How long have you been in the village?
Two months now. I rolled in on my birthday, April 3.
Where were you before?
I was down on the lower mainland, we lived in Chilliwack, but I was commuting to work, to Surrey, to White Rock for the previous three years, prior to moving out here. It’s a long commute. It’s about an hour each way. You get used to it, but when you come out here you get a lot more time with your family, it’s a lot better.
What brought about the decision to move to Nakusp?
The opportunity came up in our company. I wanted to move forward and become a store manager, and what better place to come than Nakusp? Me and my wife discussed it and thought it was a good opportunity for my family and for my career.
What do you think of the village so far?
I think it’s great, the community has been very, very welcoming. It’s such a neat little town. It reminds me almost of a mini Whistler. The shops here are really cool, and it’s got that artsy kind of vibe to it, and I like that.
Where else have you lived?
I grew up in Prince George, for 26 years, and then I moved to Chilliwack for work, and then bounced around a few positions in the lower mainland, and now we’re living in Nakusp.
How long have you been with Overwaitea?
I’ve been with the company for 22 years. I started in Grade 10 as a night stalking clerk in the bakery, and as a cleanup person. When I graduated the opportunity presented itself to move into an assistant manger role, and the rest is history.
How long will you be here? Is it a set time?
You basically sign a contract saying you’ll be here roughly two years. It could be shorter, depending on the opportunities. Our company is growing right now. We’ll be in five provinces in Canada, and I’ll be here as long as they let me stay here.
Would you like that to be a long time?
I will stay here as long as they’ll have me. I’ve got a young family at home right now, and my wife is enjoying being a stay-at-home mom, it couldn’t be better right now.
You mentioned the art scene in the village, what else are you enjoying about the area?
The outdoors, the hiking, we went for a walk the other day down on the beach. Coming from the suburb where we lived in Chilliwack, there was lots of construction, lots of expansion, lots of traffic going by. The thing we enjoy the most is the safeness of the community for our daughter. We can let her run around, and when we go down to the beach she gets to run along the beach. You don’t find a lot of those opportunities on the lower mainland, and if you do get to a beach, there’s a lot of people around. Here, we went down to the beach the other day and there wasn’t a single person on it. We hung out there for a good hour, it was great.
I love the outdoors, I love the community. We started growing vegetables a few years ago in Chilliwack, and I see lots of people in town with the raised boxes and growing their own vegetables. It’s just a cool little community.