This past week was a busy and bittersweet one for Oliver Parks and Recreation like many others in our community due to the major shift in the weather.
We had scheduled a very necessary electrical upgrade to the Community Hall for Tuesday Nov 25 & Wednesday Nov 26, resulting in the temporary closure of the Recreation Office, Weight Room and Hall.
Everything went smoothly at first, and at the end of Tuesday it seemed like the project would be wrapped up on schedule by mid-day on Wednesday.
Then, the snow came. Much to the delight of the children who were able to go sledding the next day and those waiting for ski hills to open there was a lot of it blanketing the town, but the snow came much to the chagrin of all those families and businesses like ours that were then left without power and no idea when it would be restored. Fortis was working around the clock to restore power to residents all over the province and were not able to come back to the Community Centre to reconnect the power on Nov 26 as scheduled.
The facilities staff did a great job clearing the parking lots and walkways around the park and the recreation team rallied to stay positive, let as many customers know about the situation as possible and start preparing for the special events planned for the weekend. Wednesday and Thursday passed without any updates from Fortis which had everyone worried about the weekend’s events, finally the call came Friday morning to let us know that Fortis would be there to reconnect the power by noon.
Thanks to Fortis and the great work of the team at Argon Electric, the electrical upgrade project is now complete, and power was restored just in time.
Kudos to the Oliver Business Association and everyone involved in the Oliver Community Christmas Light Up celebration that took place last Friday night. Lots of families bundled up to go out and shop and take in the planned activities. A big thank you from Oliver Parks and Recreation to the volunteers who gave out popcorn and hot chocolate in the hall, the Oliver Fire Department for their assistance in keeping everyone warm with a big bonfire and to Mikie Spillet and Ken Repkow for braving the cold on stage to bring musical holiday cheer to everyone in the park. It was a very windy night so there were lots of people questioning whether or not the fireworks display would happen – technician Frank Zandvliet weathered the storm and put on a fantastic display this year that would not have been possible without generous donations from the Oliver Tourism Association, the Rotary Club of Oliver, the Osoyoos Indian Band and an anonymous donor who left a note encouraging people who enjoyed the fireworks to support the Oliver Community Foundation fund.
The celebration continued with the “Breakfast with Santa” on Saturday morning and it was wonderful to see so many families out enjoying a meal and special event together. Entertainment was provided by the SOSS Jazz Band led by Lisa Ante, as well as the OES Choir and a group of young bell ringers led by Lori Martine.
Many volunteers including the Youth Ambassadors, Youth Cares, photographer Jen Jensen and our own P&R Volunteer Crew donated their time to make this event so wonderful and we extend our gratitude to all of you.
During times like this past weekend it is clear that Oliver’s community spirit is alive and well.
Submitted by Carol Sheridan
