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Another year has come and gone, and for the Kimberley Bulletin, it’s been a year of change. This year saw Black Press Media sold to U.S.-based Carpenter Media, our editor Carolyn Grant retire after more than two decades with the Bulletin, a move from the little blue house downtown to our new digs on Mark Street, and a postal strike that necessitated our subscribers to come to the new digs to get their papers. Change is constant and throughout all of it, we have appreciated your subscriptions, your support and most recently, your in-person words of encouragement or appreciation for the work of our tiny team here at the Kimberley Bulletin. Furthermore, throughout these changes and all those that have happened to the news industry in the nearly 100 years this paper has served this community, the news hasn’t stopped. Here are some of the stories that shaped 2024 in Kimberley, B.C. January Dynamiters’ Christmas Classic win streak ended by Fernie Ghostriders Nearly 2000 fans packed into the Civic Centre for the time-honoured Christmas Classic, but unfortunately they did not get the results they hoped for, as the Fernie Ghostriders won both games. The Dynamiters had won both of the two Christmas Classic games against their rivals the last three times in a row. Dreadnaught Ski Racing’s banner year gets underway Kimberley’s Dreadnaught Ski Racing followed up a massive 2022/23 season with an even bigger winter in 2023/24. It got underway with an FIS speedcamp in January. Lois Creek’s native cutthroat trout population supplanted by invasive brook trout After the recent discovery that an invasive species had supplanted the native cutthroat trout in Kimberley’s Lois Creek, the ecosystem has become the focus of a project from Wildsight’s Youth Climate Corps (YCC). Wildsight says it’s likely that the stream flow has been impacted by logging, mining and community building. This would include a few partially clogged culverts that would restrict stream flow and fish passage. They added it is also quite likely that at some point in time, potentially when Lois Creek was dammed for local power generation, it was stocked with the non-native brook trout. It has now become clear that cutthroat trout are more than likely locally extinct in Lois Creek. East Kootenay average home prices continue to rise According to the annual update from B.C. assessment the average single family home in Kimberley price rose by six per cent and now sits at $499,000. Elsewhere in the East Kootenays, Invermere rose by 10 per cent, Fernie and Creston both rose by one per cent and Canal Flats had the largest in crease in the region at 13 per cent. Pat Barclay receives Kimberley’s Jack Ratcliffe Commitment to Community Award Pat Barclay was presented with the 2024 Jack Ratcliffe Commitment to Community Award in City Council Chambers by Mayor Don McCormick and Jack Ratcliffe himself. Barclay spent 40 years volunteering in Kimberley, including his many years with the local Rotary Club. McCormick said it was Ratcliffe’s exceptional level of service to the community that inspired the award. Pat Barclay has shown an exceptional dedication to serving the community for the past 40 years, McCormick said. He is a true community leader. Kimberley’s Kalle Ericsson gets three podiums in FIS Para Alpine Ski World Cup Kimberley’s Kalle Ericsson , a visually impaired skier, saw continued success last season, following up winning gold in all five events he and his guide Sierra Smith competed in at the FIS Para Alpine Skiing Canadian and USA national Championships, with there medals in Switzerland at their first World Cup event. FEBRUARY Teck Kootenay Cup at Kimberley Nordic Centre gets over 250 registrants The Teck Kootenay Cup was held at the Kimberley Nordic Club on February 3 and 4, the biggest event of the club’s season with over 250 registrants ranging from three years old to over 70. Organizers and competitors battled through less than ideal winter conditions, with the El Niño winter resulting in a lot of rain, but the event was a huge success for the club overall. First cases of fatal wildlife disease detected in B.C. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was detected in deer south of Cranbrook, marking the first known cases of the condition in the province, according to the B.C. Wildlife Federation.The first sample was taken by a hunter from a male mule deer that appeared to be healthy, however, testing by the B.C. CWD Program confirmed the presence of the disease. Jim Hendricks appointed Kimberley CAO The City of Kimberley’s former Chief Financial Officer and Acting Chief Administrative Officer, Jim Hendricks, was named the new CAO. Hendricks has worked in local government for more than 23 years, seven with Kimberley and 16 years prior to that at the City of Fernie. Before moving to local government Hendricks spent 15 years in financial management in industry in both