Shuswap Market News Friday, November 30, 2012
www.saobserver.net A3
ShuSwap Tough economy prompting difficult choices Lure of employment elsewhere: Barber closes doors in order to make ends meet on the pipeline. By Lachlan Labere
MARKET NEWS STAff
Dave Waugh looks tired as he sits back in his old leather and steel barber chair, resting his right shoulder that was recently dislocated while working on a pipeline. Such an injury was never really a concern for Waugh during the 16 years he stood behind the chair as the operator of Sicamous’ sole barbershop, Dave’s Barber Styling. But with bills piling up, and his son having grown up and moved away, Waugh had to abandon the barbershop for the promise of better paying work in Rocky Mountain House, Alta. “It never was so bad before because in the winter times I was coaching hockey, my son’s hockey team, so I needed the weekends off for that and I could close at four o’clock in the afternoon to get to the rink on time, but it’s never been good in the winter, fall or spring,” Waugh laments. “In the late spring, early summer, to the end of August, it’s decent. And then after that… by this time, in November, I mean, just look out there. I’ve been around the shop here for about an hour now, just puttering back and forth, and there’s just not much going on here at all.” Regarding his injury, Waugh laughs when he says that’s what happens when you’re a 51-yearold man trying to keep up in a
20-year-old’s job. The work, he says, is good, but hard, noting the days are long – about 14 hours – and the breaks are few. But the paycheques are good. “It’s a catch-22,” says Waugh. “When you’re here, you have a more sedentary lifestyle. You go home, you’re in your own house with your animals there, but you’re worrying about the bills and you’re always broke. You go away to work, you’ve got money in your pocket but you don’t have time to do anything.” Earlier in the year, Waugh pursued the notion of working up north, but wound up sticking it out at the barbershop for another summer. When fall came, and business slowed down as it usually does, an opportunity presented itself. But Waugh says it still wasn’t easy to close his doors and move on. “You know, I still love it here. I love the people here,” he says. “My customers and my friends are all here. It’s close to my heart. But I have to work out of town to make ends meet now. I was robbing Peter to pay Paul for too many years now, and it was coming to a point where it was all going to implode.” Waugh knows his story isn’t unique in Sicamous, particularly with the steady decline of primary industry in the area. In fact, Eagle Valley Community Support
LAchLAN LAbERE/MARKET NEWS
n Dave Waugh goes through a stack of bills piled up in his barber shop – something that prompted him to close the shop and take work up north.. Society president Pam Beech says that in poor economic times, such as what the community is now experiencing, it is very common for a parent to take up fulltime work away from home. “We do have a lot of husbands having to work away,” says Beech, adding the number of families that are separated in that way has grown even more in the past two years. “It is a difficult thing for families to be separated.
It leads to a very high demand, a high level of emotional distress within families. It’s not good for the emotional health, the mental health of the community.” Beech says the support society also frequently sees families dealing with the crisis of deciding if a parent should take up work elsewhere, even though they want to keep the family unit together. She says those that can afford
to relocate together will, but not all have that option. One positive for Waugh is that his current job is only three hours away from his son. His home, though, is still in Sicamous. And the barbershop? Waugh says he’s going to keep it as is for now, and when there’s a two- or three-month break in the spring, he may be back behind the chair for a short while, cutting hair and taking it easy for a bit.
Sturgis North 2013 to take place on Little Shuswap Lake
By Tracy Hughes
MARKET NEWS STAff
Next summer’s Sturgis North Motorcycle Jamboree and Music Festival is to be held at Silvery Beach, located on Little Shuswap Lake. The Sturgis North organization announced the location on their Facebook page earlier this week after previously announcing their
partnership with the Neskonlith Indian Band for the site. The site is located in the Shuswap east of Chase. This would be the third Sturgis North event. The first was set on Neskonlith Indian Band land west of Salmon Arm and the Salmon Arm Fairgrounds, while the second was held at the Spallumcheen MotoPlex Speedway and Event
Park near Vernon. There still remain outstanding debts from the inaugural event; however, in a press release, the organization says there will be “a focus on obligations to creditors to be met.” Joan Hansen, the newly appointed Sturgis North president, and Neskonlith Chief Judy Wilson say they are looking towards
a long-term partnership which will include an advisory board made up of both Sturgis North personnel and members of the Neskonlith band. “The goal is to build an event where everyone is welcome, is exciting, entertaining, well priced, enjoyable and with careful planning and budgeting can bring in generous revenues to the Shuswap
business communities and bring pride to the various surrounding communities,” says the release. Sturgis North has also committed to work with the Neskonlith to promote cultural awareness and job creation. The dates for the event have been set for Thursday, Aug. 22 to Sunday, Aug. 25, the weekend following the popular Roots and Blues Festival in Salmon Arm.