spring & summer 2014
Experience
Exceptional Okanagan Living
See the valley
through the eyes of a tourist PHOTO: BRENT CROzIER by Kathy Michaels
Travelling the Okanagan valley is a sensory treat. There are views of golden hills hugged by grapevines and apple orchards, the sun glistening off the valley's many lakes and of course the fragrance and tastes of its renowned food and wine industry. This fertile and productive area is packed with hundreds of tourist destinations that are oftentimes lost on locals as they busily make their way to and from work. Luckily, there are ways to remedy that. Whether your want to take an afternoon or the entire weekend, being a tourist on home turf is as simple as going on a country drive. Catherine Frechette of Tourism Kelowna said there are a number of tour routes that have been set up so the best of this valley can be easily explored. Those routes have been divvied into five categories. There's Lake Country's scenic sip, Westside wine trail, Lakeshore wine retreat, Kelowna fab five and downtown grapes and grains. "We'll show you how to sample the best of an area in a day," explained Frechette. The guide, which can be picked up at any winery, the visitor centre or downloaded from the website, Publisher, Advertising Manager Karen Hill Managing Editor Barry Gerding Production Director Tessa Ringness Writers Kevin Parnell Wade Paterson Alistair Waters Jennifer Smith Kathy Michaels
www.tourismkelowna.com, highlights why the route has been chosen and how to best enjoy what's available. "I recently checked out Lake Country scenic sip and I could easily have spent a half day touring," she said. Between sipping the vintages made available, the gorgeous scenery and the various restaurants available, there's a lot of ways to "lose track of time," she said. "It really is up to each individual driver to decide how much they want to get into each wine trail." And, beyond wine, there's the rich agricultural history to explore, and doing that has been made easy due to Tourism Kelowna's farm to table brochure. Last year was the first time the guide was made available and it was tremendously popular. Visitors are invited to explore things like Arlo's Honey Farm as well as farm gate producers. And while making the drive, the agriculture industry's eye candy is on display, so expect to see the horses and other trade staples. But you have to remember to use that spittoon when wine tasting, warned Frechette. Then you can ride to the next winery safely. For those interested in imbibing, Tourism Kelowna also has a full listing of wine tour buses that offer their services.
Production Designers LaToya Allan Nancy Blow Kiana Haner-Wilk Laura Millsip Account Executives Cindy Draper Antony Hutton Terry Matthews Sheri Jackson Wayne Woollett Teresa Huscroft-Brown Rob Lindsay Rick Methot
Cover Photo Laurie Schretlen Your Style is published by Black Press 2495 Enterprise Way, Kelowna BC V1X 7K2 Ph. 250-763-3212 Fax. 250-862-5275 adsales@kelownacapnews.com www.kelownacapnews.com Distributed free to select households in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. The publisher cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs.
I Spring/Summer 2014 | YOUR STYLE 3
ADVERTORIAL
Members benefit directly
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showroom Schedule a tour of our our unprecedented experience and learn how you can services personalized values, vast selection, and Free! just for you for 30 Days.
