THE CHANGING FACES OF OUR HOMETOWNS
Crafting homes entirely by hand for nearly 20 years, Eisenhauer Woodworks create spaces and places that fit within the deep simplicity of nature — and the landscapes that define our clients and their lives. Limited spots available, inquire today.
How we collect your household garbage is set to change starting in the spring of 2024. We will soon be using new mechanized garbage trucks to collect your waste from a standardized cart, just as curbside recycling is collected now. Once this new service starts, you will need to start leaving your new garbage cart out street side - just as you do now with your curbside recycling carts.
This service will be more e cient than picking up garbage bags by hand and will help us prevent injuries to our dedicated sta .
Shortly before our new service starts, you will be provided with a new garbage cart that is compatible with the mechanized trucks. This new cart must be used to continue receiving garbage collection services.
We are struggling with supply chain issues just like you, and these issues may force us to change when we can start the new service. We will do our very best to keep you updated on this service change as we move through the year.
We will be kicking o a robust public education campaign starting in September 2023, similar to what we did with curbside recycling, to give you all the essential information you will need before the new service begins.
Watch for updates and more information on this exciting project starting this fall on our website, through our social media pages, the local paper and our many other local media partners.
LOCALLY OWNED + OPERATED
388 316 AVENUE, KIMBERLEY 250.427.4224 | 1.877.238.0678 MELODYFORD.CA
grady@kootenaymedia.ca
For article submissions, please contact: monica@kootenaymedia.ca
Reproduction, in whole, or in part, is strictly prohibited. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or duplicated without the written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved on entire contents. GO Cranberley Magazine makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information it publishes and is not responsible for any consequences arising from errors or omissions. The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors.
GO Cranberley Magazine is published four times per year and is printed in Canada.
GO Cranberley is published by: Kootenay Media Ltd.
PUBLISHERS
Grady Pasiechnyk (Veteran)
Darren Davidson (Rookie)
SALES & DISTRIBUTION
Grady Pasiechnyk
ART DIRECTION & DESIGN
Ashley Dodd
COPY EDITING & SOCIAL MEDIA
Monica Karaba
CONTRIBUTORS
Britt Bates
Ferdy Belland
Jesse Heinrichs
Dan Mills
Jeff Pew
Sarah Stupar
COVER SPRING 2023 – PORTRAITS BY JEFF PEW. Senior writer, photographer, and poet Jeff Pew moved to the East Kootenay in 1992. Over the last 31 years, he’s focused his lens and prose on the people and places of home, for outlets including the Globe and Mail and CBC Radio. Jeff’s portraits of locals both old and brand new help tell the spring issue’s feature story on the changing faces of our hometowns.
8
THE STEEPLES
From the East Kootenay’s almost-famous ramparts, a brief history of time.
10 CURTAIN CALL
A Columbia Valley cultural icon, Cranbrook’s Key City Theatre, rises from lockdowns, a silent stage and heartbreak.
15 THE GREATEST RACE: Celebrating 30 Years of the Wasa Lake Triathlon
19
MESS WITH THE SHEEP. GET THE HORNS. Hallowed hooves and humour entangle for The Bighorn Comedy Tour.
24
WHO ARE WE NOW?
The Originals: Gary Gauthier
Immigrant Songs: Davidzon Javier & Albert Servando
The Millennial Migration: Natalie Skokan & Oliver McQuaid
Boomers and Beyond: Amanda and Gary Edmondson
A Career From The Crib: Tudor Udroiu Population. Immigration. Reconciliation: Our First Nations census gap
36
GHOULS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN Kimberley’s Old Goat Productions. Scary good.
37
YOU MIGHT BE A DIRTBAG
Sixteen years after its premier, the East Kootenays’ annual ode to adventure and debenture gets back at 'er.
W & P: Dan Mills They rise up regally from the valley floor, reaching skyward like castle ramparts, with the Kootenay River acting as their magnificent moat. There is a beautiful arrogance to them, standing there on their own, seeming to say, “Foothills? We don’ need no stinkin’ foothills!” Only Fisher Peak, rising up ten kilometers to the north, can come close to rivaling the iconic stature of the glorious Steeples.
Though they exude a timelessness and seem to be the very model of permanence, the Steeples mountain range came from very humble beginnings. Once, some hundreds of millions of years ago, our world was covered by a warm, soupy sea. Thriving in that broth was a plethora of cyanobacteria, aka blue-green al-
gae. As the cyanobacteria died and floated to the bottom, it was compressed into rock, mostly limestone, but if magnesium were present, dolomite would be formed. The Steeples and much of the Hughes Range — of which they are a part — are built of dolomite.
The rock formed in that shallow sea began to be pushed, pulled, and folded by colliding tectonic plates. Mountains were made. The Purcells, across the Rocky Mountain Trench to the west of the Steeples, are much older, having formed some 85-million years before the youngish Hughes Range. Then the Johnny-come-lately Rockies found themselves being carved and shaped by the ice ages, transformed into the tooth- and horn-like formations we see today.
Much further along the timeline, some ten- to twelve-thousand years ago, the first humans laid eyes on the peaks we now call the Steeples. They were and are the Ktunaxa. According to their creation story, the Rocky Mountains were formed when a giant, Naⱡmuqȼin, accidently hit his head on the sky and fell over dead. According to a respected Ktunaxa elder that I reached out to, the Steeples themselves were known as ‘Aºka anqu. (approximate pronunciation Ahh-ka-than-qu).
Fast forward to the middle 1800s and a group of Europeans lead by Captain John Palliser, began exploring the traditional homeland of the Ktunaxa. With them was an Englishman named Thomas Blakiston, who may have had some
issues with authority. At one point he left Palliser a letter saying, “I’m throwing off your command!” or in today’s parlance, “You’re not the boss of me!” and then went off to explore on his own.
Part of those explorations brought him to the foot of a glorious mountain range some five kilometers in length and soaring over 2,845 meters above sea level. On some early Palliser maps the names associated with these mountains were either Mount Deception or Mount Sabine, but Blakiston was having none of it. In 1858 he wrote, “I also obtained a sketch of Mount Deception, or as I call it the Steeples, standing quite distinct from the rest of the valley floor.” No doubt motivated to rename these mountains partly to spite his old expedition commander, and partly because Blakiston’s English tongue couldn’t possibly wrap itself around ‘Aºka anqu, the Steeples they became.
These stone ramparts are much more than stunning eye candy however. Though their rugged summits are inhospitable to most creatures — other than surefooted mountain goats and soaring eagles — their subalpine environs are home to big horn sheep, elk, deer, wolves, cougars, grizzly bears, black bears, and more species of birds than you can shake a tail feather at. Some of the high mountain lakes on the east side of the range are even rumoured to have cutthroat trout thriving in their crystalline waters. Just like a castle wall, the Steeples offers protection to the flora and fauna of the area simply by standing tall to would-be interlopers.
One of the hidden gems of the range can be discovered hanging from the backside of the most northern peak. Dibble Glacier is the southernmost remaining glacier in Canada, clinging to the dolomite across from Hungry Peak. It feeds several small sapphire-blue tarns, which in turn drain down into the Bull River.
Another geological feature worth noting are the black stripes of rock that run horizontally across the face of the peaks. These are diorite sills, molten rock that was forced between the bands of the sedimentary dolomite when the mountains were forming. Their vividness seems to depend greatly on the light and time of day.
None of the peaks of this picturesque range have names of their own with the exception of the promontory on the southern end of the Steeples which is called Bull Mountain. Named thus, no doubt, due to the fact that the Bull River flows past its feet. In my youth I attempted to climb this beast, but too little water and stamina, and too much steep and common sense, left me short of the top.
