By Maxine DeHart

After a 25 year career with Telus and 15 years with Tom Harris Cellular, Chris DeHart has moved into a telecommunications consultant role for Tom Harris and Telus. Tom Harris Cellular is Telus’ largest independent dealer in Canada with over 300 employees in 48 locations across B.C. and Alberta, dedicated to helping you communicate. Chris has been working with many of his business clients for over 20 years bringing innovative communication solutions that not only improved their business efficiencies, but also driving their profits up. Contact Chris at 778-721-0023 or chris.dehart@tomharris.com.

Congratulations to popular morning radio hosts Andy & TJ of 101.5 EZ ROCK (Bell Media) who are celebrating their 15th anniversary together on air.

Chris Derickson, a councillor with the Westbank First Nation and four-year veteran with the board was elected the new Okanagan College Board of Governors Chair. Chris recently received the Forty Under 40 Award from Business in Vancouver. Gloria Morgan, former chief of the Splatsin Indian Band was acclaimed as vice-chair.

With the final event held at the Delta Grand, the 2018 Canadian Culinary Champion representing British Columbia is chef Alex Chen of Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar in Vancouver. Chef Barry Mooney from Gio in Halifax representing Nova Scotia took the bronze, and the silver was awarded to chef Eric Gonzalez from L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon representing Montreal. The Gold Medal Plates Wine of the Year was awarded to Tantalus Winery for their 2015 Riesling.

The Hidden Gem Restaurant has opened at 526 Lawrence Avenue (formerly The Yellow House) owned and operated by Tammy and Chad Wilson. The restaurant has been completely renovated from top to bottom, including the upper level bar/lounge. If you are travelling on Lawrence Avenue at night, you will not miss the charming 1906 Victorian style house decorated with red and white rope LED lights. Hidden Gem is all about the dining experience, with golden cutlery, glass straws and table cloths. Chef Derek Benitz has created a classic menu with locally sourced fresh ingredients. Popular house specialties are chicken supreme, pork loin, rib eye and Cioppino. Soups, appetizers, salads and desserts complement the meals. They offer a full range of cocktails and local wine and they even have a $1,000 cocktail (yes $1,000) on the menu. You will have to experience that for yourself. Jean Rene Levesque is the dining room manager. Open Tuesday to Saturday for dinner. Reservations for private parties of 20 or more will be taken for Sundays and Mondays. Call 250-470-0032.

Congratulations to Phyllis Mintram who is celebrating 10 years with the ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç Hostesses this month. Brenda Scruton is the volunteer coordinator of ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç Hostesses. davebren@telus.net.

Celebrating 10 years in business, Kettle Valley Woodworks has rebranded to reflect more of what they do and is now known as ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç Wallbeds. Owned and operated by Wayne Unger and located at #3 – 2720 Hwy 97 (across from Bannister), ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç Wallbeds is ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç’s only custom wallbed and storage solutions business. Wallbeds save space and you can literally create a new room in a few minutes with any of Wayne’s quality products. More than just wallbeds, Wayne also custom builds home offices, storage units or you can put them all together. Many new homes are now incorporating wallbeds and offices into their dens to make smaller rooms more usable with excess space. Wayne offers free in-home consultations or you can stop by the showroom. Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç Wallbeds has been a supporter of the Maxine DeHart – Ramada Hotel, United Way Drive-Thru Breakfast for many years. Call 250-860-7056 www.kelownawallbeds.ca.

The Rotary Club Okanagan Mission is holding meat draws at the Creekside Pub and Grill, 3929 Lakeshore Road every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Proceeds for the next year go to the Rutland Boys and Girls Club Breakfast Program and the Starbright Children’s Development Centre Autism Program. Meat prizes are provided by Lakeview Market. There will be four draws with three per draw for a total of 12 meat packages.

MNP ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç LLP congratulations Rose Lariviere, Jeffrey Durrant, Jennifer Wells, Jared Cook, Ashley Odermatt and Curtis Krause who successfully completed the 2017 Common Final Exam. Special congrats to Jennifer Wells who made the Chartered Professional Accountant’s National Honour Roll.

Kudos to the Eldorado Hotel who won the 2018 Hospitality Industry Blood Drive Challenge with 14 donations. To give blood visit to www.blood.ca, call 1-888-236-6283 or download the GiveBlood APP.

Congratulations to three new CPA candidates from Crowe MacKay LLP: Pushpinder Singh, Devin Hilbretch and Rohan Jacobs on completing their Common Final Exam.

