by lakecountry | Feb 12, 2016 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, This Day in History, Thomson, Duane
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...
by lakecountry | Jan 2, 2016 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
Curling became popular in Eastern Canada in the early nineteenth century and as the West opened up, the game found a natural home – long cold winters and idle time for prairie farmers. Clubs were formed in Winnipeg, Calgary and other western cites in the 1880s. The...
by lakecountry | Dec 18, 2015 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
Memories of the Okanagan – one invariably thinks of sunshine, the lake, fruit – in one word, summer. As a child growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, the winter season also had its charm and delights which remain etched in my memory. The first sign of winter was a visit...
by lakecountry | Apr 24, 2015 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
As you might expect from a 100-year-old, Anne Land1 takes the long view on certain things. And one of them is the railway referendum now underway in Lake Country, where she has lived virtually her entire life. The centenarian, who turns 101 next month, is among the 27...
by lakecountry | Mar 6, 2015 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Laura Neame
The first Women’s Institute was founded in 1897 in Stoney Creek, Ontario and by 1913 institutes were established in all the provinces with the motto “For Home and Country.” Often responsible for much of their farm’s economic success, the Institute...
by lakecountry | Jun 20, 2014 | Announcements, Bloggers, Community Events, Hayes, Bob, History of Lake Country, Lecture Series
World War I, also known as the Great War, started on July 28, 1914 and finally dragged to a conclusion on November 11, 1918. In those four years, more than nine million men and women worldwide were killed, including more than 60,000 Canadians. Canadians, including...
by lakecountry | May 19, 2014 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, This Day in History, Thomson, Carol
“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...
by lakecountry | Jan 17, 2014 | Announcements, Bloggers, Community Events, Lecture Series, Natural History, Thomson, Carol
“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...
by lakecountry | Dec 6, 2013 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Carol
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]...
by lakecountry | Nov 29, 2013 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
Oyama was a wonderful place to grow up during the Depression. This dance troupe performed at a Kalamalka Women’s Institute garden party held on the grounds of the Prickards about 1939. By all reports it was a wonderful setting, featuring an amazing peony hedge...
by lakecountry | Nov 22, 2013 | Bloggers, Community Events, History of Lake Country, Thomson, Duane
In the pre-WWII years, Oyama boys were numerous enough to field a hockey team that played against Vernon and perhaps other teams. They practised and played on a community hockey rink on the flat land formerly occupied by the Sterling and Pitcairn Packing House (just...