Other, more experienced climbers have even succeeded in traversing the entire range! A feat I personally find almost incomprehensible. The first to do it was infamous climber, the late Guy Edwards. Starting from the north and working his way south, Mr. Edwards took two days to complete the traverse. He is also famous for many other noted climbing accomplishments, not the least of which was soloing Pigeon Spire in the Bugaboos, naked, in eighteen minutes up and down.
In my research, the most recent traverse of the Steeples I could find was by local climber Noah Beek, south to north and amazingly, in a single day. As far as I could ascertain, Noah completed the climb in fifteen hours, fully clothed.
Fisher Peak, like the Steeples, is part of the Hughes Range, so you might say they are related. However, as majestic as the Steeples is, Fisher is definitely the more popular sister in the family. Appearing on everything from brewery store fronts to the local Masonic lodge, her name is everywhere, as is her reputation for being the tallest mountain in the Hughes Range, which ironically she is not. At 2,847 meters, Mount Morro towers a full meter over Fisher, and the Steeples, at 2,845 meters, is only one meter shorter than their big sister. Well, you may brag, Fisher Peak has had the Stanley Cup on her summit! Which is true. Scott Niedermayer held the cup aloft there in 2003. What isn’t as well-known is that both Scott and Rob Niedermayer brought Lord Stanley’s mug to the precarious summit ridge of the Steeples after winning it together in 2007. So there!
Not that those glorious ramparts have an inferiority complex, far from it. As previously mentioned, they are gorgeous in their arrogance, as they should be. For starting out as slabs of petrified blue-green algae, they have done well for themselves — monuments to possibility — proof if you will, of that old maxim, “The only constant is change.” Sometimes over millennia, and sometimes, when the sun shifts its angle just so on the dolomite, right before our very eyes.
There is a beautiful arrogance to them, standing there on their own, seeming to say, "Foothills? We don' need no stinkin' foothills!"
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KEY CITY THEATRE
The pandemic’s surreal drama brought lockdowns, a silent stage, heartbreak, and a fading spotlight of hope. But now, the Key City Theatre’s show goes on.
Dire.
Galen Olstead can remember the feeling that hung above the seats, stage, and staff of the Key City Theatre mid Covid, as he and his people strained to keep their beloved building and business alive during the agony of the worldwide pandemic.
“We encountered all sorts of frustration and heartache,” says Olstead. “We’d have a touring artist coming in for one night, and then we’d have to cancel the show at the last minute. And sadly, we had to do that more than once.”
Olstead says the cancellation of the Fonda-Parton-Tomlin classic ‘9 to 5’ was the unkindest cut of all.
“So much work went into creating the show, just to have it slam to a halt. We felt like we had actually built some positive forward momentum, and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. There was a real community connection with the production.”
W: Ferdy Belland P: Brian Clarkson
“Everybody was so eager to get back to some sort of normalcy, and be human beings in public again, and enjoy the arts.”
If anyone could be Captain Ahab to the Key City Theatre’s Pequod, Cranbrook could ask for no better managing director to steer the ship through the storm than Galen Olstead.
Despite his relative youth, Olstead’s CV is uber-respectable and downright startling. Before taking his current job in 2014, Olstead spent the previous eight years as Operations Manager of the vaunted Kay Meek Theatre in West Vancouver, as well as held a two-year stint as Front of House Manager at the Royal Albert Hall in London (yes, that Royal Albert Hall), so if he could handle shows for Rod Stewart, Sting, Elton John, and Eric Clapton (he saw Cream’s 2005 Farewell Concert from twenty feet away), then he can handle the Barra MacNeils with aplomb.
Brenda Burley is Key City’s Manager of Events and Development. Cheery, motivated and imaginative she kept a calm determination to see the venue through the global strife.
“It was really busy, but not in a performing arts sense,” says Burley. “It was our recent ‘Raise the Curtain’ event when it truly felt like our first step into a true post-pandemic Key City Theatre. Everything started to feel hesitantly normal again. That was the first positive moment when we saw the community re-entering the Key City Theatre environment in happy numbers. You could feel the excitement and the relief, the warmth and joy, from everybody attending — not just theatre staff.”
First unveiled in 1993 as an autonomous adjunct wing of Mount Baker Senior Secondary School, the Key City Theatre shines as one of the finest performing-arts facilities in Southeastern British Columbia and is the vanguard venue for the entire East Kootenay region, boasting a 602-seat amphitheatre area overlooking a sizeable stage which has hosted international-caliber live music, theatre, dance, spoken word, lectures, town hall meetings, art gallery showings, and almost any conceivable event under the sun and moon, all for the enthusiastic joy of the good people of the Kootenays. And the theatre’s upcoming 2023 events calendar is as chock full of nuts as ever: the Winter Ale Concert Series, stand-up comedians, secondary school band recitals, a Pink Floyd tribute, a Tina Turner tribute, an ABBA tribute — and new events are being added on an almost daily basis. The theatre is thriving and pulsing, as it should be. But recently it was far from thriving, like nearly everything else.
“As we’re re-emerging,” says Olstead, “we’ve given a lot of thought into what’s changed and how audiences — and communities in general — have altered after the pandemic experience. People learned new habits during lockdown. If they stopped doing something for a long period of time, now they’re sitting in front of their screens at home and intaking entertainment in non-public, non-social ways as their go-to. Or they’re just doing other things than attending public events.”
Olstead says there is some lingering hesitancy about being back in crowds. The theatre, he says, “is in a process of retraining a certain portion of our established audience — and the general Kootenay public — to come back and enjoy live performance as a fundamental part of the human experience.”
Olstead adds that it wasn’t until recently that the theatre found its true stride once more. “A long string of bigger-name artists came through almost simultaneously,” he says. “We had more
LEFT: GALEN OLSTEAD, MANAGING DIRECTOR BELOW: BRENDA BURLEY, MANAGER OF EVENTS AND DEVELOPMENT
shows in the Fall of ‘22 than in any pre-pandemic fall season. The challenge there, like everywhere else, was finding staff to handle the events, but where do you find staff?”
“Everybody’s scrambling, whatever the vocation or profession, but now all of a sudden, we have this big string of shows we have to deliver. We did make improvements to the Key City Theatre experience though; we finally managed to allow alcohol into the auditorium area itself, which suddenly doubled the amount of concessions work — but dramatically boosted our cash intake, as well as overall audience morale!”
Despite the oftentimes hulking administrative burdens, Olstead has seen audience attendance gradually rising. “Big events did very well in the fall. Even now they’re doing great. Certain nights that have an easier audience appeal, like the Colin James Blues Trio live in concert, are selling as well as they did pre-pandemic, if not better than ever.”
The upcoming KCT events calendar is as busy as it was pre-pandemic. “We have fewer big-ticket shows,” says Olstead, “but wait for a week or two and that’ll probably change! We’re hosting more community-focused projects, like Faces of Pride — events created around, and for, the Cranbrook community as a whole.”
The importance of the Key City Theatre as a living community hub is a passionate point for Burley.
“The Key City Theatre isn’t just a place where the audience passively watches what’s presented on stage, but actually participates in what’s going on. It opens people’s definitions of the space. We’re seeing more of that happening, and that’s what keeping us busy. I’m looking forward to Faces of Pride. We recently did the photo shoot for it with Joel Robison. I had this really amazing couple of days where I got to speak with 42 different people about their experience in our community as people who are LGBTQ+ and what compels them to be part of this project, to reach out and educate and bring visibility. It’s things like that which I enjoy here at the theatre. Recently we hosted the First Nations/Métis/Inuit Exhibit and invited local artists who self-identify as Métis or First Nations or Ktunaxa to come display their artwork and be part of this reception. It’s all so very cool. It’s cool to meet all the various people in our community, and it’s amazing for all the people in our community to gather here at the Key City Theatre.”
