Mike Campol, who was elected to Town of Osoyoos council during last November’s municipal election, was the special guest speaker at the Osoyoos Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon meeting last week. Campol spoke about how his passion for this community has grown since moving here almost four years ago. Campol believes Osoyoos should be promoted more as a place to live, raise a family and run a business rather than just a place to visit for tourists. Campol is seen with Rotary Club president elect Marieze Tarr.
KEITH LACEY
Campol tells Rotarians about his passion for this community since moving here in 2011
Mike Campol says he knew within 48 hours of arriving in Osoyoos that he wanted to spend many years in this community.
There’s no reason this town’s population can’t grow significantly if there’s a concerted effort to market Osoyoos as one of the best small towns to call home in all of Canada, the newly elected member of Town of Osoyoos council said at last week’s regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Osoyoos.
“We have to market this place as a great place to live and raise a family and not just visit during the summer,” said Campol, who came to Osoyoos in 2011 after accepting a short-term contract to run food and beverage services at Spirit Ridge Vineyard Spa and Resort.
Campol told Rotary Club members that he “had never heard of Osoyoos before” when he accepted his new position, but knew within hours that he wanted to bring his wife and two young children from Ontario to live here.
“On my second day here, I was looking off the balcony where I was staying at Spirit Ridge and I called my wife and said I was never going back (to Ontario),” said Campol. “I told her how amazingly beautiful this place was and we put our house up for sale the next day.”
Campol’s duties at Spirit Ridge quickly expanded from food and beverage supervisor to general manager of the entire resort, a job he held until last summer.
There isn’t a lot of longevity in the hospitality industry and he figured his time at Spirit Ridge was coming to an end, but he and his family had grown to love living in this community and they never thought about leaving after he lost his job, said Campol.
“I just couldn’t see myself living anywhere else,” he said.
Campol spent several weeks riding his motorcycle across the Okanagan Valley and other parts of British Columbia looking for an opportunity to start his own business.
He got a call last fall from the Spirit Ridge Owners Association, the group that owns the 450 rental units at the resort, and they asked him to become their property manager at his former workplace, he said.
He then decided to start his own business called MJC Hospitality Ltd. His business not only provides property management services, but also food and beverage consulting services and hospitality management.
His business has taken off and he’s thrilled to have been able to keep his family in Osoyoos and operate the business from his own home, he said.
“This was the right decision and it’s working really well for me,” he said.
Campol is a founder of the Spirit of the Game, the local non-profit organization that raises money to assist local youngsters and their families so they can join and participate in minor sports and recreational activities.
Spirit of the Game has raised more than $30,000 in its first 18 months of existence and has helped almost two dozen local families, he said.
“This community got involved unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” he said. “The amount of community support has been simply amazing. We’ve raised enough money already to guarantee our success for the next several years and we’re only really getting started.”
Several local children have been able to play minor sports and a handful of children have been able to attend school field trips when they otherwise would not have been able to afford it, he said.
The original four-person board of directors with Spirit of the Game has expanded to nine and the future looks very bright for this organization moving forward, he said.
“It has simply been incredible,” he said.
Campol said he has learned a great deal in his three months on town council and is looking forward to being part of a progressive council for the next four years.
It’s his personal opinion that Osoyoos would attract more permanent residents if more people from across Canada were informed about what a wonderful community this is to raise a family.
“We have to find the balance between tourism and economic development,” he said. “We have to look more at the big picture and our ability to attract new families to live here. I think we have the opportunity here to deliver an optimal living experience.”
Most people in B.C. know all about Osoyoos and the incredible weather and great lifestyle opportunities, but that’s not the case for most of the rest of Canada, he said.
“I think that’s almost tragic,” he said.
If more people knew about this community, he’s convinced hundreds would move here.
“It’s a great place to start a business and move your family,” he said. “That’s where I see us moving forward.”
Campol said a personal goal during his first year on council would be to try and encourage 500 to 600 new residents to move to Osoyoos within the next 12 months.
He will work with Destination Osoyoos staff to try and attain this goal, he said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
