids to make simple video Juicy Studios: www.juicystudios.com games using a free, open Brian Chard: brianchard.com source software called Empire New Media: Processing. In two days, empire-newmedia.com a whole class learned Amy Bohigian: to code colours, shapes, watershedproductions.ca movement and logic. Pink Dog Designs: “The kids, they are so pinkdogdesigns.com keen… they build life skills, Gef Tremblay: ponnuki.net professional skills, creative skills. I’m really inspired by how the kids can be benefiting (and) it’s really empowering when you can use your creativity to make a living,” says Tremblay. Equal parts yogi and techie-geek, Tremblay’s quirkiness is perhaps representative of this emerging piece of the West Kootenay economic world: organic, empowering and unique. Wonderful and wired — but still a little wild.
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Fall 2011 Route 3
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Q&A with Roberta Hamilton Interview by Lana
Rodlie
CDCSS Helping Castlegar Families
C
astlegar and District Community Services has been serving Castlegar families since 1983. Roberta Hamilton, chair of the society for the past four years, explained how this non-profit organization is bringing hope, education and a better quality of life to families with social issues.
What is CDSS? Our mission (in 1983) was the same then as it is today: to improve the quality of people’s lives by providing assistance, counselling and support; and by working for social change in our communities. We’re not about housing, construction or paving the roads. We assist and work with people to provide what they require to meet an optimum standard of living. What kind of programs are offered? Our programs span all ages and stages of one’s life — children, teens, families, women’s issues, seniors. We have 16 professional unionized members (British Columbia Government Employees Union) plus over 30 volunteers who come and assist throughout the year. Twelve volunteers help with income tax during the tax season. We have 10 volunteer drivers who offer transportation for medical appointments throughout the region. Other programs offered include: Children Who Witness Abuse and Sexual Abuse Intervention Counselling, Aboriginal Family Services, Family Support, Nobody’s Perfect Parenting, Safe Homes, Stopping the Violence Counselling and Women’s Outreach, Mom’s Support Group, Parent Teen Mediation and Handy Hands for Seniors, which offers affordable minor home repairs and yardwork. We also have a senior citizens counsellor who provides assistance with applications for pensions, GIS, Pharmacare, SAFER program, disability, etc. It’s for citizens with low income. We don’t provide services for the rich and famous. Volunteers help with legalese and politics (of government applications.) Recently, with funding from BC Gaming, CDCSS hired a professional gambling counsellor and prevention specialist. Are there any programs specifically for men? As a matter of fact, we have a new men’s outreach coordinator who started in May. James McFaddin brings energy and experience, offering two services: Camp Esq. and Men Speak Out. James’ background is in theology and working with teens. He believes society doesn’t do enough to encourage men and boys to care for their mental and emotional health. We have a lot of young boys who live in dysfunctional
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Photo courtesy CDCSS
Earlier this year, Castlegar and District Community Services Society organized a “clothesline project.” School kids decorated t-shirts and hung them on a clothesline at City Hall to raise awareness about CDCSS programs.
families who don’t know what it is like to live in a well-functioning family. Camp Esq is like an interactive trade fair, connecting at-risk boys aged 10 to 12 with mentorship, club, sporting and activities. He mixes group activities with fun and community volunteer work. One Saturday, they cleaned up 600 pounds of garbage from Columbia Avenue. The Men’s Speak Out group is about men taking a leadership role in speaking out against violence, and supporting the appropriate and proper treatment of women and children. The dysfunction of families is a concern for all of us. Are you affiliated with other organizations? We are a member of the Kootenay Boundary Community Services Cooperative which has headquarters in Nelson. We also provide support, information and referrals to the RCMP-based Victim’s Services for people who have suffered from or witnessed a crime or trauma. Also, the Advocacy Centre in Nelson rents space once per week to offer services. Where do you get funding from? We mainly are funding by contracts from the provincial government, Interior Health, the United Way and corporations. We have a very generous community and we do a direct mail campaign each year. Where are you located and how does the public access your services? We have an office at 1007 Second Avenue in Castlegar. We’re open from Monday to Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For emergencies, there is a voice message off hours with a number to call. This organization does not do out-of-hours emergencies. Say if a women is abused, we feel it is out of our jurisdiction (to provide refuge). CDSS is about programs. We also have a website at www.cdcss.ca where we encourage donations or membership in our society (for $5) because we are all connected. If we want a healthy community, we have to take part in that.
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