Olstead reveals new goals on KCT’s 2023 horizon. “We’re revisiting the Children’s Festival again and working how to make that event sustainable.” For almost all of these projects, the stuff we’re doing at community level — we have to gather the sponsors and pull the pieces together to make it work. With the Children’s Festival, we can’t charge admission. If we get sponsors, the sponsors can’t advertise, which disincentivizes a marketing approach for a business to be part of the event. Right now, we don’t get any government grants for the festival, so we’re researching that. Every year we’re figuring out the funding. We have wonderful community sponsors who’ve partnered with us for years, like the Rotarians, or the local Tim Hortons’ outlets, or the Jensen Foundation, who’ve all been amazing. We’re getting really good support, but we never take it for granted.”
Burley, one of the most motivated live-theatre directors Cranbrook has ever seen, takes much personal pride in the annual large-scale productions she brings to life on the Key City Stage, which are enthusiastically embraced by the local public. “Hosting our production of Cabaret was a wonderful experience,” Burley says. “It was like any other production in any other year past; we sold out the New Year’s Eve opening night, and then word of mouth started selling out the run, so we saw strong ticket sales. It wasn’t the same numbers we had for Chicago, since that was pre-pandemic, so we’re rebuilding our in-house production drives as well as the overall functions of the theatre itself. But we had such amazing feedback for Cabaret, and many people went to see it more than once.”
Brenda Burley sums up her Key City Theatre Experience of recent years smartly: “It reminded me of (Emily St. John Mandel’s award-winning post-apocalyptic novel) Station Eleven, where even after the collapse of technology and industrial civilization, it’s a wandering troupe of minstrels and actors who perform improvised theatrical productions for the new hamlets and villages — because the arts will survive, no matter what happens.
The recurring catchphrase in that story? ‘Survival itself is insufficient.’”
Please keep abreast of all Key City Theatre events at www.keycitytheatre.com.
“The Key City Theatre isn’t just a place where the audience passively watches what’s presented on stage, but actually participates in what’s going on.”
ph: P6R GOLF
To purchase please call: 250.427.3389
Three sports, three decades, and one close-knit community: the Wasa Triathlon brings both elite athletes and fun-seeking families to Wasa Provincial Park on the second weekend in June. In 2023, the iconic Kootenay race is celebrating its 30th year.
What began as the Rocky Mountain Triathlon in 1993 has evolved over the decades. For the first many years, the event was held at the Main Beach of Wasa Lake, before moving to the lake’s Horseshoe Bay more recently.
The event is run by a small, core committee of locals, who call on a team of volunteers to help make the event run smoothly. “There’s a lot that has to happen and a lot that needs to be put into place for a successful event,” explains Barb Fode, the event’s race director.
Fode took over the role at the end of 2019, opening up registration in the fall for the following year’s race — just in time for world events to, of course, dramatically change the circumstances for the triathlon’s next two years.
W: Britt Bates | P: Gidgetto Designs Photography & Barb Fode“We had to cancel in 2020,” she says. “We were struggling.” The following year, in 2021, they weren’t sure what the event would look like, so they ended up postponing the race to the August long weekend, instead of its usual place on the calendar in early June.
Because other races across Western Canada were cancelled due to Covid, “we were one of the only few that went ahead in 2021,” Fode explains. “We drew in people from other areas who usually had closer events. Sadly, though, due to the combination of the ongoing pandemic and that summer’s fierce forest fires, not all registrants showed up.”
Unlike other triathlons and races, which are often held in bustling cities, one of the Wasa Lake Triathlon’s many attractions is its location in a gorgeous provincial park: sunlight filters through lush pine groves and glints of the warm lake water; eagles soar overhead.
This stunning spot often encourages the visiting families to extend their stay for the week thanks to fantastic camping options and to plan more family trips to the area in the months and years to come, to enjoy the breathtaking scenery in different seasons. It’s a place that draws people back. Many of the families have been coming to the triathlon for a decade or longer.
In 2022, the event saw lower registration numbers than the pre-pandemic era, but “we pulled off a fabulous event,” Fode says. “Many people commented on how great the weekend was and how well everything flowed.”
Even through the challenges, Fode and the rest of the committee remain inspired and committed, thanks to the sense of community they’ve cultivated and the dedication they feel to the sport. “We have a passion for triathlon,” Fode says happily.
The committee has even expanded the event in recent years. In addition to the kids’ triathlon on Saturday, before the standard race on Sunday, Fode and the team have also built in the Wasa Warrior Challenge: a sprint on Saturday that adults can do so they race two days in a row. The inclusion of Saturday’s sprint also helps out parents, who might each want a turn racing one day while the other is with the kids, then alternating the next day.
The event is incredibly family-friendly — the kids’ triathlon has been a part of the race since 2003 — and yet, at the same time, it attracts elite athletes from across Western Canada, some of whom even come with exceptional coaches. “We have a high standard and great quality for competitive athletes,” Fode explains. “But we’ve also created a warm, caring, and friendly atmosphere, so that everyone feels supported.”
One of the key players in creating this environment for the weekend is Steve King, an iconic race announcer who has been the voice of the Wasa Lake Triathlon for 15 years. He’s announced for many big events over the years, including Ironman Canada, yet “he remembers athletes by name years later and makes incredible connections,” Fode says. King’s familiar and gregarious presence adds to the race’s welcoming atmosphere, year after year.
The event is incredibly family-friendly — the kids triathlon has been a part of the race since 2003 — and yet, at the same time, it attracts elite athletes from across Western Canada, some of whom even come with exceptional coaches.
For the triathletes who compete regularly and travel to various races, the Wasa Lake Triathlon, because of its early-season dates, “provides a gauge for where they’re at,” Fode explains, so they can shape their training program accordingly.
For other athletes, it’s a stepping stone. It might be their first race and ignites within them a passion for triathlon and the goal to aim for even longer, more challenging events in the future.
And for others still, it’s a low-stakes weekend of family fun, a good excuse to travel to the gorgeous East Kootenays with the kids and to play in the sunshine with an enthusiastic crowd.
“It’s about a personal goal,” Fode says, whatever that may look like for the individual. Regardless of their motivation, one thing any participant will agree on is the joyful sense of community and connection that’s created on the shores of beautiful Wasa Lake.
This fantastic event can only happen with the teamwork of volunteers, and the crew is still seeking to fill those spots this year. The Wasa Lake Triathlon would love to welcome you and your family in 2023. You’re welcome to register as either a volunteer or a competitor, by heading to www.rmevents.com.
Hi! My name is Shelby Lehmann and I am a 19-year-old triathlete from Cranbrook, BC.
My sport background is in swimming: I started competitive swimming with the Cranbrook Triton Swim Club when I was 8 and competed until I was 18.
Every summer, I always did the Wasa Lake Triathlon for fun, but never really trained for it until 2018 when I decided I wanted to go to the BC Games for triathlon. It was there that I discovered my passion for triathlon and decided I wanted to start biking and running training in addition to my competitive swimming.
In 2020, during the pandemic, I decided I wanted to do an Ironman, but I wasn’t sure how or when I would. In August 2021, I met my coach and started taking triathlon much more seriously, with the goal of doing the Ironman the following year.
Summer 2022 was my first experience competing in a long-distance triathlon, and I absolutely loved it! I raced a 70.3, the PTO in Edmonton that was 100K, the Wasa Lake Triathlon Sprint, and, of course, an Ironman!