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local car dealerships, local restaurants, DirectBuy is a win-win local hotels, local delivery services supporting the local community! * and even new special events. DirectBuy was founded in 1971 On May 4, 2014, DirectBuy of in Merriville, Indiana. The first Central Okanagan helped support Canadian franchise was founded the new Okanagan Summer Show . e club in th S JoPrize ? NG __ VI __ A __ S __ __ e_ in 1996. There are 106 locations or with a Door of a Napoleon m t Wan of our showroom a tour in CanadaSche anddulethe U.S. Stainless BBQ. The Okanagan DirectBuy of Central Okanagan is growing… It’s a New Day for DirectBuy! I I I DirectBuy of CentralI Okanagan has been in the same location since April 2002! Now in its 13th year the New Owners have been taking things to a whole new level. The DirectBuy in Kelowna services the interior of British Columbia from the Yukon, Alberta border right to the US border. It currently has over 3800 members and growing. Raymond and Barb Lee were members in the lower mainland before taking over the club from the previous owner in May 2013. Summer Show Event supported Since then they have worked the Kelowna General Hospital for closely with the local community their new Heart & Surgical Center, to enhance the offerings to its the Okanagan Boys & Girls Club, members and to support the local the Canadian Blood Services, and economy. We have more than 80 the Kelowna’s Women’s Shelter. local businesses we support in “We saw a great opportunity to Central Okanagan and growing support this new event in town every day. The businesses include: knowing it was all for the local small local business owners, local community”. realtors, contractors, flooring, DirectBuy is a unique and window treatments businesses, often misunderstood brand. We bought the franchise because our
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main focus was to help families live better on their hard earned money. Many people come into an open house to learn about DirectBuy and say the same thing. “I thought I knew what you offered, but until I came into the club to attend an open house I really had no idea on how DirectBuy works, I am so glad I came into an open house to learn about DirectBuy myself. Now I have received a proper explanation of how it all works and how I can live better. I thought you would have to be building or making significant purchases to get the benefit of a membership. I had no idea all the smaller purchases were part of enjoying a membership and how the savings adds up so quickly”. Because of some previous elements in our sales process, folks were hesitant to come in for an open house thinking it had a pressure sales component. Well, we are happy to announce the good news that it is a new day, a new DirectBuy! We invite anyone you know who wants to save money and experience the convenience of buying directly from the manufacturers and provide a better way of life for their families. We promise that those who come in will have a pleasant and enjoyable experience and will be thankful for the opportunity to be educated about how DirectBuy works. Our selection is as big as your
imagination. Our members join for several reasons: SELECTION – There is no other place out there that has the type of online and show room selection. Just the website alone have 1 Million products to choose from, and if that isn’t enough there is 100,000’s more items to choose from in the showroom room! SERVICE – Simply put, this is a club! Our service staff know our members on a first name basis! We help our members place their orders at the club and through the convenience of email. Our members love the shopping convenience of the online shopping 24/7! Many of our members from out of town can do all their shopping and purchasing from their home. QUALITY – This is where the fun begins! You can choose premium manufacturers that offer affordable quality to the market place or you can choose the best of the best and everything in between. The offering is so vast members often tell us there is too much to choose from! SAVINGS – Our members save a lot of money over the course of their purchasing lifetime. Our members know how much things really cost. Statistics Canada indicates that the average mark up on items is generally 37.5%. NEW AND EXCITING OFFERINGS! – DirectBuy will be airing a National Ad campaign on TV stations to let people know about the exciting new offering. We are now offering a Free 30 Day Membership for those who would like to test drive the club. To find out more contact the club directly here in Kelowna and ask to speak to one of the owners. Raymond and Barb Lee #5-2260 Hunter Road, Kelowna 250-763 4130
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Thrillers, spillers and fillers create template for stunning flower displays BY BARRY GERDING
With spring now in full bloom, many Central Okanagan residents face decisions about how to spruce up a patio or balcony with plants and flowers. While that decisionmaking process can seem overwhelming, Peter Cantley, vicepresident of lawn and garden for Loblaw, the parent company of Real Canadian Superstore, says there are ways to work through the endless options that stores and nurseries might present. He says flowering baskets, edible plants, designer planters
and gorgeous blooms all add that extra pop of colour and bring life to the area around them. Cantley says the best way to narrow your options to what works best for you is to work off your outdoor furniture colours. “You want to pick up the colours from your lawn furniture because it tends to be a larger investment you will have around for awhile, and presumably you like the colours you’ve chosen for that furniture,” said Cantley. “So you work with that and look for floral arrangements that will pop out those colours. The
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Peter Cantley, vice-president of lawn and garden for Loblaws, holds up a flat of crimson flame geraniums now available exclusively at the Real Canadian Superstore.
