The Kootenay Contraption Contest, made possible by FortisBC and The Province of British Columbia, is excited to announce the winners of this year’s Kootenay Contraption Contest, an annual initiative that challenges Kootenay youth to dream big and design a contraption that solves a relevant problem using STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and innovation. Throughout […]

Get ready to be legally entertained! Black Productions, renowned for their spectacular presentations including “The Addams Family” and “Mamma Mia,” proudly announces the arrival of “Legally Blonde: The Musical” to the Capitol Theatre stage. Based on the beloved movie starring Reese Witherspoon, “Legally Blonde: The Musical” follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles […]

Nelson’s Emma Weiland is the President and Co-Founder of the Endo Educational Organization of Canada. She founded this non-profit with her mother, Deborah Weiland, in 2019. The organization was recently featured as the organization of the month at the Kootenay Koop, bringing in donations for the cause. “That was really neat,” says Weiland, “We’ve had […]

A locally-created short film about French-speaking outdoors women of the West Kootenays, NATURE + ELLES, has been selected for the 2024 Women’s Adventure Film Tour (WAFT). The film will be screened with English subtitles on April 5th at Castlegar’s Old Theatre with a Q&A with director Jackie Atkins, producer Patrick Lac, and three of the 11 local participants, […]

Alice Gibson nurtured her passion for creating beauty from clay in the bustling ceramics studio on Selkirk College’s Victoria Street Campus where she developed confidence at the pottery wheel that has propelled her onto the national stage. Chosen as one of 10 amateur potters in a nationwide search, Gibson is a contestant on The Great […]

Canadian beekeepers have won several first place awards at both the North American Honey Show and the American Honey Show, two prestigious juried events showcasing the best honey products on the continent. Amanda Goodman Lee and Jeff Lee, who own two honey brands, Honey Bee Zen and Swan Valley Honey, of Creston, B.C., won first […]

Local couple, Taseyah Davies and Alexander Lamm have launched a storytelling digital program for children, StoryNest. “StoryNest is a sanctuary for young children ages three to nine and it’s filled with audio stories and songs that teach virtues like honesty, compassion, empathy,” says Davies. What makes the program stand apart is that the stories are […]

There’s no need to travel the country to find the best baker in Canada. A simple commute to the diverse community of Creston will locate the winner of the Great Canadian Baking Show (GCBS) Season 7. The local teacher Loïc Fauteux-Goulet claimed the top prize in the national baking competition series, a cooking competition series […]

School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) Teacher Sean Marechal has received the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Marechal teaches Grade 9 and 10 students in the Valhalla Wilderness Program at W.E. Graham School in the Village of Slocan. “I can’t think of a teacher more deserving of this recognition than Sean. His dedication and passion for building […]

Since 2018, Shauna Fidler has been tasked with organizing a yearly Expo that brings together area producers and buyers. Fidler owns DESIGN FARM, a Slocan-based company that creates design solutions for producers building delicious and bio-diverse legacies of good food and community. Fidler explains how she got involved initially. “In 2018 the Columbia Basin Trust […]