Shen Yun, the world-renowned classical Chinese dance and music company, is set to dazzle Vancouver this week with its all-new 2024 production.
The show, which takes viewers through 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, will be gracing the stage at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, starting on Wednesday and running until Sunday.
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the genuine traditional Chinese culture that was nearly lost, presenting a cultural feast that educates and inspires.
The show features stunning visuals, with state-of-the-art graphics technology bringing majestic landscapes of ancient China to life. Each costume in a Shen Yun performance is a handcrafted work of art, reflecting China’s diverse ethnic and dynastic traditions, making each dance piece an exquisite visual spectacle. The dancers, combining athletic prowess with graceful artistry, tell stories of heroism, romance and virtues like loyalty and compassion. Shen Yun takes you on a tour of China’s rich historical tapestry, from the Yellow Emperor to the Tang and Song dynasties.
Its unique orchestra blends Eastern and Western instruments, creating a refreshing and harmonious sound. Each piece is introduced in English and Chinese, offering insights into Chinese history and culture.
Tickets are still available for this week’s shows and can be purchased here.
B.C.’s finance minister will be coming to Kelowna next month to discuss the provincial budget with the local business community.
Kelowna Chamber of Commerce will welcome BC Minister of Finance Katrine Conroy to Coast Capri Hotel on Wednesday, April 16, from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Conroy will give a breakdown of the provincial budget she tabled last month and then take questions about it from the audience.
The event is part of the chamber’s Speaker Series, which is presented by Okanagan College School of Business.
Those wishing to attend the event can do so by visiting the chamber website here.
There’s no place like Dorothy’s.
Friends of Dorothy Lounge has transformed its experience for guests, offering a brand new food and drink menu.
“It’s a brand new Dorothy’s, and I am so excited about it because I have been involved with Dorothy’s from day one as a performer and a part of the community, but now we have our new dinner service with chef James Holmes, who we are so excited about,” general manager Shannon Lester said.
The dinner service will be available Wednesday to Sunday from 5-9 p.m.
“It’s a dinner spot and an entertainment spot now. We have this dinner service and then entertainment at night … drag shows. (It’s) a real cool vibe, dark, very ‘loungy,'” Holmes said.
Lester said Dorothy’s will still remain a late-night party place and drag bar, but guests will also be able to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere over dinner.
“I’m excited to diversify the entertainment here,” Lester said. “We have been very focused on drag. I’m a drag performer myself, but we are going to try and get some live music in here. We are going to try and get some different entertainment as well.”
A South Okanagan car builder has won the top prize at Toronto’s Motorama, while making history at a Detroit expo this spring.
JF Launier, founder of Osoyoos business JF Kustoms, took home the grand champion award at Toronto’s Motorama car expo on March 10.
Judged to be “cream of the crop” of 400 eligible vehicles, Launier’s 1967 Ford Mercury Cougar took home first prize and a $5,000 cheque for its innovative custom build.
The pastel green vehicle, dubbed the Mercury Predator, has been celebrated for its high build quality, and Launier has been praised for his attention to detail on the model.
On top of winning the prestigious Canadian award, the Osoyoos car designer won his fifth Great 8 finalist award, winning $1,000, at Detroit’s Autorama on March 1. Launier’s Autorama win positions him as the builder with the most Great 8 wins in history.
“I am incredibly proud to have achieved the most wins by a builder,” Launier said in a press release. “This accomplishment would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of my team at JF Kustoms.”
Winners of the Great 8 award are judged on their creativity, engineering and quality of workmanship.
JF Kustoms has a history for reputable craftsmanship. The shop has also made a guest appearance on the show Rust Valley Restorers on Netflix and the History Channel.
A Kelowna wine tour company has once again received the top certification from North America’s largest sustainability program for tourism and hospitality.
Wicked Wine Tours has obtained gold certification from GreenStep Sustainable Tourism for the second consecutive year. Its program evaluates businesses based on their environmental, social and economic impact.
“We are thrilled to receive the gold certification from GreenStep Sustainable Tourism for the second year in a row,” Wicked Wine Tours president Nicholas Wilson said in a press release. “Sustainability has always been a top priority for our company, and we are constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental footprint and support our beautiful Kelowna and Okanagan communities.
“This certification is a testament to our dedication to responsible tourism.”
Wicked Wine Tours has implemented various sustainable practices, such as eliminating all paper from their operations, partnering with local wineries that practise sustainable farming and offering educational components during tours on the importance of sustainable wine production.
Accelerate Okanagan hopes to celebrate a milestone this year when it conducts its sixth annual Okanagan Angel Summit.
The tech incubator is hoping to pass the $1 million mark in funding from angel investors since the program was created in 2019. The summit can reach that goal with $200,000 in funding from investors this year.
Accelerate Okanagan is looking for business owners who meet B.C. investor accreditation requirements to take part in the sixth annual event. They will work together to vet companies, complete due diligence and place an investment into one promising startup at a public pitch event. The group usually consists of between 25 and 35 community members who will ultimately pick a winner among the startups that sign up to participate in the summit.