mining and oilfield service. Living Lakes Canada calls for strong government action following latest snow pack report The B.C. River Forecast Centre released its snow survey information in early February, revealing that snow packs in the East Kootenay — and across the province — were well below normal. In the Kootenays the West was at 67 per cent of normal and the East 63 per cent. Living Lakes Canada called for strong government action, voicing concerns about the province’s freshwater supplies. Athletes training at Kimberley Alpine Resort ahead of Para Alpine National Champs From Feb. 12 to 16, around 45 athletes and 10 coaches were at Kimberley Alpine Resort, training and competing in the Canadian and USA National Para Alpine Championships and FIS Speed Series. After low snowfall essentially all winter up until then, a whole bunch of snow came all at once, making conditions challenging for ski racing. The 2023/24 Kimberley Dynamiters Awards ceremony On Sunday, Feb. 18 The Kimberley Dynamiters organization held their annual awards ceremony at the Conference Centre. Highlights included Tristan Weill getting named Best Forward, Most Popular Player, Leading Scorer and MVP for the team and the Eddie Mountain Division. Tyler Lindal, now one of the team’s assistant captains was named Most Improved and this year’s captain Trey Stephenson was named Best Defenceman. The ceremony also honoured the six 20-year-old players who would be leaving the team that year. Grammy Award winning artist Allison Russell performs in Kimberley Grammy Award winner Allison Russell and her band the Rainbow Coalition performed to a sold out crowd at Centre 64 on Tuesday, Feb. 27, as part of her tour for her 2023 album The Returner. Dynamiters’ playoff run comes to a heartbreaking end in the first round For the first time since 2013/14 the Kimberley Dynamiters were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the Columbia Valley Rockies, who took the series 4-1 — a shocking result especially considering they’d won the Teck Cup the previous season. MLA Clovechok will not seek another term In February former MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke formally announced he would not be seeking re-election, citing health challenges and discussions with his family. He served as MLA for the riding since 2017, under the banner of the former BC Liberal Party, which was the re-branded to BC United in 2023. Kimberley Curling Club celebrates 100th birthday The Kimberley Curling Club turned 100 in 2024 and the momentous occasion was celebrated at the historic club on Saturday, Feb. 24 with a ceremony attended by over 100 people. Past president Gord Jenkins provided attendees with an overview of the rich history of curling in Kimberley, including the fact that at one point there was three separate curling clubs in the city, located in Townsite, near Centennial Hall and in Chapman Camp. The current building was built in the early 1960s. MARCH Kimberley Cranbrook men and their children recognized by Lifesaving Society, BC Yukon for saving a drowning 3-year old Kimberley RCMP announced that the Lifesaving Society, BC & Yukon has awarded the Silver Medal of Merit to Nixen Sherratt, Cooper Pearson and Cole Pearson, And the Silver Medal of Bravery as well as the Governor’s Gold Award to Kimberley’s Chris Pearson and Cranbrook’s Jason Sherratt. They received the awards at the 112th Annual Commonwealth Awards for Honour and Rescue on March 9 at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver. The award is being presented because of their actions in saving the life of a three-year-old girl who nearly drowned in Wasa Lake the previous July. Dreadnaught at Kimberley Alpine Resort hosts FIS World Criterium Masters The highlight of an incredible season for Dreadnaught Ski Racing was certainly their hosting of the FIS World Criterium Masters , which drew around 250 athletes from 15 different countries for an event that is akin to a world cup for alpine ski racing. Kimberley Underground Mining Railway celebrates 40 years in 2024 The Sullivan Mine and Railway Historical Society held their Annual General Meeting in Kimberley on March 19, with 2024 being a very special year for the railway as it celebrated its 40th anniversary. Kimberley & District Business Excellence Awards handed out The Kimberley and District Chamber of Commerce held its annual Business Excellence Awards on Friday, March 22 at Centre 64, honouring the work done by local businesses and individuals last year in a wide variety of categories. Some changes were made to this year’s event, including the addition of new award categories and the decision to host it at Centre 64. The Business of the Year Award this year went to Kamu Sauna, a relatively new business in Kimberley, who create authentic Finnish-style saunas. APRIL Year end festivities at Kimberley Alpine Resort Following a hugely successful North Star Days the weekend before, Kimberley Alpine