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Oliver:
BC's Wine Capital, Golden Mile, Okanagan Valley,
the USA and Hope Princeton Highway
by Jerry W. Bird
 We
just returned from a wonderful trip from Alberta in
our Dodge Caravan, and decided wisely to make our
overnight stop at the friendly town of Oliver,
where the sign proudly announced, "BC 's Wine
Capital. " After loading up the van with fresh
asparagus, blackberry syrup and other delicacies,
we discovered to our delight that Oliver is home of
the Golden Mile, some of the Okanagan area's finest
wineries. Our first stop was at a Bavarian style
"castle," just south of town, where the popular
Golden Mile Wines are produced.
Information
Package on Oliver and District and a great place to
live and
invest
There's so much to tell, and we are in the process
of completing the story in detail thanks to the
excellent package of tourism and commercial
material sent in the mail by Oliver's Mayor and
Patrick Deakin of the Economic Development Office.
For now we will include some of the area photos
from our trip that tell a small part of the
story.
The Castle at
Golden Mile Vineyards, Oliver, BC
Gersighel
Wineberg
Highway #97 &endash; RR#1, s40, C20'
Oliver, BC VOH TO
Winery & Vineyards of the Miracle
Mile
Winemakers : Gerd
& Helgi De Gussem
Deep South Okanagan Valley
White Wines / Pinot Blanc/ Gewurstraminer / Late
Harvest Gewurztraminer / Chardonnay/ Chenin Blanc /
Riesling
Red Wines / Sunset Ret / Pinot Noir /
Merlot
Contact: Dirk De
Gussem. Phone: 250-495-3319
Golden Mile &
Cambret Vineyards, Oliver, BC
Captions for the
above photos to come.
Osoyoos Lake
Beach . Scenes on this page are from our May 2002
tour.of the Okanagan Similkameen area, famous for
its agricultural bounty and award winning wines.
Much more to come.
Background
Information on Oliver and District: BC's Wine
Capital
Our
Near Term Future:
• 2001 Oliver
claimed the title of 'Wine Capital of Canada' based
on: our 13 wineries (about 10% of Canada's total)
~ 2400 acres under
wine grape (about 23% of Canada's total),
- more than our
share of national awards (Wine Access magazine
recently awarded Tinhorn Creek Vineyards' 1998
Merlot the Best Red Wine in Canada)
- internationally
trained wine makers.
Our new and still
developing emphasis on wine tourism also reveals
something about:
- our climate
(lots of sunshine, hot summers, warm spring and
fall),
- our physical
appearance (lush vineyards and orchards irrigated
by wells and the Okanagan River),
- our peaceful,
small town rural nature (~ 4,300 people live in
town and another ~ 4,300 people live in the
adjacent rural area).
Our postal code is
V0H 1T0, which our residents have aptly translated
as
Valley of Heaven
In The Okanagan.
Housing:
Housing is still
inexpensive although realtors in our community say
they have been experiencing a huge increase in
interest in residential properties for several
months now fueled in part by our wine tourism, in
part by 'baby boomers' looking to retire and in
part by the events of September 11th,
2001.
Commercial and
Industrial Properties and Business For
Sale:
Some commercial
properties on our main street (Highway 97) are
available for lease or for sale. Businesses for
sale include a gift shop, a small grocery store, a
hotel, and a craft/pottery shop. A few industrial
properties near the down town core are also
available for lease or for sale.
Major Employers
(more than 100 employees)
¸ K & C
Silviculture (tree seedlings),
¸ General
Coach (RVs, 5th wheels and trailers),
¸ Okanagan
Similkameen Growers Co-op,
¸ The South
Okanagan General Hospital, and
¸ The School
District.
The Osoyoos Indian
Band (based in Oliver) is also becoming one of the
largest employers in the area through its
conglomerate of companies and its very progressive
economic development focus.
Amenities
- 18 kilometer
hike and bike path
- A few wonderful
restaurants
- A few
interesting boutiques
- A small lake (no
power boats allowed)
- Two terrific 18
hole golf courses,
- The
aforementioned river
- Ice
arena
- Curling
rink
- Baseball
diamonds
- Tennis
courts
- Good community
hall
- Two ski hills
nearby
- A lakeside
resort, RV parks, 1 hotel, 1 inn, motels, 11 bed
& breakfast operations
- Some of the best
bird watching in Canada
- Three elementary
schools
- A high school
with a wonderful auditorium
- A
hospital
- A great little
movie theatre that sponsors two foreign film
festivals each year
- Launching points
for hang gliders
- Excellent rock
climbing nearby
- Some care
facilities for the elderly
Many people are
choosing to retire here for all of the above
reasons and more (the dry climate appeals to many
with health problems) so our population statistics
reflect a high percentage of seniors, empty nesters
and baby boomers.
Transportation
By road, we are
about:
- 15 minutes from
Osoyoos and the US border,
- 30 minutes from
Penticton,
- 90 minutes from
Kelowna,
- 3 hours from
Spokane, and
- 4 and _ hours
from Vancouver.
We have
approximately 6,000 vehicles per day traveling
through the community in the summer
months.-
We have a 3,200'
paved runway for aircraft (with radio controlled
lighting) and there are commercial airports at
Penticton and Kelowna. -
High Speed
Communications
A cable company
serves our high-speed communications needs at
present. Two companies have fiber optic lines
running through our town; access to their local
hubs is being negotiated. ADSL service arrives June
29, 2002.--
Safety and
Security Issues
In the wake of
Sept 11 we observe that our community has the
following
things going for
it:
¸ we produce
our own food (and wines);
¸ we have an
abundance of water;
¸ we have a
small power plant but are not near any major power
dams;
¸ we are an
easy drive away from major cities but are not close
enough
to be affected by
any catastrophic events there;
¸ we have 4
ways of getting in or out of the community by road
(north on Highway 97, south on the same, east on a
partly paved, partly gravel road and west on a
gravel road).-
Taxation
Our taxes are
comparable to other communities in the south
Okanagan (at the
low end of taxes
in BC.-
Worthy Of
Note
This small
community is the headquarters for two organizations
that are internationally renowned. World Neighbours
Canada is a non-sectarian development agency
supporting grass-roots community initiatives to
alleviate hunger, disease and poverty in Asia and
Latin America. The Okanagan Gleaners is also a
non-profit society (whose members are 'lay people'
of the Christian faith) that produces millions of
servings of dried soup-mix and fruit leather
gathered from produce that is grown in this area
but otherwise would not be harvested for a variety
of reasons. The servings are donated to reputable
relief organizations throughout the world. It is
estimated that volunteers in this community gave
the equivalent of $7 million worth of services and
labour for hundreds of good causes in
2001.
For More
Information
There are three
web sites you can visit for a good look at our
community:
¸
www.oliverbc.ca
(the Town of Oliver)
¸
www.oliverchamber.bc.ca (the Oliver and District
Chamber of Commerce)
¸
www.oliverchronicle.com (the Oliver Chronicle - our
local weekly paper).
We can mail you a
copy of our Community Profile, a compendium of
population and labour force statistics, a copy of
the Chronicle's 'Focus on Business in the Wine
Capital of Canada' - printed in November 2001, a
map, a tourism guide and brochures.
Our two Chamber
staff (Joan Thompson - Manager, and Louise Szalay -
Assistant Manager) are both long time residents and
know a lot about the skills, interests and
experience of local residents that might also be
applied to a new business. They can be contacted at
498-6321.
Thanks for your
interest in our community.
Patrick
Deakin
Economic
Development Officer
Phone (250)
498-3404 ext 205 Fax (250) 498-4466 email:
edc@oliverbc.ca
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