Current Taxi is celebrating their first anniversary. They had a fantastic 2017, exceeding their expectations. Their Tesla fleet grew from two cars to five and now has a dispatching team managing their phone lines seven days a week making it easier to be contacted. Current Taxi was also the successful winners of the ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç Chamber of Commerce’s Rising Star Business of the Year Award this past October. Dale Conway is the founder/owner of Current Taxi. Download their app or 250-863-4163. www.currenttaxi.ca.

Pushor Mitchell Lawyers LLP has two new partners. Eric Ledding is a senior civil and commercial litigator with a practice focused on business and property litigation, creditor’s remedies and personal injury claims. Keith Inman is a corporate and commercial lawyer with a practice focused primarily on advising companies with respect to going public transactions, reverse takeovers, public and private financing, asset and share purchases, mergers and acquisitions, plans of arrangement and corporate restructurings and reorganizations.

White Kennedy LLP in West ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç has changed its name to WK Group LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants. WK is still at the same location at #1 – 2429 Dobbin Road and has the same team. Call 250-768-3400 www.wkgroup.ca.

In honour of February, the month of love, QB Gelato owned and operated by Victor Laderoute and Kevin Bojda is hosting a Share the Love with Dessert series every Friday and Saturday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. at 1884 Dayton Street. You can either eat in or take out one or all of the five delicious desserts or QB Gelato. Choose from Sticky Toffee Pudding Baked Alaska, Sour Cream Waffles, Burnt Sage Butter and Holy Cacao, QB’s Gelato Bars or Chocolate Blini’s. Advanced orders can be placed for dinner parties. Call 250-861-6622 hello@qbgelato.com.

For the last 10 years, CATCH and Success by 6 has been working together to promote the importance of the early years in our community, helping to make sure that every child has the very best start in life. This work will continue under the new name of The Central Okanagan Early Years Partnership.

The Old Time Fiddlers are hosting a Sweetheart Dinner and Dance, Friday, Feb. 16 at the Rutland Activity Centre on Dodd Road. Tickets $15 from Irene at 778-821-4095 by Feb. 13.

Okanagan Clinical Trials are looking for people with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease or other type of dementia needed for a study. Located in ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç, Okanagan Clinical Trials is conducting a study to determine the effectiveness of two investigational medications for subjects who are identified as APOE4 homozygotes. This genetic background increases an individual’s risk for development of Alzheimer’s. Eligible volunteers are men and women between the ages of 60 and 75 with no memory impairments or other symptoms of early Alzheimer’s. The company was selected to participate because of its proven track record in conducting clinical trials since 1992. Call Dr. Paul Latimer or Dr. Kim Christie at 250-862-8141 www.okanaganclinicaltrials.com.

Attention all local charities! Hudson’s Bay Giving Day is Friday, April 6. Giving day is a one-day shopping event designed to help charitable and non-profit organizations in Hudson Bay communities to raise awareness and funds through the sale of the Giving Day tickets to their networks. Hudson’s Bay will partner with local charities that order tickets for Giving Day free of charge and sell to their donors, partners and friends for only $5, keeping 100 per cent of the proceeds of each ticket sold. As an added incentive, the local registered charitable organization that sells the most tickets for their Hudson’s Bay store will receive a portion of the proceeds from their participating store’s in-store ticket sales on April 6. Contact Kim Proulx at kimberley.proulx@hbc.com or call 250-860-2483 (local 224).

The ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç Canadian Italian Club is hosting a Valentines Italian Dinner on Saturday, Feb. 10 at their clubhouse at 770 Lawrence Avenue. For tickets call Joe at 250-878-3619.

Birthdays of the week – Sergio Cunial (Feb. 7); Karen Erickson (Feb. 7); Bernice Williams (Feb. 8); Christine Patton (Feb. 8); Tracy Gray (Feb. 8); Shannon MacNamara (Feb. 8); Judie Barta (Feb. 9); Jim Stuart, appliance installer (Feb. 11); Tim Light (Feb. 11); Nikki Csek (Feb. 12); Laurie Gaymer (Feb. 13); Jim Laing (Feb. 13); Todd Cashin (Feb. 13); Kasha Lanyon (Feb. 13); Buck LaRoche (Feb. 13); John Kilpatrick (Feb. 13).

Maxine DeHart is a ÁðÁ§ÉñÉç City Councillor and local hotelier. Phone her at 250-979-4546 or 250-862-7662; fax 250-860-3173, E-mail maxdehart@telus.net.