1. Sun Peaks Secondary Academy celebrates largest graduating class to date
The Sun Peaks School has long been a collective effort, so it was a significant moment to send off the largest graduating class so far. Friends, family and community members gathered under cloudy skies to celebrate the success of Sun Peaks Secondary Academy graduates June 20.
This year’s cohort was the largest to date, with nine students officially moving on to the next stage of their lives – all with honours.
After attending a private ceremony, soon-to-be graduates rode down the Sun Burst Express chairlift before walking through the village, where attendees greeted them with cheers. The public portion of the ceremony was led by Laurel Seafoot, vice president of Sun Peaks Secondary Academy.
“Our students have been lucky enough to learn in this beautiful setting,” she said. “They have been leaders, employees, students, community members, adventurers and risk-takers.”
The graduating class of 2023 includes James Escott, Mattias Grunling, Brock Hawes, Grace Kilba, Aiden Kramer, Noah Lara, Charlie Roberts, Nicole Shaw and Cole Shieven.
2. Bon Voyage to the Voyageur Bistro
It was a bittersweet moment for patrons of the beloved Voyageur Bistro, who celebrated 12 years of the local restaurant when it closed its doors in August. If the walls of Voyageur Bistro could talk, they would tell tales harkening back to Canada’s colonial fur trade and countless odysseys from residents, visitors, staff and the owner, Kevin Tessier.
After over a successful decade owning the Voyageur Bistro, Tessier closed the doors of his French-Canadian, fur-trader-themed restaurant Aug. 15. The Bistro’s journey was long and winding, borne out of Tessier’s experience as a canoe tour-guide, restaurant industry professional and his education in adventure studies at Thompson Rivers University.
Inside Voyageur Bistro, pieces of history collected by Tessier and guests lined the walls. Moose antlers, a mock Stanley Cup, a chainsaw collection, a birch wood canoe from 1937 and a bear trap all offer stories on the history of the Bistro and voyageurs. Tessier recalled how the bear trap was frequently used in a seemingly high-stakes game.
The trap sat open on the bar, appearing ready to clamp shut should it be triggered. Tessier would place a shot in the middle for any brave souls who could grab the freebie and still keep a limb.
“They’d look at it and go, ‘well, I can get a free shot, but I might lose my hand. But still, it’s a free shot,’ and they’d go for it,” Tessier said with a smile. “It was a big risk, and people would do it successfully. Everyone would cheer, and nobody knew that it was welded open. So we play that trick on pretty much everybody.”
The final trip for guests came on Aug. 14, and the night included live music by Andrew Christopher, a long-time performer who graced the halls of the Bistro over its 12 years in operation.
The evening Tessier said, was “monumental, with a lot of love.”
3. Sun Peaks Resort applies to develop a new subdivision
Development and growth are always popular topics with readers, so it’s no surprise this story regarding Sun Peaks Resort LLP (SPR)’s application to develop parcel 27 for residential housing and tourist accommodations is on this year’s list.
The proposed housing development will include 16 homes, and the overall process will take more than two years, according to Darcy Alexander, SPR’s vice president and general manager.
The land will be divided into lots for the proposed development named Alder Estates.
According to Alexander, the land also underwent an archeological assessment in conjunction with First Nations bands as part of the development process.
“Members of the bands come up when we do the groundwork and they use maps to identify what might be potential areas [with Indigenous history],” Alexander told SPIN.
After the archeological assessment is complete, it is sent to the province and bands.
While the development will increase the housing supply in Sun Peaks, SPMRM’s analysis of the proposal presented to council indicated the wastewater system may not have adequate capacity for increased water use, when combined with the housing developments at Switchback Creek on parcel 36.
To respond to concerns over wastewater capacity, SPMRM placed a no-occupancy covenant on phases three and four at Switchback Creek until municipal engineers can determine the system’s capacity.
4. Sun Peaks community pool slated for 2024 reopening
An ongoing hot topic for several years is the fate of the community’s only public swimming pool so readers were happy to learn that after five years, Sun Peaks community pool was getting a facelift.
The pool underwent renovations for a host of necessary upgrades. Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM) is replaced the boiler system, increased solar heating integration, replaced the water treatment system, repainting and resurfacing the pool, splash pad and deck, rebuilding the fence and upgrading the bathrooms.
The pool has been closed since 2019, when work began at Sun Peaks Centre and was subsequently closed because of COVID-19 and the upgrades.
Funding for the renovations comes from the Resort Municipality Initiative, a provincial program that finances resort communities for tourist attractions.
The total funding received was $340,000 for three years. SPMRM budgeted $300,000 for the pool, and the rest of the grant is going towards upgrades at the Sun Peaks Centre, the skating rink and a paved trail near the Orient chairlift.
The municipality has never operated the pool, which Sun Peaks Resort LLP (SPR) originally owned and SPMRM is holding preliminary discussions for a public-private operation model with Alpine Fitness, which is located adjacent to the pool.
5. Long-time Sun Peaks local and business owner Ian McLaren passes away
The community was devastated to learn Sun Peaks had lost a long-standing business owner and avid skier, Ian McLaren.
McLaren passed away Sept. 24, 2023, after a long and storied history as a ski racer, proud Scotsman, business owner, devoted husband and father. He was the original owner of McSporties, Sun Peaks’ first independent retail store, until his diagnosis of dementia and aphasia in 2016.
McLaren was born in Broughty Ferry, Scotland, Dec. 7, 1950. His family immigrated to Vancouver in 1951 when McLaren was six months old and the family moved to Kamloops in 1956, fostering McLaren’s passion for sports.
A talented ski racer, he began racing at the Kamloops Ski Hill when he was eight and was one of the first people to ride the Burfield Chairlift in 1961 on Tod Mountain. He competed in all 39 Over the Hill Downhill ski races at SilverStar Resort, winning multiple times with his teams.
As a business owner, he was devoted to skiing, owning Consigner Sports in Kamloops, which would eventually become McSporties and open in Sun Peaks. SPIN sat down with Matthias Schmid, current owner of McSporties and long-time friend of McLaren, to learn about the legacy McLaren has left behind.
Schmid recalled first meeting McLaren through McLaren’s consignment sports store growing up in Kamloops.
The two fostered a deeper relationship when Schmid started working at McSporties from 1996 to 2002. When Schmid went off to school, the two stayed in touch over the years.
“He was like an adopted uncle to me,” Schmid said.
McLaren’s decision to open McSporties in the ‘90s was a risk, according to Schmid, with the business relying on seasonal winter tourism.
“Opening up a seasonal business at a resort that’s fairly new in the sense that it’s just been bought and it’s developing – it all worked out, but you got to pay a lot of respect to how big a risk it was.”
Schmid remembers McLaren as “a positive person” everyone wanted to be around.
“He had a whole life that was dedicated to trying to have a good time,” Schmid said. “The reason there’s a lot of people that care is because he was fun to be around and he was a positive person. You never knew what he was going to get up to.”
These stories have been edited for length.
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