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patio or balcony surface itself has less to do with choosing colours than do the accessories for your patio or balcony. “It’s not a daunting task as people might think. Look at the colours you like in choosing that outdoor furniture, and pull that together with the flower arrangements and colours you pick.” Cantley said the choice of planters also continue to evolve, noting that Superstore features an array of planters in fibreglass moulds with embedded graphic art designs that become very effective and attractive decorative pieces. “There are many different looks to choose from but what is important from the fibreglass standpoint is they are lightweight. You don’t want a heavy pot on a condo balconies,” he says. When it comes to choosing
plants for a pot or hanging basket, he says the options tend to fall in three categories—thrillers, spillers and fillers. The thrillers, he says, tend to be taller, more dramatic plants. “They tend to be something that is interesting and fun, a funky plant that grows quite tall that you would stop to look at.” Spillers and fillers, he says, are just as they sound, plants that either fill the dirt base of the flower pot or hanging basket, or stream out over the sides. He says choosing annuals tend to be a better option, because you can change the colour scheme every year, and because some thrillers, like an Evergreen of Japanese Maple, will outgrow the pot or have difficulty surviving the winter. “The spillers are something you commonly see on condo balconies as hanging baskets,” he says. >>
Flower colours tend to follow fashion world colours
Cantley said Canadians tend to migrate to geraniums when looking for flowers, a preference that flower breeders have found frustrating in trying to promote other options. “We talk with flower breeders about this all the time, but what you see happening is that rather than trying to open people to the idea of buying something else, growers are doing different things with geraniums to create vibrant new colours.” Cantley said the vibrant new colours, hot reds and pinks, bright eye-catching colours are in this year, with pastel colours looking to be more influential next year. “Typically, the flower colours tend to follow the colours that are popular in the fashion world. There is a direct connection there. We are already looking at flowers from breeders this spring with an eye to what will be popular next year,” Cantley said. “The flower breeders in Europe and the U.S. spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out what colours will be hot from year to year, trying to figure out if they have the right thing to sell.” Cantley added that for Loblaw, another important aspect beyond colour is the performance of the plant itself, what investment of time is required to get that flower
to bloom at a peak level. “What drives the younger generation today is instant gratification because their lives are driven by social media which is all about that,” Cantley says. “So we have to provide things that are easy to plant and look after with that level of instant gratification.” He says there is a real misconception among the younger generation that gardening on any level is a lot of work with potential limited reward. “They want to see immediate feedback, but the more educated they become about gardening the more they come to realize this gardening thing is easy.” While flowers tend to dominate the choice for flower pots, Cantley says vegetable gardening can be adapted to them. “We’ve gone from the 100-mile diet to the 100-foot diet as people are turning back again to growing their own vegetables because they want to know what they’re eating and how it was grown,” he says. “Kale is the vegetable du jour at the moment because of all the nutrients and good things it brings, and it can easily be adapted to planters, as can tomato plants or herbs and spices particularly for Italian cuisine. Growing your own fruits and vegetables is still one of the most rewarding parts of gardening.”
Beautiful… in no time! You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on a landscape architect to add major impact to your garden this spring. Try these simple and affordable tips to get it looking beautiful in no time: Fun fences. Are you faced with a concrete wall? Put up a trellis or two for an instantly dramatic and elegant look. Play up the look even more by adding some climbing plants to highlight the trellis. Blooms are in the air. Hanging baskets always look elegant on a porch or veranda and add instant colour to your garden. “Choose large baskets like the PC Jumbo Hanging Basket,” suggests Peter Cantley, a garden guru at Loblaw Companies Limited. “The flowers are beautifully colour coordinated, and the basket is
big and roomy. For real impact try brightly coloured baskets like apple green or plum, which coordinate beautifully with flowers.” Light of the party. Proper lighting is essential for entertaining on summer evenings and for creating the perfect ambience in your garden getaway. Light from candles, lamps or illuminated planters make a big difference with a splash of colour. Use colourful planters. Set them around the edge of your patio to separate the space from the yard or put them right into your garden. For more of a classic look, try the PC fibreglass pots. They have the look and feel of real stone but they're a fraction of the price. The classic designs enhance any outdoor décor.
