Skip to content

Year in Review: A look back at Observer headlines from August 2024

August

With the start the new year, the Salmon Arm Observer is taking this time to share some of the stories that made headlines throughout 2024.

August

The date was different but 25,203 people flocked to the 32nd annual ROOTSandBLUES Festival. Satisfaction flowed from patrons, performers, organizers, police and more over the three-day event on the Salmon Arm Fairgrounds. Kimm MagillHofmann, chairperson of the Salmon Arm Folk Music Society that hosts the festival, said Monday morning, July 30, that she was pleased overall with the experience, particularly as the festival was a month earlier than usual. “It has been a challenging year, but we’re looking forward and we are all so proud of staff for their hard work and dedication over the past two years,” she said.

It has been said, usually with a bit of a laugh, that to be from Salmon Arm you need to have lived there for several decades. While this is only his fifth year in the community, it could easily be argued Garret Pristie has earned the right to say he’s from Salmon Arm. In fact, to at least one person he’s known as Mr. Salmon Arm, in part for all the things he does behind the scenes to better the community. Friends of Pristie call him humble, explaining he just does things for people out of a genuine desire to help. “He’s Mr. Salmon Arm because he is everywhere doing everything … he doesn’t do any of it for profit. He’s always out and about helping the community,” said Jessica Chevallier.

Despite playing on teams throughout North America and abroad, everyone on the ice at Salmon Arm’s Rogers Rink last Thursday evening was a Silverback. The team hosted its Pro-Am Alumni game Aug 1, which saw Silverbacks of hockey seasons past once again put on the team’s colours for a game of shinny. Twenty-four players were divided into teams Purple and Grey, and while both sought the win, it was clear from the frequent smiles seen on the ice that everyone involved was having a good time in the company of the Silverbacks family.

Evacuation orders went into effect earlier this week for numerous properties near the Hullcar Mountain wildfire burning at Silver Creek. The orders, issued by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD), the Township of Spallumcheen and the Splatsin Band, went into effect Tuesday night, Aug. 6, after strong winds aided the fire’s growth. As of Wednesday morning, Aug. 6, the fire had grown from a previous estimate of 330 hectares (Tuesday afternoon) to 670 ha.

Falkland author Matthew Heneghan was chosen to receive British Columbia’s Medal of Good Citizenship. The province selected B.C. Day (Monday, Aug. 5) to announce the names of the 18 individuals next in line to receive the honour, awarded to those who have acted in a generous, kind or selfless manner for the betterment of their communities without expectation of reward. Heneghan, who was raised in Salmon Arm and resides in Falkland, was selected to receive the medal for his mental-health advocacy.

Salmon Arm’s Vienne Bredick was on a high after being one of 15 athletes aged 16 and under chosen to represent B.C. at the upcoming Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships. The 15-year-old J.L. Jackson Secondary student earned the honour to compete in the Aug. 9-11 event for U16 and U18 athletes with a personal best in high jump, 167 centimetres (5.5 feet) at the U16-SR 2024 BC Athletics Provincial Track and Field Jamboree, held July 12 to 14 in Nanaimo.

A feeling of relief settled over the Shuswap on Monday, Aug. 11 when the BC Wildfire Service changed the status of the Hullcar Mountain Fire near Armstrong from out of control to being held. Based on this, the Shuswap Emergency Program downgraded evacuation orders to alerts, with previous alert areas moved to an all-clear status. Since the end of July, the Shuswap has endured almost daily “severe thunderstorm watches” often for a period of several hours.

“I’m just excited that this is finally happening.” This was part of Coun. Debbie Cannon’s response to the awarding of a contract for the West Bay Connector Trail, a proposed safe pedestrian connection between Salmon Arm and neighbouring Neskonlith and Adams Lake bands. “I know this has been a lot of work for our engineering department and I just want to thank him for all he’s done and look forward to this project finally moving baby steps ahead,” continued Cannon at the Aug. 12 council meeting, where ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. was awarded the preliminary design work.

The upcoming 55+ BC Games will be a special one for Mary Pakka, who has been competing in them since 1992. A big reason this year’s Games are important to the 91-year-old White Lake resident is because they’re being held in Salmon Arm, Sept. 10 to 14. For Pakka, it will be an opportunity to reconnect with friends and fellow competitors close to home and show off what the area has to offer. Pakka said she was excited when she learned Salmon Arm would host the Games, in part because she’s learned from experience how smaller towns seem to do it better. “Little towns like Salmon Arm do it up so much better than bigger towns, big cities,” said Pakka.

Though the weather was at times was less than fair, the Salmon Arm Fair’s first August run proved to be a success. “We definitely had fall weather. We had a bit of everything…,” laughed fair manager Jim McEwan. “Just goes to show you can never predict the weather.” Despite the bouts of wet weather, people remained determined to enjoy the annual event, put on by the Salmon Arm Fair and Shuswap Lake Agricultural Association. “On Saturday, even with the spotty rain, we still had really good crowds,” said McEwan. “We weren’t far off from our record crowds.” 

A 25-year-old man was killed in a collision that resulted in a tractor-trailer going off the Bruhn Bridge at Sicamous. Just before 7 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 24, an eastbound semi truck driven by Raminderjeet Singh hit the south railing and plunged into the channel below.



About the Author: Salmon Arm Observer Staff

Read more