“Whether it’s your teddy, bunny or lamb-lamb, stuffed animal toys were birthed from a less cutesy place: politics. Inventor Morris Michtom named his stitched creation aften then-U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and placed the very first “teddy” in a store window on this day 115 years ago....
The Lakeshore Garage was built by E. Swanson in 1947. It was later owned by Al Nagel and taken over by his son, Randy, in the 1970s. After that the building was leased to Alvin Meyer. The last gas was pumped on December 19, 1987. The garage was demolished when the highway was widened. The...
“On April 5, 1917, BC women got the right to vote in provincial elections. The struggle for the vote really heated up across the country in 1912. Most of the action took place at the provincial level. Richard McBride was the premier and he opposed granting suffrage to the women. The...
The Westbury Hotel, built in 1908, was one of two hotels in Okanagan Centre in the early 1900s. On Halloween day in 1947, fire broke out and the hotel burned to the ground. Although no one was injured, the guests and the seasonal packinghouse workers who boarded there lost all their possessions....
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – 60 years “Don Arnold and Wayne Pretty went east to St. Catharines to the Olympic Trials in July 1956. Don stroked a crew of four, to break the world record by 30 seconds, and the Eight[s] broke the record and qualified them both to enter the Olympic Games. In November,...
Some months after Dorothea Scott-Coward wed Robert Allison1 she wrote to her sister, Mib (Milborough Mackay), about being a newlywed in a lonely new country. In the letter she tells of the wedding itself (on the doorstep of the church because she was marrying a non-Catholic) and of the days...
During some particularly cold winters Kalamalka Lake freezes over. Harold Thomson, who was raised in Oyama, said that in his experience Kalamalka Lake froze once every ten years and the adjoining Wood Lake froze nine out of ten years. Hauling freight on the lake was not very common. However, the...
Twenty years ago, on May 2, 1995, the District of Lake Country was incorporated. Local orchardist Bob McCoubrey was installed as the first mayor. McCoubrey served as mayor from 1995 to 1999. He was followed in the mayor’s chair by Rolly Hein (1999 to 2005), who was followed by James Baker...
A symbol of Canadian identity The official ceremony inaugurating the new Canadian flag was held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on February 15, 1965, with Governor General Georges Vanier, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, the members of the Cabinet and thousands of Canadians in attendance. The...
August 4, 1914: Germany invades Belgium, beginning World War I. “In Flanders Fields the poppies grow and remains of an inordinate number of Okanagan soldiers lie buried. Many believe the Okanagan Valley lost more men per capita in the First World War than any region in Canada. The names of...
“Towering over a proud shipyard crew and some family members, the Sicamous is nearly ready for its launching at the Okanagan Landing shipyard on May 19, 1914.” “Okanagan Landing, just five miles (eight km) southwest of Vernon, developed into a bustling community as the...