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BY KEVIN PARNELL
Lake Country offers a hiker's paradise
Lake Country’s Spion Kop hiking trails are now connected to the Pelmewash Parkway as the well known trail system links to the old Highway 97 through Lake Country with a new trail head next to Wood Lake. The addition of the connector trails brings the total to 17 kilometres of trail head on Spion Kop, the mountain whose name means lookout hill that has become a jewel of trails accessible to everyone in the Central Okanagan. Several new connector trails make for a better loop of the mountain with a variety of options for the hiker, allowing for a number of combinations of hikes that range from 1.5 to 4.5 hours or more. Always well known to Lake Country enthusiasts, the trails have grown in popularity as more and more hikers from all across the Okanagan take in all they have to offer. “Spion Kop is becoming very well known as a hiker’s paradise,” said Elisabeth Dahnert of the group Walk Around Lake Country (WALC), which has been putting hours of trail grooming into the Spion Kop. “We’ve met large groups of hikers from West Kelowna, Vernon and Kelowna. For us in Lake Country, it is our back yard and on any hike up there you will find families with little children, young adults, people walking dogs, trail runners, and just regular hikers. Our trail maps are scooped up from the map boxes almost as fast as we print them.” The new addition of the trails to Pelmewash Parkway allow for hikers to have an easy walk-out that will link to what the group hopes is eventually another park, along the old highway. The new connectors also add to the summit trail on Spion Kop, which now has an elevation gain of 485 metres, making it a challenge similar (about half the elevation gain) as the famous Grouse Grind in North Vancouver, which has 850 metres of elevation change. The WALC group has made many advancements on the trails. The trails are flagged and marked and a trail guide is published and available. They are also in the process of adding the trails into Google maps (type in key words Spion Kop Hiking Trails). Spion Kop features trails on 350 hectares of crown land meaning hikers exist with other users of the land such as those using motorized vehicles such as ATV’s. With all of the care and attention the hiking group has put in on Spion Kop’s trails, WALC asks that those using ATV’s stay off the groomed trails meant for hiking. “The marked trails have been developed by volunteers of WALC for hikers to enjoy,” said WALK member Dev Fraser. “Because of safety concerns, we ask all motorized vehicles to please not use these trails. Your support and cooperation is greatly appreciated.” So as the summer season arrives and people get out more and more, there is a great option for hiking in Lake Country and across the region. Expanded trails, more signage, trail maps and a link to Pelmewash Parkway has Spion Kop becoming a true jewel of the area. “WALC believes that Spion Kop could be as important to Lake Country as Stanley Park is to Vancouver,” said Dahnert. “This is our big picture thinking within the context of District of Lake Country’s OCP. We have flagged and marked trails, now published in a well received trail map, and thus far have achieved our visions of connecting trails through the underpasses under the new Highway 97, connecting us to what we hope one day will be a new park along Pelmewash Parkway.”
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DRIVING DIRECTIONS TO SPION KOP TRAIL HEADS: PELMEWASH PARKWAY TRAIL HEAD: Northbound on Highway 97: Exit Highway 97 (just North of the Tim Horton’s at Highway 97 and Oceola Road), onto Pelmewash Parkway, drive 2.4 kms north and park in the pullout on the east side alongside Wood Lake. Southbound on Highway 97: Exit Highway 97 onto Pelmewash Parkway, drive 3.8 kms south of Oyama Road and park in the pullout on the east side of Pelmewash Parkway alongside Wood Lake. OLD MISSION ROAD TRAIL HEAD From Pelmewash Parkway (Old Hwy 97) turn onto Ponderosa Rd. Turn onto Old Mission Road and park at end near South Underpass. UPPER LAKES TRAIL HEAD From Highway 97 take Oceola Road to The Lakes subdivision turning right onto Lake Hill Drive, turn left onto Shoreline Drive and then left onto Apex Drive. At the end of Apex continue up gravel road to the left to the parking area below the water tank. RAVEN RIDGE TRAIL HEAD From Highway 97 take the Oceola Road exit, follow Oceola past The Lakes subdivision, turn north onto Carr’s Landing Road. Turn onto Moberly Road then left onto Forest Hill Road. Enter the Raven Ridge subdivision on Townsend Drive, take Northstar Lane to the very top. Park near the water tank. If the gate is closed, park at the gate and continue on foot to the water tower.
