“Symbolic in both Native and modern cultures, Bald Eagles are one of the most majestic birds in British Columbia. Each autumn and winter, thousands of eagles gather at spawning sites to feast on spawned-out salmon ….” Although “[e]agles mate for life and can live up to 40...
Recently Canada Post announced extensive changes to the Canadian mail system, specifically by introducing more community mail boxes. For we older folk, those community mailboxes hearken back to historic mail services. Winfield’s first official post office was named Alvaston by the first...
In an era before ski hills and organized sport, Lake Country residents enjoyed the great outdoors with sledding on local hills and skating on local ponds. May all of you also enjoy a happy winter season! Left to Right: Mary (Carter) Jeglum, Yoshiko Kobayashi (Mende), Beryl (Harrop) Smith, Doris...
If you’re still looking for a great Christmas gift, especially if it’s for a history buff, a senior, or a new resident interested in learning more about the Okanagan Valley, look no further than the Okanagan Historical Society’s latest annual report Okanagan History. There are a...
Allan Osamu Kobayashi remembers Christmas concerts at the Okanagan Centre School: “Special days came and went with the changing seasons. The first grand occasion was Halloween which meant a masquerade party. … Then came Christmas and the concert. [Teacher] Mrs. Parker was reputed to...
When I [Allan Kobayashi] began my education in 1932, the Okanagan Centre School was brand new. My cousin Margaret and I were in the first Grade 1 class. From Grade 1 to 8 we were the only two in each grade as the years passed so one of us always ranked first or second. I have been back to the old...
There was a time when fish were abundant in the lakes of the Okanagan. In recent years, however, newspaper headlines have warned us of the dire straits of our local fishery. In the Kelowna Daily Courier reporter Don Plant headlined his piece: Plenty of fish? Not in Wood Lake (January 18, 2013) and...
The following poem, by Meiri (Koyama) Itami, was written in 1980 to honour Eijiro Koyama. Koyama farmed in the Winfield area in the 1920s. Eijiro Koyama died on January 17, 1956. A Day with Dad on the Farm As certainly as dawn crept over the hills he was awake. No clock rang by Dad’s bed;...
Last week I attended the OKANAGAN READS presentation by folk singers Rika Ruebsaat and Jon Bartlett, of Princeton, and was charmed by Jon’s reading of a poem from the newspaper, the Princeton Star (23rd of June 1927). I include it here. TEACHING THEM TO DRIVE The Sweetheart To learn to drive...
“On February 29, 1904, the province enacted the Act to regulate the speed and operation of Motor Vehicles on Highways, which required motorists to have displayed on the vehicle their registration number so as to be plainly visible at all times during the daylight, such number to be in plain...