SPORTS
BUSINESS
WEST
COLE LINAKER scored his first goal as a Kelowna Rocket Sunday night to help his team beat the Everett Silvertips.
COLUMNIST Maxine DeHart brings you up to date on the comings and goings around town as Kelowna’s business community kicks off a brand new year.
WE CONTINUE our look back at the year that was on the Westside in part two of the annual Capital News’ Westside Year In Review special coverage.
83 serving our community 1930 to 2013
A13
Lightest in its Class 40cc, $60 Bonus pack 3-year extended warranty
31500
$
SALES SINCE 1965
A1O
BONUS:
A18
Model 435
SERVICE
PARTS
SAVOY EQUIPMENT
LTD.
It was still Dec. 31 when the fireworks went off and Happy New Year wishes rang out, but that didn’t seem to bother the 3,500 to 4,000 who were at Stuart Park for Kelowna’s inaugural New York New Year’s. The Festivals Kelowna event was based on the Eastern time zone to ensure families could celebrate flipping the calendar while still getting their kids home and in bed at a reasonable hour. “We were finding just before the event, and the attendance on the night of the event, really showed that there was an appetite and a bit of a need for family-focused New Year’s Eve activities,” said Renata Mills, executive
1892 Byland Rd, West Kelowna
250-769-7355
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1892 Spall Rd, Kelowna
THURSDAY January 3, 2013 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
Kelowna’s first baby of 2013 arrives on New Year’s Day
Early New Year’s event well received by local revellers STAF REPORTER
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250-868-1010
▼ KELOWNA
Wade Paterson
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director of Festivals Kelowna. “The place was just blooming with little children, grandmas and grandpas and all ages in between.” Mills said she ran with the idea of the New York New Year’s event after a friend told her his family always does an Eastern time zone New Year’s celebration at 9 p.m. “I thought that was brilliant,” said Mills. “People could make it until 9 p.m. with their little ones outside…then families could go home, put their little ones to bed and continue on with their evening.” According to Mills, the concept was well received by the attendees who counted down at
Wade Paterson STAFF REPORTER
See New Year A1
Big numbers up at Big White DOUG FARROW/CONTRIBUTOR
HAPPY MOM Jennifer Mendoza and dad Norlan Japson watch their newborn Niguel, who arrived as Kelowna’s first baby born in 2013 at KGH on Tuesday night.
IN THE OKANAGAN VALLEY SINCE 1977
JACOBSEN EXCELLENCE
7N
McCurdy Rd.
Y9
the
Cadillac Dealer ONLY
N HW
Big White Ski Resort says it saw a record number of guests show up over the Christmas and New Year’s period. With a 177 centimetre snow base, the mountain says it opened all 118 runs and 16 lifts, which resulted in shortened line-ups. New Year’s Eve saw just over 8,000 people flock to the Village Centre for the midnight firework show.
Niguel Japson will one day be able to boast that he was the first baby born in Kelowna in 2013. The five-pound-eightounce son of Jennifer Mendoza and Norlan Japson was welcomed to the world at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at Kelowna General Hospital. The Lower Mission family wasn’t expecting a New Year’s baby; Niguel’s due date was supposed to be later in January. Mendoza has two other boys, a 13-year-old and a five-year-old. She said her 13-yearold son also arrived prematurely. Niguel and his mother are listed as doing well and were visited by their family on Wednesday morning. According to Mendoza, the name Niguel means champion. The first baby born in B.C. this year was David Junior Ricky Joe James at Kamloops’ Royal Inland Hospital, at 12:02 a.m. His parents are from Merritt. The first baby in the Okanagan arrived in Penticton earlier Tuesday.
★ Leathead Rd. Hwy 33w