The issue was that we couldn’t afford to just come back and hope one of us would get a good job.

Welcome to Shangri-flawed
With help wanted signs sprouting like roadside weeds, it’s not surprising that Okanagan employers are struggling to cope. But just when you’d expect job seekers to be sitting in the driver’s seat, many wannabe workers are getting a bumpy ride. High housing costs and stagnant wages are obvious culprits, but the following three case studies, along with our salary comparisons, reveal there’s more to this picture.
Illustration by Will Enns
Read more of the original stories celebrated in our 30th-anniversary issue.
Anya Mayoss-Hurd: Miss Teen Canada Contender
Anya Mayoss-Hurd’s sign should be fire. The 16-year-old redhead arrived in Canada from Birmingham, England, on the day lightning set Okanagan Mountain Park ablaze. She used the experience in a required speech for the Peachland Ambassador program that led to her coronation as Miss Teen Okanagan at the Miss Teen British Columbia competition. Now that speech is helping to carry her to the Miss Teen Canada finals in Toronto on July 9.
Summer in the Valley
We asked you to show us your favourite Okanagan summer activities and we’re knocked out with the results. Obviously our readers are active, outdoorsy and often startlingly adventurous. Take a look – and check out page 25 for contest winners plus a chance to play a round of golf on us.
A Way With Words
Role models, mentors and resources for Okanagan wordsmiths
The Okanagan is home to both established and aspiring authors producing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, humour and children’s titles.
Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often
…nearby there is a bohemian restaurant which is filling up on an unassuming weekday evening, with some of the Okanagan’s best and brightest minds. The group hosting tonight’s reoccurring event is the Okanagan Institute, …creative professionals who…talk about really cool stuff.
Java Story No Jive
Seventy-five per cent of the beans used by Shuswap Coffee Company are grown by women in the poorest regions of the coffee growing world. But as impoverished as these growers are, they are giving back to women right here in the Valley.
Caravan Farm Theatre: Leading Lady
To young actor Courtenay Dobbie, Caravan Farm Theatre seemed a mirage: Clydesdale cast-mates and stages sprung from fields for sold-out crowds. But eight years after her first show, she’s holding the reins. For two months during the summer of 2003, Courtenay Dobbie woke in her nylon yellow tent, her eyes swimming in the blue sky above the screen. Her ears replayed the echo of applause coasting through trees—the 24-year-old was playing the lead in Caravan Farm Theatre’s





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