This year’s summit will run from April 2 to May 23.
“The Okanagan Angel Summit is an approachable and fun way to learn about investing in early-stage ventures because you can start with writing a five thousand dollar or ten thousand dollar cheque and leverage the power of the investor group,” Accelerate Okanagan interim CEO Carollynn Schafer said in a press release. “We are looking for individuals who want to make a difference in our region to be part of an incredible opportunity to learn about angel investment and deploy more capital in the valley.”
The Okanagan Angel Summit has trained 98 investors and supported 200 startups since its inception in 2019, and the businesses that have competed have raised more than $30 million through side investments.
“Beyond the investment, the summit creates real value by allowing individuals with an interest in supporting and building the innovation ecosystem to interact and get to know each other,” Accelerate Okanagan programs director Thuy Tran said. “This is a great year to get involved, as we plan to host more networking opportunities around the finale.”
More information about the Okanagan Angel Summit can be found here.
Legend Distilling is leaving the Okanagan after a successful decade.
The distillery, founded in Naramata in 2013 by local entrepreneurs Doug and Dawn Lennie, announced on social media this week that it is moving to Abbotsford.
A new tasting room is in the works on an agricultural property with new owners, the Noske Family. In the meantime, Legend Distilling spirits will continue to be available at private liquor stores in B.C. and online,” the Facebook post reads.
The Lennies added they would like to thank everyone who has supported them throughout the Legend journey in the Okanagan.
“Our goal was always to produce tasty and innovative products, support local agriculture and contribute positively to our community—and we feel we did accomplish that,” they wrote.
“We wish Chris and Jen Noske all the best as the new owners of Legend Distilling and look forward to visiting the new location soon!”
An infill project on Lakeshore Road that caused some division around the city council table during rezoning will be back before council Monday as owners seek a development permit to move closer to construction.
Council eventually gave first three readings to rezone the property at 3593 Lakeshore Rd. last year after some concerns around traffic impacts along the Lakeshore-Richter-Pandosy corridor were put to rest.
Much of the debate at the time centred around concerns over traffic versus the city’s official community plan objectives of encouraging a wide range of rental and ownership types, and adding density along transit supportive corridors.
The project in question, staff stated in supporting the application, met both of those objectives. At the same time, from a transportation perspective staff said it was not at the point, despite a large number of developments in the area, of putting a moratorium on building in the area.
Before council Monday is a form and character application for a development permit for the four-storey, 20-unit apartment building.
While buildings of up to six storeys are permitted within the new zone, staff indicates the four storey proposal “adds a gradual increase in scale and massing into the existing neighbourhood.”
The development includes parking for 29 vehicles behind a parkade screened from public views as well as shared and private amenity spaces.
The development is the first proposed for the area under the city’s new official community plan guidelines.
Tom Davison doubts there will be a North Okanagan peach harvest again this year.
He is also waiting to see how his apple trees fared through last winter’s cold snap.
Davison is a third-generation farmer at Vernon’s Davison Orchards, and while he suspects his apple trees survived the winter cold snap, he will not know for sure until later this spring.
“It’s unprecedented that we’ve had three challenging winters in a row,” Davison said. “They’ve all had these terrible minus-30 (C) kind of temperatures.”
Davison said apples tend to be more resilient in cold weather, but there could still be some damage to the fruit trees.
One fruit that likely did not make it through the winter is peaches.
Peach trees tend to be more cold-weather delicate than apples, and Davison said it looks like the peach crop was wiped out by the brief, but intense cold snap.
“We are kind of holding our breath to see how they wake up, but the trees have some winter damage for sure,” Davison said. “We have heard tons about the vines and even the cherries—all of those are suffering damage—but apples are more winter hardy, and I don’t think we will have the level of damage we are seeing in cherries, but the peaches look to be very rough.
“This will be the third year with no peach crop, and it looks to me like the trees are pretty heavily damaged. I’m not even sure the trees are going to survive.”
Davison said it is still too early to tell the full impact winter had on apple trees.
“Last winter, we had similar temperatures and overall the apple crop was fine,” he said. “There were some little pockets of damage.”
Davison said damage to apple trees will not be on the scale of cherries and vineyard, but he “wouldn’t be surprised if we have some issues, but I’m optimistic about the apples.”
Kelowna’s one-stop shop for custom car and boat services will conduct its grand opening on Saturday.
August Customs, which is located at 3509 Spectrum Cres., offers car and marine audio services, vinyl wrapping, paint protection, window tinting, dash cams and custom lighting.
The business has teamed up with premier Okanagan car group Okwhips, which will be having its season-opening car meet during the grand opening. That means there will be plenty of cool cars on location as well as the products and services August Customs offers.
There will also be giveaways, including a radar detector, dash camera, audio components, backpack and August Motors merchandise, along with door crasher specials on both Saturday and Sunday. August Customs will be cutting 25% off all Marine audio products, and car and power sports audio products, as well as 15% off all dash cams and radar detectors.
A food truck will also be in attendance.
The store will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More information about August Customs can be found on its website here.