Resort hosted the annual Spring Splash and Dummy Downhill on April 6 and 7. Over 200 brave souls signed up to take the spring splash plunge, while crowds gathered to watch Fernie’s Shred Kelly and Kimberley legends The Honeymans perform live. Construction begins on Marysville Business Park week of Apr. 15 Construction began on the Marysville Business Park in April, a project designed to enhance infrastructure and result in enhanced business development opportunities. It was mainly been funded by way of a contribution from the Province’s Regional Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program, to the tune of $1 million. The Kimberley Land Development Reserve put in the remaining $297,000. Revelstoke Grizzlies win Mowat Cup in overtime against Ridge Meadows Flames Kimberley hosted the Mowat Cup in April, the season end Provincial Junior A Tier 2 championship formerly known as the Cyclone Taylor Cup. The change was made following the BCHL’s departure to independent hockey, resulting in all Junior B teams in BC getting designated Tier 2 Junior A. The Kimberley Dynamiters, as host city, were automatically entered into the tournament and would ultimately coming in last place, with the Revelstoke Grizzlies winning for the second year in a row. KORE gets $448,750 from provincial REDIP grant The Kootenay Outdoor Recreation Enterprise (KORE) received a $488,750 grant from the second intake of the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP), created by the provincial government’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation (JEDI). For the next two years they will put this funding towards 15 different projects, that include the development of a Peer-to-Peer network, an awareness campaign at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, creating multiple Makers Market events, their new KORE Outdoors Podcast and much more. MAY City of Kimberley on Stage 2 Water Restrictions as of May 2 Following diminished snowpack levels and a summer that was predicted to be hot and dry, the City of Kimberley made the decision to enter Stage 2 Water restrictions by early May of this year, encouraging residents to use water responsibly very early in the season. Kimberley’s Parks and Facilities Master Plan draft is complete The City’s Parks and Facilities Master Plan was completed in May, the result of over a year of work. The massive document t covers all aspects of recreation facilities in Kimberley, looks at the condition of those facilities and potential costs to maintain, repair and replace. It is a document that will guide Council over the next ten years in terms of planning and prioritizing recreation facilities. RDEK approves 20-site campground at Wycliffe Regional Park The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) announced that a campground has been approved for development in Wycliffe Regional Park. The RDEK said that development of a seasonal campground has been in the works for nearly four years and was dependent upon grant funding, which came through by way of a $518,223 grant from the provincial government’s Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program’s Economic Development funding stream. Wycliffe is one of the RDEK’s largest regional amenities — a 164-hectare park that features amenities such as hiking and biking trails, horseshoe pits, picnic areas and a disc golf course — rated third best in Canada. Science journalist and CBC Radio host Bob McDonald speaks in Kimberley On Monday, May 13 Kimberley’s McKim Middle School hosted an innovation fair, centred around the themes of Water; Transportation, Building, Food, Nature and Energy, and featured author, science journalist and CBC Radio host Bob McDonald as the keynote speaker. McDonald’s illustrious career spans four decades and includes countless accolades and achievements. In addition to regularly hosting The National, he is the host of CBC Radio’s award-winning science program Quirks & Quarks, which draws a weekly audience of around half a million people. McDonald spoke twice during the day, once in the morning to a group of students and once in the evening, for a combined total of nearly 900 attendees. Moose Hide Campaign event held in Kimberley Kimberley’s third-annual Moose Hide Campaign event was held on May 16 in the Platzl. The campaign itself is an international, grassroots movement to end violence gender-based violence that began over a decade ago. This was the third time Sam McCurdie has helped facilitate one of these events in Kimberley and this year for the first time, the organizing team also held one in Cranbrook on the same day. Award-winning international chef Ryan Cain takes helm of historic Old Bauernhaus Restaurant In October of 2023 Nils and Michelle Fuhge announced that after 23 years, they would be retiring from running the historic Old Bauernhaus restaurant. In May it was announced that award-winning chef Ryan Cain would be taking over. JUNE Ceilidh on the Mountain at Kimberley Alpine Resort Kimberley Alpine Resort and the Kimberley Pipe Band hosted Ceilidh on the Mountain in June, a stunningly beautiful day of music and highland dance atop Northstar Mountain. The event was already incredibly memorable, but it was made infinitely more special due to a surprise ceremony to honour Liela Cooper, who this year celebrates 50 years with the Pipe Band and 52 years of Highland Dance.