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Artist inspires creativity in seniors’ final years with just one: a Thomas Kinkade garden. Twenty people worked on the masterpiece—two of whom have since passed—and it is a legacy to their time together, with the names of every contributor who worked on the finished product deftly signed in the foliage. Chambers has a background in music, art and design and believes participation in and exposure to the arts is extremely important as we age. By Jennifer Smith Brandt’s Creek Mews has quite the muse indeed. His name is Graham Chambers and he is the creator of the Leon Avenue public mural. Now working part-time out of the Glenmore-area seniors’ home, he is helping a group of aging residents find purpose for their days and a communal project to
pour lifetimes of talent and energy into. “Part of life is spontaneous,” he said. “And part of life is being able to contribute to something meaningful.” Chambers envisions walls full of collaborative paintings inspired by toptier painters, but started the project
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“You can have a pill or food with perfect nutrition, but it’s nothing without the chef to create the meal, to put it on the plate,” he said. Spending two decades of his life working as an Interior Designer, later with his own art studio, he went back to school and became a care-aide four years ago. Chambers trained at Okanagan College, where he was taught the medical basics necessary for the work; but it was his experience in music years—he plays everything from the piano to the spoons to the accordion—that won him his job and brought the people of Brandt’s Creek Mews their talented “Pianoman.” “It’s important in life that we do something significant,” said Chambers, noting it’s one of the Eden principles he learned in school. The Eden Alternative is an international organization dedicated to creating quality of life for elders and those who care for them and operates off an inspiring creed and guiding principles. No matter how old a person is, or what challenges we face, life is about
continuing to grow, it states. For some of the residents in Chamber’s art group, participating meant picking up a paintbrush for the first time, and some had to have adaptive techniques sussed out, like a paintbrush on a stick to reach past the wheelchair to the canvass. “No one knew how to paint, but we were sure proud of ourselves and, when Graham put our names on it, that just finished it off,” said Shirlee McKinnon, who described herself as a complete novice, joking she was a paint-by-numbers kind of woman. Leon Lang, on the other hand, had plenty of artistic experience to bring to the table. As the creator of Lang’s House of Art at Reid’s Corner, he crafted garden statues for homes and gardens all over the Okanagan. Despite his gifts, the prospect of jumping in the mix spurred some trepidation until he realized Chambers would help him finesse anything he felt was a mistake. “I wasn’t too swift on starting and then, with the help of Graham, I got going and I really liked it a lot,” he said. Anne McGuinness, a mother of nine from Canmore, said she always enjoyed art, felt it added to life, but never had the chance to make her own. Talking it over her time working on the painting with fellow resident Gerda Garthe, an immigrant from Holland who has painted since she was five, she said the project was something she could look forward to, never knowing quite what the day’s painting session would bring. The Brandt’s Creek Mews art group is looking to start again with a painting from local artist, Rod Charlesworth, and Vancouver artist Robert Genn serving as inspiration. In the meantime, Chambers says he’s really right back where he started in the interior design world, helping others add a splash of colour and some interest to their world.
