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Year in Review: August

The News looks back at what made headlines in July.
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Kris Beech drives the ball during the inaugural Splendermous Golf Tournament held at Hyde Mountain Golf Course. File photo

• Work was well underway on a bylaw that will permit the use of off-road vehicles in the District of Sicamous. A draft of the off-road vehicle bylaw was on the agenda for Sicamous council’s July 12 committee of the whole meeting. Coun. Gord Bushell said the bylaw is still a work in progress.

• The Sicamous and District Recreation Centre was hopping over the weekend with softball and hockey training. The Junior Prep Prospects Camp kicked off on July 31 and ran to Aug. 4. Instructors included BC Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Don Hay, Vernon Vipers head coach Mark Ferner, Portland Winterhawks goalie coach Angelo Maggio, former NHL’er Sandy Moger, Colorado Avalanche’s director of player development David Oliver, and Sicamous Eagles head coach Rob Fitzpatrick.

• There was a big celebration at Craigellachie on Monday, Aug. 7, with representatives from the Okanagan Chinese Canadian Association unveiling an interpretive sign honouring the Chinese pioneers whose labour was crucial to the construction of the CP Railway line across Canada.

• Salmon Arm Mayor Nancy Cooper and Sicamous Mayor Terry Rysz are anxiously awaiting word from the province regarding major highway projects proposed under the former BC Liberal government.

• A ban on off-road vehicles in the backcountry was put in place in the Shuswap. It prohibited dirt bikes, ATVs, side-by-sides and other off-road vehicles travelling on Crown land due to the potential wildfire risk.

• Representatives of three communities came together in support of one at the Splendermous Golf Tournament. The inaugural event, held at Hyde Mountain Golf Course on Friday, Aug. 11, saw the Splatsin, City of Enderby and District of Sicamous unite under the Splendermous banner to raise money for the new multi-use public recreation facilities in Sicamous. The vision is a multi-use, multi-generational outdoor recreation facility that includes a tennis court, two pickleball courts and an outdoor hockey rink.

• Sicamous council saw a proposed waterpark as a good fit for the community and will look at ways to make it fit. During its Aug. 9 regular meeting, council received a presentation from Bounce the Shu’s Tyler Bartley, who was seeking support for setting up a new waterpark on Shuswap Lake. The concept revolves around a modular 70 metre by 70 metre obstacle course-styled inflatable waterpark.

Through a zoning bylaw review, the District of Sicamous is looking to secondary dwellings as a way of providing more affordable housing options in the community.

“We’re looking at trying to streamline and trying to make it more affordable and make it more accessible and more palatable,” said Mayor Terry Rysz.

• Members of the Shuswap Food Action Co-operative (SFAC) were keen to dig in and raise the profile of local agriculture. SFAC member Jim Kimmerly said only an estimated 60 per cent of local agricultural land is being used for agricultural purposes. SFAC has wheels in motion to change that, with one of their first steps being to connect owners of agricultural property with people who want to get into farming but can’t afford the land.