My first Ironman was in Penticton, and I was the youngest competitor at 18 years old. I went in just under my 12-hour goal with a time of 11:58. The best part was winning my age group and getting my spot for the 2023 Ironman World Championships!
This year I have even bigger goals. I’m competing in two full Ironmans — in Coeur d’Alene in June and the world championships in Kona in October. My goal is to get into the top five in my age group in Kona.
And, of course, like every year, I always look forward to competing in Wasa — my hometown race! I’ve loved it since I was a little kid, and I love supporting a local event. I’m so excited to see what the 2023 season will bring!”
W & P: Shelby Lehmann
Longer days, sunglasses and the smell of fresh trails under our feet. Let’s Go! Warmer days mean endless outdoor possibilities and we’re not going to waste a minute of it. Purcell Outdoors has the gear to keep you moving forward and help you let the good times roll!
What happens when beloved cloven hooves and a penchant for good humour intersect? GO Cranberly’s resident traffic flagger lifts the curtain on the Bighorn Comedy Tour.
W & P: Sarah Stupar
HALLMARK MOVIES continue to have a huge impact on my life. Longtime readers of GO Cranberley might remember my “coming home” article from Oct 2020. I talked about how life isn’t actually a Hallmark movie, a lesson I learned when I ended up here during the pandemic. My film set work had some other implications as well.
When I worked in film, it was in the Locations Department. Holding a stop/slow sign is a job that sometimes exists on the film set, and having a traffic control ticket gives
you a leg up in the Production Assistant world. I got the ticket and then proceeded to avoid on-set traffic control duties at all costs.
When I first moved back to Cranbrook, I was lucky to land one of the only professional acting gigs that exists around these parts: summer theatre at Fort Steele. But as summer turned to fall, the professional acting work faded away. I saw a job posting for a flag person with Cold Country Traffic control. I’m qualified for this, I realized with horror.
FLAGGING actually turned out to be a great fit for me. Standing beside the highway holding a sign for 15 hours might sound like a nightmare, but to be honest I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t standing outside just anywhere. I was standing outside all up and down the East Kootenay. Some people, when they come to the Kootenays, they come because they want to be “out there,” you know the mountains are calling. They need to ski and snowboard and climb ice or whatever. Me, I’ve always been a low maintenance kind of gal. It’s enough for me to just...look at them. I got to do that all day, every day, when I was flagging. I loved it.
I worked a lot on the traffic circle in Radium, including through the winter. Even with a 1.5-hour drive each way and below-zero temperatures, I still loved these days because I knew I would get to see some bighorn sheep. Maybe it’s because I’m a stand-up comedian, but I love an animal with an attitude. These salt-licking bastards have a lot of personality. Some of the best horns in the animal kingdom, and square pupils that seem to emanate an absolute disdain for humans. If bighorn sheep could speak English, I’m sure it would be with Ratso Rizzo energy: “Hey, I’m walking here!”
It seemed like something changed in 2021 though, and their strong IDGAF attitude was no longer enough to protect them. Perhaps, due to being locked up inside during the pandemic, people seemed to hit the road with less patience — and they were hitting the sheep too. When I came back to the East Kootenay, I tried my best to embrace it, to live the most East Kootenay life possible. I felt that working alongside the sheep was definitely a part of that, so as the fatalities mounted, I was devastated. I felt this overwhelming desire to “do something.”
I’d been producing small-scale comedy events since 2016, but I’d never had the guts to take it to the next level. Trying to sell 50 tickets to a comedy show in a restaurant was a comfortable risk, but I was too afraid to take the next step, theatre shows. Key City Theatre holds around 600 people. I couldn’t imagine taking on that kind of risk, trying to move 600 tickets for a comedy show. I would need a lot of help and I just didn’t think I could make it happen.
The sheep issue gave me an idea. What if it was more than just a comedy show? What if it was a comedy show for the sheep? Now I could imagine people getting on board. I reached out to Wildsight Society to see if they would be interested in partnering with me on this project. To my absolute delight (and fear), THEY SAID YES.
So it is with great pleasure that I am working to bring the Bighorn Comedy tour to the East Kootenay. I’ve also partnered with ECL productions who currently produce a monthly show in Cranbrook at the Heritage Inn. This show gave me an amazing opportunity to book two headliners whom I think will absolutely understand the spirit of the Kootenays: Jarrett Campbell and Brittany Lyseng. These two comedians will be able to serve up the laughs to this population in a way that few others can.
JARRETT CAMPBELL, like many a new East Kootenay resident, is originally a rural Ontario guy. I was first able to catch his act in Calgary last year and I instantly thought ‘this guy would kill in the Kootenays.’ He kills everywhere. He was nominated as the 2019 Breakout Artist of the Year at the Canadian Comedy Awards, and he appeared on Roast Battle Canada and Just for Laughs in Montreal, but he is especially relatable to anyone who spent their teenage years drinking in a field.
BRITTANY LYSENG is basically a trailblazer for me. Her comedy career began after 12 years as a tradesman when she says she developed the desire to lift less and laugh more. I truly believe that rural, redneck women are a special type of woman, and Brittany’s humour
encapsulates this perfectly. Any woman with jokes about drinking at the Legion is a woman I know I will get along with. Born and raised in Calgary, Brittany’s comedy has been on TV (CTV’s Roast Battles Canada), the radio (CBC’s The Debaters), and in print (recently she was featured in Reader’s Digest magazine).
I can still hardly believe that this is going to happen, me doing comedy in front of 600 people at the Key City Theatre. On the one hand it seems so terrifying, but on the other hand, it’s not like I’ve never been on stage at the Key City Theatre before. In 2001 during my Sam Steele Sweetheart run, I did a comedic monologue from the Marx Brothers for my talent. Now here I am 20 years later about to deliver my original comedic material on the same stage.
It would be the perfect Hallmark moment, except some of my jokes are a bit blue for Hallmark.
MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE I’M A STAND-UP COMEDIAN, BUT I LOVE AN ANIMAL WITH AN ATTITUDE.
RARE TOP FLOOR OPPORTUNITY WITH MOUNTAIN VIEWS! Looking for a great lock and leave home or investment opportunity with on site management and excellent rental potential, this one is for you! The best feature of this home are the magnificent views from the SW facing windows and balcony to the surrounding Purcell Mountains and ski hill! The kitchen has granite countertops and stainless steel appliances and open to the living area with a fireplace, sofa bed and access to the patio and views! In the master bedroom you have a King bed and huge ensuite with a large soaker tub and walk in shower. The good size second bedroom can modify from 2 twins or one King bed and is directly connected to the main bathroom. Also included is the in suite laundry and all the furniture and fixings. The building has a front desk, lobby area, elevators, underground parking, ski lockers, year round outdoor heated pool and hot tub. The strata fees include all utilities. Mountain Spirit Resort is located at the base of Kimberley Alpine ski hill for the winter and has 6 golf courses all within a 15 minute drive for the summer. This home is move in ready or rental ready for the ski season. TOP FLOOR WITH THESE VIEWS does not come available often. Call to see today!
$884,000 5 3
This 5 bedroom, walkout bungalow offers all you want in upscale living. Located on Shadow Mountain Golf Course backing onto the pond. The elegant 8’ entrance to open concept that offers stunning views the moment you step in. Main floor living includes an office/bedroom, mudroom, 4p bath, butler pantry with additional cupboard & counter space. The dream kitchen offers an island with a down draft gas range, prep sink & wine fridge. The dining room overlooks pond & the floor to ceiling marble fireplace. The primary bedroom, access to your deck that spans the entire back of the house, twoperson shower, separate water closet, spacious walk-in closet & side by side laundry finish off the main floor. A family room downstairs with fireplace, walkout & plumbing for a wet bar. 3 more bedrooms, each with their own walk-in closets, 4p bath and another laundry room. A generously oversized, triple garage with room for your boat, work shop, two vehicles and don’t forget your golf cart!