Eco-friendly renovations better for your health
Today's families becoming more eco-responsible Today’s children are the adults of tomorrow. That is why it is so important to educate them about good environmental values as early as possible. There is no shortage of ideas for making environmental responsibility a way of life, even for children. Apart from the mandatory three R’s (reduce at source, reuse, recycle), there are plenty of little gestures that can be fun and rewarding for the entire family. TOY EXCHANGES Organize a toy exchange among friends; everyone goes home with new playthings and nothing goes to the dump. RECYCLED ART Invite your children to create a work of art from a collection of such things as cardboard tubes, egg boxes, and aluminum cans. COMPOSTER Build a composter with the children and use it to make compost from kitchen and garden waste. It is a great way to enrich the soil in your yard. VOLUNTARY POWER OUTAGE Plan a voluntary power outage, during which the children don’t use computers, video games, or watch TV. This is great for discovering “off-line” activities. COMMUNITY CLEANUP Plan a community cleanup day, where children can group together and choose a place to clean up, such as a park or part of the neighbourhood. Not only does this activity foster a sense of belonging, but it also lets children contribute to the enhancement of their surroundings. GREEN COMMITTEE Set up a green committee for children and help them meet on a regular basis. The members of this panel can work together to develop projects that involve making environmentally responsible choices for their homes or neighbourhood.
Having a good environmental conscience sometimes means asking yourself a few questions when the time comes to do work around the house. Fortunately, manufacturers and retailers have begun to understand that the general public is concerned about the environment and have made many eco-friendly products and solutions available. The first thing to do for a more ecofriendly home is to improve its energy efficiency. Cutting back on heat and airconditioning requirements is a green choice that will also reduce your gas or
electric bill. After carrying out tests to detect where air and heat are escaping, a specialist can help you decide where you can improve efficiencies. No matter what type of work is needed inside or outside the home, you can now opt for recycled products or those that have been designed using fewer or even no toxic products. Choose natural materials wherever possible, such as real wood, and ensure that it is of good quality. And be sure to use house paint that is free of volatile organic compounds to ensure better air quality in the home.
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Hoggan says developing that resource “was a bit frustrating” early on. “I just didn’t know the trail network,” says Hoggan. “One of the first group hikes I went on, I actually got the group lost. We went 20 minutes in the wrong direction, because at that point, I hadn’t been mapping properly.” Since then, Hoggan and other volunteers have become incredibly familiar with most trails, and are continually looking to find new trail networks to map in the region. He calls hikingaddiction.ca, “the most comprehensive resource for trails in the area.” Hoggan’s personal favourite hike is Carrot Mountain, near Shannon Lake in West Kelowna. “It’s a really steep, uphill grind and it’s a good personal challenge—a benchmark from the beginning to end of season to see how well you’ve done.” The group also offers hikes during the week on most Tuesdays and Thursdays at Knox Mountain; although, the midweek hikes usually have a smaller turnout than the weekend hikes. The hikes offered by HikingAddiction are free, but tips and donations are appreciated. For more information, visit hikingaddiction.ca, or join the hikingaddiction.ca Facebook group.
Local group feeds the addiction of hiking BY WADE PATERSON
More than 60 people hiked together April 6, as they enjoyed a scenic trail in Rose Valley Regional Park. The individuals, who share a passion for hiking, were brought together by HikingAddiction: The official hiking group of Kelowna for young adults. What started as a small Facebook group between friends in May 2011 has gained a massive following, with about 2,500 people currently connected to the group. Josh Hoggan, founder of HikingAddiction, says only five to 15 people showed up for weekend hikes during the group’s first year. “This year we haven’t had a group hike (with) less than 25 people,” says Hoggan. Hikingaddiction.ca currently has information on 53 trails in the region. The website explains each trail’s approximate duration, length, elevation gain and difficulty, while also providing a GPS trail map for paid members.
