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AUGUST 14, 2014
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Maine takes Rossland-Trail Open
Vol. 119, Issue 126
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Blooming Winery and chamber host open house community hosts awards, conference BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
All that’s left is fine details to embellish the city for the 11th Annual BC Communities in Bloom (CiB) awards and conference next month. Trail CiB volunteers and Silver City staff have been digging in behind-the-scenes for months to put some shine on the town for the three-day event that starts with a meetand-greet Sept. 11. “We are down to the fine tuning of decorating and making sure we have volunteers line up because there is lots of work to do right until the end,” said CiB member Mary Martin. The provincial CiB competition kicked off in July as judges travelled across BC to visit participating towns and cities for two days to view about 80 per cent of the growing communities. Judges prepare a written report of each municipality and provide a bloom rating which measures how the community improves from year to year. And for the first time, Trail’s group is looking forward to sharing why and how Trail grew from an industrial town into an alluring city before the provincial winners are announced on the Saturday evening. What Martin would most like to see happen during the Trail, “Look at us now” celebrations, is residents coming out in droves for a weekend of activities that includes an elegant affair in Jubilee Park, and tours of Teck, the city’s historic rock walls, and the Beaver Valley. Friday night’s “White Night” in CiB’s recently completed Sissinghurst White Garden project is slated to be a sophisticated catered evening that will feature Columbia Gardens wines, Tony Ferraro’s jazz band and keynote speaker Greg Belland, Teck Trail’s operations manager. “It’s going to be a glorious night in the White Garden,” said Martin. “We’d really like as many locals as possible and we’ll accommodate everyone we can get.” Scheduled the following day is a full roster of events beginning with an 8 a.m. registration and an information session by Trail’s CiB chair Dan Rodlie and Larry Abenante, the city’s public works manager, about how to work together and combine resources, volunteers and civic staff. See TRAIL, Page 3
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LIZ BEVAN PHOTO
Ben and Tersia De Jager hosted an open house at the Columbia Gardens Winery on Tuesday to show off the renovations to the guest house on the property. Above, Ben is serving up some of the fruits of their labour to guests who came to see the new guest house and take the tour. The De Jager's are celebrating the first anniversary of owning the winery. BY LIZ BEVAN Times Staff
The Columbia Gardens Winery hosted an open house on Tuesday evening to showcase the hard work owners Ben and Tersia De Jager have put into their winery and guest house since purchasing the property a year ago. Tersia De Jager says she was delighted with the turnout at the open house. “I think it went great,” she said. “The people's reaction was really positive and we had a great evening.” The renovations took almost a year, and the De Jager's made it to their deadline with two days to spare. “It is such a huge relief (to be finished),” she said. “We are just so grateful that we managed to get this done in the target that we set out.
We really wanted to do it in the first year and it is actually pretty awesome because (Thursday) is our first anniversary date.” The renovations to the guest house included hanging original photographs, and decorating the house with up cycled items such as old doors, pallets and wrought iron. “We used everything old and unconventional for a rustic, vintage ambience and a soft-toned pallet to create a romantic atmosphere,” wrote De Jager in a handout from the open house. “Old wooden doors became vanities and we turned pallets into kitchenettes and barn doors.” The guest house is available to rent for weddings, get-togethers, or just a night among the rows of grapes. The open house was put
on in a partnership with The Trail and District Chamber of Commerce and De Jager says she couldn't ask for more from the local organization. “I think it is only positive,” she said of her relationship with the chamber. “We only have great things to say about Norm and his office. They have a great attitude towards the winery and they recognize as us being a tourist destination. The value that the winery has to Trail, they see that. It's great to work with them.” Norm Casler, the executive director of the chamber, says the winery is a prime example of the goals the organization has set out for the business community in Trail. “(The chamber) is an opportunity for businesses to get to know other businesses,” he said. “With the open house
(Tuesday), however many people were there, every one of those people will go and tell other people about what they experienced there.” The chamber also has a hand in increasing the foot traffic to winery through their Visitor's Information Centre. “In the case of the Columbia Gardens Winery, in terms of tourism, having a winery is good for our community,” said Casler. “We have people that come into the visitor's centre (run by the chamber) and they say, 'What is there to do around here?' and we have a list of nearly 101 things to do. The winery is one of the top.” For more info on the Columbia Gardens Winery, visit their website at www. cgwinery.com or call 3677493.
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