$309,900 1 1
Nestled at the base of the ski hill, this one bedroom, end unit condo on the first floor, offers all the amenities you need for a comfortable stay. The open concept floor plan provides plenty of space to relax, and the large windows fill the room with natural light. The kitchen is equipped with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops, and the cozy living area features an electric fireplace. The bedroom has a king-sized bed, and the open concept ensuite bathroom includes a soaker tub. This condo is the perfect place to enjoy all that Kimberley has to offer. The amenities at the resort are topnotch. There’s a beautiful communal swimming pool with a hot tub that’s perfect for relaxing after a long day of exploring. The common meeting area is cozy and welcoming, with a fireplace that adds a touch of ambiance. The ski resort base is right out your front door and offers two restaurants, live entertainment during the winter months. With so much to offer, this is the perfect investment. Condo fee includes just about all expenses but City taxes.
They are boomers and zoomers. Gen Alphas, X s and Z s . Some come from around the bend, and more, many more, from all around the planet. The faces of our hometowns and backyard holiday hangouts are changing faster than ever before.
P: Jeff Pew With word-of-mouth and selfies having spread news of our backyard bounty of shorelines, funky business strolls and snowy bowls, the allure of life or leisure in this neck of the East Kootenays hasn’t remained much of a secret for the last few decades.
Ask any long time local or multi-generational second home owner who regularly travels here from the prairies, Lower Mainland or across the line. Lots of them have contentedly milked the good life ’til the cows came home.
Fact is, according to Canada’s latest census — released in 2021 and likely already behind the times — the bovine is definitely out of the bag.
Worldometer, a website that tracks the United Nations’ 2022 Population Revision Report minute to minute, brings the census stats, and the bigger picture, into even sharper focus.
The site shows that in this era of disruption and poly-crises, global denizens of all sorts are heading to safer places with fewer people and friendlier futures.
Some other facts from Cranbrook, Kimberley and company to consider: Canada ranks…. Canada ranks 16th out of 195 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index, between New Zealand, and yes, Liechtenstein. During the pandemic, more people relocated to British Columbia than any other province. And while the population in places like Kelowna, Chilliwack and Nanaimo surged by over 10 percent between 2016 to 2021, the little ol’ East Kootenay wasn't far behind.
So. Who are your new neighbours? What’s their jam? And where do our old neighbours fit in?
New GO Cranberley scribe Jesse Heinrichs and veteran writer/photographer Jeff Pew set out to find some answers.
Gary Gauthier knew the allure of the Kootenays long before most people had even heard of the region.
His 77 years of living in the bush has left his face weathered, his smile genuine.
Seventy-three percent of people in the East Kootenay, 46,920 of the 64,425 polled in the latest census, are third-generation Canadians or more. And like Gary, they are keepers of local history.
Gauthier tells of a time when wild horses would run from Skookumchuck down through Cranbrook and out towards Meadowbrook.
As a young man he learned to snare the wild equines — they made ideal pack horses because the land made them strong and reliable.
He’ll talk about how homesteading was his family’s way of life and how the food they ate was either grown, caught, or hunted.
Gary’s story in the Kootenays is however, extra fascinating.
He comes from a deep Canadian lineage with English and Métis ancestry, linked to Canadian hero Louis Riel.
“My grandmother was First Nations and Louie Riel was her cousin,” said Gauthier.
“He told her to get the kids out of the Saint Boniface and Red River Valley area of Manitoba or they’d end up in the Catholic school system,” he said, “That’s why we moved here when I was two.”
He often helped out at his grandfather’s ready-mix business, and after school he would deliver and shovel coal for ten dollars a truck load.
In the summertime, he, like many young boys at the time, would get a part-time job working for Cominco, and a little later on became a very knowledgeable hunting and fishing guide.
Gary eventually opted for the logging industry — he didn’t like the idea of the chemicals and pollution of the mine or the fertilizer plant.
for extended periods of time, but he never understood leaving when people spent thousands of dollars just to experience the life he was living.
He, like the other 71 percent of people (55,095 of 63,960 people) in the East Kootenay who are classified as “non-movers,” found something he liked and stuck with it.
Much has changed since he grew up in that board-structured homestead with tar-paper siding, but his love for his
Gauthier tells of a time when wild horses would run from Skookumchuck down through Cranbrook and out towards Meadowbrook.
The family homesteaded a large chunk of land around Meadowbrook, near Cherry Creek. Gauthier’s grandfather started a ready-mix concrete business with the first readymix trucks in western Canada.
The surrounding landscape offered a lot of opportunity for a young man growing up, and Gauthier got his hands dirty with a little bit of everything.
“It was the best job because it was out in the healthy area, out in the clean air, and it was good, tough work,” said Gauthier.
Gauthier eventually bought his own logging company in 2005, which he later sold in 2019.
He’s had plenty of chances to move to a new area or travel
home is one thing that never wavered.
“I ended up in the bush because I like the bush,” said Gauthier, “My whole love has been in the mountains.”
–JHFactor by which foreign immigration to the East Kootenay has increased in the past decade, compared to the decade before: 2
Increase between 2016 and 2021 of folks who moved here from the United Kingdom and Europe: 52.5%
Percentage of those immigrants who came from the UK: 43.8
Increase of foreign immigrants who moved here from the Americas (North and South) who hail from Jamaica: 12.3%
Percentage who hail from the United States: 71.8
Percentage of new foreign immigrants from Asia: 16.6
Percentage from India: 9
Percentage of African immigrants from South Africa: 57.9
Percentage of African immigrants from Nigeria: 19.3
Albert Servando, 54, and Davidzon Javier, 59, both past presidents of the Filipino Canadian Association of the East Kootenay, sit in Cranbrook’s Fire Hall restaurant discussing their organization and the recent increase in Filipino immigration to Cranbrook. With over 200 members, the organization’s role is mainly social, providing a forum for individuals and families to meet other Filipinos living in Cranbrook. “I had 95 people at my first birthday in Cranbrook,” Servando says, smiling. “Filipinos are incredibly community oriented.”
From the 2016 to 2021 Cranbrook census, there was a 48 percent increase in immigrant status. The Filipino community mirrors this trend. “Lots of businesses need employees,” Servando says, noting the strong work ethic and friendly nature of Filipinos.
“When I arrived in 2007, there were not a lot of Filipinos,” Javier says, “and most came from the countryside. Albert and I were city boys.” He explains that most immigrants to Canada are looking ahead at the next generation, thinking about their kids having more opportunities than they
might have back home. “Parents make sacrifices,” he says. “For example, some engineers work in the service industry because their degrees aren’t recognized in Canada.”
Servando, who had a background in retail sales, immigrated to Canada in 2009 and arrived in Cranbrook in 2010. Javier’s parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1998 and in 2006 he relocated to Cranbrook. Both are married and successfully self-employed (Servando in freelance truck sales and graphic design/website development, while Javier owns a renovation, maintenance, and janitorial business). Both are heavily involved in the church and community.
“After I bought my house, I was backing out of my driveway,” Javier says. “I got emotional thinking I don’t have to deal with any traffic. There’s this beautiful scenery and such a stress-free lifestyle. I’m grateful to have landed in Cranbrook,” he says. “I feel this is where God placed us.”