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2014 Hiking Addiction schedule:
(Note: Dates are confirmed; however, exact times are subject to change) Hike #9: Thorne Mtn (Sun, June 1 @ 11am) Hike #10: Cedar Mtn (Sat, June 7 @ 4pm) Hike #11/Special Event: OK Mtn Park 1 Day 48km (Sun Jun 8 @ 6:30am) Hike #12: Mt. Drought (Sun June 15, 6pm) Hike #13: Spion Kopje (Sat, June 21, 11am) Hike #14: Black Knight Mtn (Sat, June 28, 3pm) Hike #15: Kalamoir Park (Sun, July 6, 1pm) Hike #16/Special Event: West Coast Trail (Sat Jul 12 - Sat Jul 19) Special Event: SkyTrek & Boat Cruise (July 20) Hike #17: Canyon Falls (Sun Jul 27 @ 6pm) Hike #18/Special Event: Manning Park Mt. Frosty (Sat&Sun Aug 2/3) Hike #19: Christie Falls (Sun, Aug 10 @ 1pm) Hike #20: Bear Creek (Sat, Aug 16 @ 1pm) Hike #21: Kal Lake Park, Vernon (Wed, Aug 21 @ 6:30pm) Hike #22: OK Mtn Park 3 Day Trek (Sat 30 - Mon Sep 1) Hike #23: Little White Mtn (Sun, Sep 7 @ 11:00am) Hike #24/Special Event: Enderby Cliffs & Float (Sat Sep 13th @ 10am) Hike #25: New Knox You’ve Never Done (Sun Sep 21 @ 4pm) Hike #26: Angel Springs to KLO Creek (Sat Sep 27 @ 10am) Hike #27: Mount Boucherie (Sun Oct 5 @ 2pm) Hike #28: Mystery Hike #1 (Sat Oct 11 @ 2pm) Hike #29: Mystery Hike #2 (Sun Oct 19 @ 2pm) Hike #30/Special Event: End of Season/Halloween Hike (Sun Oct 25 @ 2pm)
Caring for your ride in the Okanagan climate by Kathy Michaels
Getting a chance to indulge in all the Okanagan's bounty oftentimes requires the freedom afforded with car travel. But getting behind the wheel of your preferred ride can be a bit costly. And while you can't control the sticker-price of the vehicle, the cost of fuel or insurance, you can do a few things to ensure that your wheels last longer and maintain their value. According to Cam McRobb, the chair of Okanagan College's Motor Vehicle Trades Department, the automakers have gone a long way to make vehicle care easier and cheaper. "When I was working for Chrysler in the '90s and '80s, 30 per cent of vehicles were brought in for warranty repairs, now that's down 10 to 14 per cent cent," said McRobb. "That means they're being built better from the start." That change, he said, explains why so many mechanics are "pushing general maintenance." Things like coolant flushes, brakes and other routine maintenance have become the bread and butter of many shops, and there's good cause for that. Poor maintenance can drag a vehicle down, and render it useless in short order. "The general public doesn't seem to have time these days to do smaller maintenance items and the type of repairs people are getting hit by nowadays, are from poor maintenance," he said. McRobb said there are basic things that can be done to increase a car's longevity. 1. Oil change: "Making sure your oil is changed on a regular basis is one of the Number 1 things you can do for the maintenance of your vehicle," he said. "A lot of people go 2,000 km over on their oil change recommendation. But you do that 10 to 15 times in a lifetime, you build up sludge in the engine and that creates cumulative failures." Compare it to not cleaning your bathtub, he said. If you don't do it, over time you'll build a brown ring and then cleaning the tub will be impossible. 2. Tire change-over. "A lot of people in the Okanagan have winter and summer tires, and now is a good time to switch over. Actually, as soon as the snow disappears it's a good time to change over," he said. High temperatures are hard on winter radials, he explained. Keeping with the from the bottom up theme, McRobb said it's important to stay on top of the air pressure in your tires.