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Rachel Reeves urged business chiefs to judge her on her ability to deliver economic growth as she faced claims she was treating firms as a “cash cow” by hiking taxes. The Chancellor acknowledged she had received a lot of “feedback” over the Budget , which included £40 billion of tax increases, but insisted no-one had presented a “credible alternative” to her plan. In an attempt to reassure firms she would not repeat the tax raid, Ms Reeves told the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference the Budget had “wiped the slate clean” and public services would now have to live within their means. Her appearance at the conference in central London followed public criticism by the CBI’s chief executive Rain Newton-Smith and chairman Rupert Soames over the increase in hiring costs caused by rising minimum wage rates and a £25 billion annual increase in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) announced in the October 30 Budget. The Chancellor said: “I’m not immune to the challenges that businesses face, including the challenges from higher taxes. But the alternative was instability hanging over us for another year.” Ms Reeves told bosses at the conference: “I’ve had lots of feedback on the Budget, but what I haven’t heard is any credible alternative to what I did to put our public finances on a firm footing.” But she insisted that “businesses can now be certain that we’re never going to have to do a budget like that again” and “public services now need to live within the means that we’ve set”. The Chancellor insisted that stabilising the public finances and increasing investment would create the conditions for growth, along with measures such as the Government ’s promised planning reforms. “I want you to judge this Government on our number one mission, which is to bring growth back to the UK economy,” Ms Reeves said. “We can’t do that overnight. If I promised that during the election campaign, if I promised that in my first couple of months in the job, you’d say that’s unrealistic. “But over this Parliament we’re going to return investment, we’re going to return growth to the economy, because in the end that’s the only way to ensure that Britain is competitive and to ensure that we punch our weight in the world and to improve living standards for working people and to properly fund the public services that I want to see improved as well.” But business leaders sounded the alarm over the damage the increase in NICs would do to jobs, growth and investment. Ms Newton-Smith said: “The rise in national insurance, the stark lowering of the threshold, caught us all off guard. “Along with the expansion and the rise of the National Living Wage – which everyone wants to accommodate – and the potential cost of the Employment Rights Bill, they put a heavy burden on business.” A CBI survey of 266 firms found 62.4% were likely to reduce the number of new hires as a result of the NICs increase, while almost half – 48.1% – said they would reduce their current headcount. Mr Soames said: “There is no doubt here that in this Budget business has been milked as the cash cow.” He added: “At the moment, there are doubts that the dots of Government policy join up. “This week, the Department for Work and Pensions is going to produce a paper setting out actions to help get a meaningful number of the nine million (jobless people) back into work. “But at the same time, we have a Budget which makes employing people, particularly the young, part-time and low paid, much more expensive. “And we have an Employment Rights Bill which makes employing people much more risky and an adventure playground for lawyers.” Meanwhile, the boss of Hobnob biscuit maker McVitie’s parent company Pladis said it is getting “harder to understand” the case for investing in the UK amid too much Government focus on new industries at the expense of existing ones. Salman Amin said: “What strikes me is that in the race to grow, we seem to be turning our backs on the industries which have built Britain for decades.” Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said: “Labour’s national insurance jobs tax will punish businesses across the country – making it harder for them to create jobs, driving down wages and discouraging investment. “Thanks to Labour’s choices, independent forecasts are predicting growth slowing, inflation rising and borrowing soaring. “It is clear all Rachel Reeves has delivered so far is a litany of broken promises.”