–JP
As the majority of East Kootenay saw a higher population growth compared to the rest of British Columbia (BC grew by 7.7% between 2016-2021), one of the most significant growth groups was the millennials (born between 1981-1996), reflected by the 30-34 and 35-39-year-old census groupings. Between the four municipalities used in this study (Fernie, Cranbrook, Kimberley, and Invermere), this demographic grew by 20.25%. Among the years most typically associated with raising a family, the East Kootenay offers several incentives to relocate here: affordable housing compared to larger centres, more living space, work-life balance, and a higher quality of life.
Natalie Skokan and her husband, Oliver McQuaid, are perfect examples of the millennial generation migrating to East Kootenay. After being raised on the west coast and travelling extensively, they met and settled in Whistler, BC. “We were paying $1,400 per month in rent to live in a Whistler apartment,” McQuaid says, “so we considered buying a place somewhere more affordable and the East Kootenay was a viable option.”
“We visited Kimberley during Thanksgiving long weekend in 2014,” Skokan recalls. “You know in the movies when they roll into a blustery town, open the bar door, and all three people sitting at the bar look at you. That was us.” After meeting some infamous locals who invited them for a backyard fire, they were smitten with Kimberley’s charm but still weren’t ready to commit. Following an eightmonth stint in Mexico, they returned to Kimberley, had a bird bath in the A&W bathroom and were off viewing homes with a realtor. They fell in love with a modest starter home, then sat on a Platzl patio
deck with pizza and beer, nervously pondering whether they should commit. “I said to Oliver, ‘If only there could be a sign,’ when suddenly someone popped a loonie into Happy Hans and he began to yodel. It seemed like a pretty good omen for us to move here.”
The couple returned to Whistler, unpacked their storage lockers and attached their jeep to the back of a U-Haul. “We jumped in with both feet,” McQuaid says. “No jobs. No real connections — just a hunch and an open mind.”
“We found our people,” Skokan says about Kimberley. “We haven’t looked back since. We couldn’t be more grateful to have planted our roots here.”
“So many things that brought us here,” McQuaid says, “the landscape, our hill, the surrounding communities and wilderness, but what makes it the best home are the people.”
Seven years after Happy Hans’ prophetic yodel, McQuaid and Skokan have settled in. They’ve found successful careers (Natalie works for Sysco and Oliver is a mortgage broker), as well as having passionate side gigs: Skokan co-owns Original Goat Productions event planning and McQuaid plays music in pubs. With two young kids (two- and four-years old), and a border collie/great pyrenees named after Leonard Cohen, they’re the iconic millennials who’ve made the move to East Kootenay. “It’s a dream come true,” McQuaid says laughing while herding his kids into the back of their truck on their way to the pool.
–JP
Population increases, from 2016 to 2021
East Kootenay population increase: 7.6%
BC population increase: 7.6%
Canadian population increase: 5.4%
Largest provincial population increase in Canada: BC
Cranbrook population now: 20,499
Cranbrook population five years ago: 20,047
Kimberley population now: 8,115
Kimberley population five years ago: 7,425
Population of Happy Hans Clock: 1
Invermere population now: 3,917
Percentage population increase in Invermere: 15.5%
Rank of Columbia
Wetlands in size amongst all Canadian wetlands: 1
Top three community population increases in East Kootenay, by percentage: Radium, Moyie and Canal Flats
Radium population growth increase in percentage: 72.6
Radium population growth by residents: 776 to 1,339
East Kootenay community population that has grown the second most: Moyie
Percentage change in Moyie population: 51.1
Movie population growth by residents: 176 people to 266
Number of new residents in Wasa in the last four years: 25
Maximum occupancy for the Wasa Pub and Grill: Depends on the night and who’s asking
Total Wasa population: 365
Canal Flats population increase: 668 to 802 (20.1%)
According to the Canal Flats New Visitors Guide, number of hockey tournament visitors per year: 5,000
Percentage lower in cost a Canal Flats home is compared to the average BC home: 235
Veteran denizens of greater London, England and its population of nine million-plus, Amanda and Gary Edmondson have had the East Kootenays on their radar since 2007, when they travelled here for a family ski vacation from the UK.
But for the fifty-something parents of two, both of whom can see a sublime life of Kootenay retirement on the horizon, getting here hasn’t been easy. Staying here to enjoy their hard-earned success through their senior years might be just as tough.
That’s the Edmondson’s plan, along with many of the region’s 10,335 people aged slightly north of the UK couple, those between the ages of 60-69 — the East Kootenay’s most populous demographic.
Like the nation’s population in general, the East Kootenay’s combined boomer generation (those aged 56-75) and their Golden Year predecessors is growing fast — by 23.4 percent in the last five years.
The number of locals over 65 has grown from 11,840 to 14,605.
In Cranbrook, the population of people 65 and up has jumped from 4,175 people in 2016 to 4,880.
Kimberley saw a rise in those 65 and over from 1,700 to 1,930.
While full retirement and senior years are a ways away for the Edmondsons, the thirteenyear-long effort to immigrate has likely been the source of a few grey hairs.
Amanda, a veteran nurse of 25 years, and Gary, currently a Chief Operating Officer for a prospective polar bear refuge, originally tried immigrating to Canada in 2010, when Amanda accepted a position at the Cranbrook Hospital.
Back then, the two were put on the express provincial nominee list and essentially guaranteed permanent residency.
But, before they could embark overseas, a surprise pregnancy nixed the feasibility of a new job in a new country.
Opting to stay in the UK, Gary — who had already handed in his resignation at his insurance firm — decided to open up a firm of his own.
In an effort to rekindle the East Kootenay dream, in 2019, and in the nick of time, he sold his 50 percent share in the company.
“I sold it just before COVID. And 50 per cent of our business was travel insurance,” said Gary, “I was quite lucky to get out when I did.”
With their two daughters Heidi and Eve, the Edmondsons were able to make the transatlantic move and settle down in a more secure position, financially, than they’d ever been in.
“We came to retire from the hectic lifestyle in London which we lived for ten years,” said
Gary, who used to commute two hours, both ways, from his home north of the sprawling metropolis, to his London office.
(An interesting note — 23 percent of the East Kootenay immigrant population were born in the UK.)
“I can’t speak for the rest of Canada,” said Gary, “but compared to what we’re used to in Europe, everything is so much more relaxed and less pressured here.”
They’ve fallen in love with the warmth and neighbourliness of Kimberley and the activities it has to offer, but they’re still not certain on whether or not they’ll be able to stick around.
“I don’t want to be completely disengaged from business at my age, but I am very fortunate and privileged to be in the position where I could retire if I wanted,” said Gary.
This of course hinges on a gruelling immigration process they are only partway through — a process which is much more difficult now that they are older.
“As long as we get permanent residency, we’re staying,” said Gary. “It’s in the hands of an immigration officer who either says yay or nay, so we can’t take anything for granted.”
Their immigration application was first processed back in 2021. It could be 2024 by the time they have any indication if they can stay or not.
They are older now than they were when they first applied for permanent residency, but still significantly younger than the average retirees.
Amanda and Gary both want to continue working and contributing in some capacity, which is why Amanda has been attending the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook. She is working through some recertification so that she may continue nursing, and so she can help in a time when the whole region is desperate for medical staff.
Gary is also keen on continuing business to some capacity in Canada; he just doesn’t want to go back to working twelve to fourteen-hour days.
“It’s a long time to be building a life and settling your kids in school, by the time we would have to leave it would be four years gone by,” said Gary.
Although there’s uncertainty around the whole process, the two of them remain optimistic and believe that if they can stay, the healthy lifestyle and clean air could do wonders for their health.
“I’m sure our lives will be extended ten years from what it would have been in the UK, and I don’t say that in jest,” said Gary, “I mean that seriously, because being active and doing things makes such a big difference.”