Every pound of pressure that's off can have a two per cent impact on fuel economy. 3. Wheel alignment. "If you've ever slid into a curve or hit something, you can damage your alignment," he said. "It wears tires or may cause the car to pull or wander." Keep in mind that this isn't necessarily done when the tires are flipped over. Ask your mechanic. 4. Coolant flush. In the summer time, especially in the Okanagan, we have extreme temperatures. Those extreme temperatures prompt use of the air conditioning, which puts a lot of pressure on the engine. And that's troublesome when the old antifreeze is gurgling under the hood. McRobb said that over time antifreeze turns from an alkaline to an acid. Once it's in its acid form, it destroys the internal part of the engine. "It literally becomes a giant battery," he said. Long life anti-freeze has about five years until the engine hurting conversion takes place, while the run-of-the-mill variety has a two year life span. 5. Get a general inspection. McRobb said it's important to get someone to go over your vehicle and check steering, suspension and anything out of the ordinary. These preventative check-ups may just save a lot of money in the long run.
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Balanced conditions lead to
favourable real estate market By Alistair Waters The Okanagan has always been considered a desirable place to call home, and now statistics recently released by the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board appear to back that up. According to OMREB, sales activity across the board in April was up 26 per cent over the same month a year ago and the same amount over March of this year. “The Okanagan-Shuswap housing market moved out of a buyer's market into a balanced market during April following a steady growth in sales and declining inventory,” said Darcy Griffiths, OMREB president and a North Okanagan realtor. “Board-wide, sales statistics for the first four months of 2014 indicate recovery is well underway with rising consumer demand and balanced conditions emerging as we move into the warmer spring months.” It’s welcome news for realtors in the Central Okanagan, who have not seen the sales numbers recorded in April since the summer of 2007. According to Wade Webb, broker-owner at Royal LePage Kelowna, the local market is currently actually three markets in one, with single family residences and townhomes in the $400,000 to $500,000 range now considered a balanced—if not a seller's—market, houses in the $600,000 to $800,000 range a balanced market and houses priced over $1 million a buyer’s market. “It is unusual,” said Webb, who noted the with inventory dwindling at
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the lower end of the market, prices could be increase down the road. And an area that could benefit from that is lot sales. At Lakestone in Lake Country, a development that ultimately could have as many as 1,365 housing units ranging from single family homes to townhouses, condominiums and estate lots, director of sales and marketing Jason Koverchuck has noticed a pick up in sales activity. He said that after launching the sales of lots in Lakestone’s first two phases, business has been brisk. The first phase, slated for 20 estate lot homes, has seen five houses already built, three more are under construction and five others are currently at various stages of design. Lakestone has already launched sales of lots in its second phase, a neighbourhood with a planned 100 single-family houses on quarter-acre lots. “It’s really nice to see the change,” said Koverchuck of the upturn in overall real estate sales in the region. “It’s a gradual change but one that shows things are picking up.” He said as the inventory of lower priced houses is depleted here, more people are turning to building their own homes and developments like his, offered by the Vancouver-based MacDonald Development Corporation, are becoming more popular. The company sells the lots—which start at $195,000—and has four preferred local builders it recommends to buyers. But Koverchuck said a buyer can bring n his or her own builder as long as the developer’s rules are followed. The Lakestone development will feature mainly West Coast contemporary custom homes, described as not necessarily small but not huge, mega-homes either. In the resale market, Webb said the real movement is currently happening at the bottom end, where inventory is dwindling. He estimated there is currently about 4.5 months of inventory in the $400,000 to $500,000 price range, enough to get through to the end of the year. “It’s not a lot but it’s enough.” Another change Web sees is the move to more “urban living” thanks, in part, to the city’s push to have more residential development downtown. While the concept is still fairly new to Kelowna, it’s one Webb welcomes, calling it exciting way to help the sagging condominium market as that is the type of residential property available in a downtown core, with smaller single family homes in a redeveloping nearby North End. “As people cannot find that $400,000 to $500,000 house, they are likely to turn their attention to a nice condo,” said Webb. For those who are willing to pay more and want to live farther out, size, it would seem, still matters. Large houses have become the norm here but Webb argues they are not the problem some predicted they would be. He said home buyers want “bang for the buck” and they also want space. Part of that is dictated by demographics as aging parents and adult children are moving in. “A lot of people are looking for something with a secondary dwelling,” said Webb.
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