–JH
“ I can’t speak for the rest of Canada,” said Gary, “but compared to what we’re used to in Europe, everything is so much more relaxed and less pressured here.”
One of the pandemic’s biggest losses, to both life and work, included the end of person-to-person interaction with our co-workers.
But one of its biggest positives turns out, for hundreds of millions of workers and businesses alike, was the opportunity for an employee to work from wherever they saw fit — whether it was the confines of the couch, or an altogether brand-new home base.
The number of people who worked from home in the East Kootenays nearly doubled between 2016 and 2021 — from 1,955 of 29,685 residents then, to 4,040 of 31,530 people now living here.
Of all towns in the region, Kimberley saw the largest increase in home-based toilers,
growing from 7.1 per cent in 2016, to 16.2 per cent in 2021. That’s 245 workers in 2016, compared to 600 people in 2021.
Cranbrook also saw a big rise in the number of people working from home since the last census — from 445 people in 2016 to 885 or 9.2 percent of the population.
Further, the pandemic allowed those who didn’t live and work here, but wanted to, to pack up and head out.
Such was the case for Tudor Udroiu. Now a Kimberley resident, Udroiu left a job in greater Toronto’s information technologies sector.
“Living in suburbia really didn’t do it for me,” said Udroiu, who wasn’t a fan of the cookie cutter housing and lack of activity and social settings.
From the voices of Canada’s 600 First Nations to Gord Downey to The Pope, never before in the country’s comparatively short history, or for that matter, the western world’s, has the vast ancestry of this land’s first people held such priority our national dialogue and the ubiquitous news cycle.
The aim to impart awareness of original Indigenous presence and land rights in the everyday life of Canadians, including those who live here in the East Kootenay, seems here to stay. And many would say, rightfully so.
Canada’s First Nation’s comprise about five percent of our population. But stats that might provide more insight into where our own region’s First Nations are at, are tough to discern.
What we can tell you is that amongst the East Kootenay’s Metis and Indigenous populations, the Ktanaxa Nation is comprised of four individual First Nations communities — Akisq’nuk, St. Mary's (ʔaq̓am) , Tobacco Plains (ʔakink̓umǂasnuqǂiʔit), and Creston’s Lower Kootenay (yaqan nuykiy).
Prior to the pandemic, Udroiu said his job would have consisted of long days in a cubicle, somewhere in a box-shaped building in Mississauga or Toronto.
Now he gets a view of the ski hill.
“The transition meant that I could take up the job I planned on having for a career, while still doing the things I love that weren’t available in the same magnitude or capacity in Ontario,” said Udroiu.
In his time in the Kootenays, Udriou has fallen in love with the community and plans on keeping it as his home for the foreseeable future.
“I came for the skiing, but I’m staying for the people and the environment,” he said.
The population of the Columbia Valley’s Akisqnuk First Nation jumped to 150, up by 6.4 percent, while the Shuswap Indian Band population bumped up by 1.6 percent to 320 residents.
There was a telling notation in the latest census, marked as “Footnote 39”.
It read: “users should be aware that estimates associated with Indigenous languages are more affected than most by the incomplete enumeration of certain reserves and settlements in the Census of Population.”
The Ktanaxa’s traditional territory — including southeast BC and historically parts of Alberta, Montana, Washington and Idaho — measures about 70,000 square kilometres.
Most importantly, and for now perhaps all we need to recognize and not forget, is that explorer David Thompson established Fort Kootenai below Columbia Lake about 215 years ago. The Ktanaxa have been here for 10,000 years.
“We were set up on a girl date,” Kimberley’s Natalie Skokan says laughing, sipping a living-room cocktail, while she recalls how she and business partner Chantel Delaney met seven years ago. “Our husbands played music in a local pub and suggested that Chantel and I hang out as we’d probably love each other.” Next week, as they sat together during one of their husband’s gigs, their conversation meandered through their love of the mountains, mutual marketing backgrounds, and eventually veered towards Chantel’s obsession with horror films. “Chantel was having a
conversation about how fixated she is with horror films,” Skokan says, “but in my head, I was planning an event. Two days later, I called her and said, ‘We’ve got a date booked at Centennial Hall. Guess we’re doing it.’”
Over the following weeks, they designed a blueprint for the first annual Kimberley Horror Fest, a
celebration of homegrown horror productions and professional films from abroad. The event drew a soldout crowd draped in dripping blood, their favourite steampunk gear, and mermaid tails. Freddy
Kruegerand Jason waited for beers behind Napoleon Dynamite and a duo of Mexican troubadours.
W & P: Jeff Pew Ill: Ashley Dodd“Chantel was having a conversation about how fixated she is with horror films,” Skokan says, “but in my head, I was planning an event.”From Horror Fest to Christmas shopping sprees, Kimberley’s Old Goat Productions loves to throw y’all a party.
Over the next five years, the Horror Fest, complete with a panel of Canadian film industry judges, would develop a cult following. “Every year, the quality of films just kept getting better and better,” Skokan says. “And, we learned to throw one hell of a good party.”
“With any relationship, you find your roles,” Delaney notes. “Nat’s the visionary, the ideas person. I’m the organizer, sifting through her wild ideas and figuring out what boxes we need to check to pull them off.” The two share a magnetic chemistry. They laugh a lot. They banter back and forth, and together they complement each other's creative visions. They bring out the best in each other. Between them, they’ve accomplished an impressive array of sold-out events: the 24-hour Photo Contest, Christmas shopping extravaganzas, Saltwater Sessions music events, and the East Kootenay Music Search. Last summer they produced Kimberley’s Kaleidoscope Arts and Culture Festival.
“Kimberley shows up,” Skokan says. “You put something on and they’re there, either as an audience or part of the incredible talent.”
Perhaps the most exciting recent news is that their company, Original Goat Productions, just took over an iconic Kimberley event, the Dirtbag Festival, scheduled to return May 12-13, 2023 (see below).
“We live in this beautiful town and love to see these things take place,” Delaney says. “And, there’s always that moment when we say, ‘We made that happen. That’s pretty cool.’”
What makes us proud to call the place we live home? What unites us together in our shared sense of purpose and belonging?
In Kimberley, for over 92 years, it was the holes we dug in the ground, the thousands who gathered to extract precious metals from the world’s largest lead and zinc mine. It was a town toughened by grit and the damp echo of 500 kilometres of tunnels beneath us. Yet, when the mine closed in 2001, Kimberley began the search for a new identity, beyond the one previously carved underfoot — an identity that celebrated our stunning landscape and the small-town charm that drew us towards it.
In 2007, the annual event (from founders Kevin Sheppit and Bruce Kirkby) became an integral part of Kimberley’s culture: The Dirtbag Festival, a visual celebration of the elusive dirtbag lifestyle. The Dirtbag Festival website describes the festival as a “celebration of the lifestyle we ski bums, climbers, hikers, travellers, and outdoor enthusiasts know and love in the Kootenays.” In its 2007 inaugural opener, local dirtbag icons attempt to explain the
noun
ORIGIN: Kimberley, BC
DEFINITION: a person who prioritizes the thrill and search for adventure over work, love, and money.
term “dirtbag.” According to Dave Quinn, “The most valuable thing a dirtbag has is time to spend with friends and to explore passions. Way down on this list is money.” Quinn believes calling someone a dirtbag, “is to lay a really nice compliment on them.”
Dirtbag co-founder — and host of the Travel Channel’s ‘Big Crazy Family Adventure’— Bruce Kirkby says, “Dirtbag’s got a bad sound, but it’s a great thing.” Kirkby believes that the success of the Dirtbag Festival is that it speaks, “to what we value, and why we were here. And folks like seeing what their friends and neighbours
W: Jeff Pew P: Steve TersmetteNo mine. No money. No worries. Two decades after it helped redefine a town’s lost identity, Kimberley's Dirtbag Festival still pays high praise to those who live mountain life on the down low.
shot in the last year, as opposed to going to Banff to see what the entire world has produced, so it’s become a very intimate event.” Steve Tersmette, past Dirtbag producer states, “Dirtbaggery is our lifeblood. Look out our backyard. How can we not be a town of dirtbags?”
This year’s festival, produced by Chantel Delaney and Natalie Skokan of Original Goat Productions, will occur at Centre 64 (May 12th and 13th). The Friday night will feature the results of the 24-hour photo challenge, a ten-person, time-limited photography contest focusing on the shoulder season theme (a travel industry term used to describe the off-peak months of the year). On Saturday, there’s a matinee screening of films, an all-day Makers Market hosted by Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprise (KORE), and an evening of dirtbag films (local and beyond) with an afterparty featuring our own local dirtbag twangers, Alderbash.
shots, pirate outfits, and props crafted by parents. It became a bit of an obsession for the year prior to Dirtbag,” director Ryan Lunge said, “but we had such a blast.”
How does a town celebrate its identity and culture? It gathers in a sold-out theatre, hoots and hollers as photos and films flash upon a screen. It stands teary-eyed, smiling, sending ovations to the dirtbags we’ve lost. It celebrates the lifestyle of living in the East Kootenay, among the people who are proud to call Kimberley home, and the Dirtbag its festival.
“If your Jumbo Wild stickers are all that’s holding your bumper onto your 1985 Toyota Tercel, you might be a dirtbag.”
– JOHN HANER, JEDI DIRTBAG | Dirtbag 2013 Opener: https://vimeo.com/61196278The Dirtbag Festival website describes the festival as a “celebration of the lifestyle we ski bums, climbers, hikers, travellers, and outdoor enthusiasts know and love in the Kootenays.”
One of the main goals of Dirtbag, through all its incarnations and different producers, has been to provide a platform for budding filmmakers to be on the stage with professional filmmakers. In the past, Kimberley filmmakers have gone on to win awards and acclaim. Dirtbag’s 2011 People’s Choice Award winner, fifteen-yearold Kalum Ko, went on to a successful commercial film career and being one of nine 2019 international nominees for the Best Young Director Award, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Dirtbag films have showcased a collage of wild adventures: family canoe trips through Alaska, solemn Indian pilgrimages, 15-year-olds urban skiing off curling-rink rooftops, and a Kimberley father who built a 16-foot-long pirate ship replica in his backyard to produce a film with the neighbourhood kids — including special effects, green screen, waterfall cable cam
MAY 1ST Films due for entry. Tickets go on sale.
MAY 6TH Photographer’s day of shooting for challenge
MAY 12TH Photographer’s Show: Photographers 24-Hour Challenge
MAY 13TH Matinee Screening of films. All-day makers markets hosted by KORE. Evening of films and afterparty featuring Alderbash.
Reach out to originalgoatproduction@gmail.com for more information.
FILM PRIZES
FIRST PLACE $1,000 Cash
BEST LOCAL FILM Four Day Passes to Kimberley Alpine Resort for the 2023/24 Season 24-Hour-Photography Challenge
DOOR PRIZES
FIRST PLACE Icelantic skis from Black Dog Cycle & Ski ($1,000 value)
PEOPLE'S CHOICE $500 Cash
OUR SERVICES :
GENERAL DENTISTRY
ORTHODONTICS
WISDOM TEETH
SEDATION DENTISTRY
DENTAL IMPLANTS
CROWNS AND BRIDGES BOTOX®
50,000 eyes are nothing to sniff at. That’s a lot of people! It means that every year the combined populations of Kimberley and Cranbrook will see this magazine. Wouldn’t it be great if they were looking at your business too? Our new directory format gives each ad enough space to stand out and ensures that your business has a consistent presence in each issue for the entire year. Our design team will help build it, and the price will probably surprise you. Send us an email or give us a call to find out more.
APR 8-9 | Spring Splash | Pond Skim Challenge & Dummy Dunhill | Bands | Kimberley Alpine Resort
APR 9 | Easter Egg Hunt | Fort Steel Heritage Town | TBA
APR 14-15 | Bike Swap | Benefits Kootenay Freewheelers | Marysville Arena
APR 15 | Symphony of the Kootenays and Selkirk High School Choir — Celebration of the Sunrise | Key City Theatre | 7:30 pm
APR 16 | Cox and McRae with Opener Larsen & Askey | Key City Theatre | 7 pm
APR 19 | Sansei: The Storyteller — Mark Kunji Ikeda | Key City Theatre 7:30 pm
APR 20 | Hotel California: A Tribute to the Eagles | Key City Theatre 7:30 pm
APR 22-23 | Cranbrook Archery Club Spring 3D Shoot | TBA
APR 22 | Big Horn Comedy with Sarah Stupar, Jarrett Campbell, & Brittany Lyseng | Wildsight Fundraiser to Save the Bighorn Sheep | Key City Theatre | 8 pm
APR 25 | Toddler Tuesday — Feel the ROAR! Paleontology Lab | Cranbrook History Centre | 10:30 am
APR 27 | Chris Coole with Lonesome Aces featuring Jack & Matthew Fisher Peak Winter Ale Concert Series Key City Theatre | 7 pm
APR 29 | Jim Byrnes — Live@Studio64 Centre 64 Theatre | 8 pm
MAY 8-14 | Wings Over the Rockies Nature Festival | 100+ Events Upper Columbia/Invermere Area wingsovertherockies.org
MAY 10 | Stephen Fearing — Live@ Studio64 | Centre 64 Theatre | 8 pm
MAY 12-13 | Dirtbag Festival 2023
TBD
MAY 12-14 | Kootenay Children's Festival 2023 | Rotary Park, Cranbrook
MAY 14 | Mother’s Day Tea and Brunch | Historic Argyle Car & Royal Alexandra Hall | Cranbrook History Centre | 10:30 am
MAY 16 | Wild Honey with Tenise
Marie | Fisher Peak Winter Ale Concert Series | Key City Theatre
7 pm
MAY 20 | Opening Weekend — Kimberley Underground Mining Railway
MAY 27 | Wedding Fair | Fort Steele Heritage Town | 11 am - 3 pm
MAY 27 | Cranbrook Farmer’s Market 10th Ave. S by Rotary Park 10 am - 1 pm
MAY 27-28 | Cranbrook Archery Club Summer 3D Shoot | TBA
JUNE 3, 10 | Cranbrook Farmer’s Market | 10th Ave. S by Rotary Park 10 am - 1 pm
JUNE 9-11 | 3rd Annual Rock and Gem Show | Royal Alexandra Hall | Cranbrook History Centre 10 am - 5 pm
JUNE 10-11 | Gerick Sports Wasa Lake Triathlon | Swim, Bike, Run — All Ages | Wasa Provincial Park
JUNE 11 | Rocky Mountain High: John Denver Tribute | Key City Theatre | 7:30 pm
Kimberley’s former economic driver, the once mighty Sullivan, is now a closed and reclaimed mine managed by Teck’s Legacy Properties team. The Legacy Properties team is responsible for the management of legacy properties across Canada, the United States, and Australia. Did you know that the team employs over 40 local employees and contractors in the Kimberley area who are focused on advancing initiatives related to mine closure, environmental stewardship, community engagement, safety and more? Learn more about our work by visiting: www.teck.com/sullivan
