Thomson report

Woodland Hills Development in the Mission has been chosen once again as a desirable shooting location for television. Two new productions were on location at Woodland Hills over the last week, Clean Slate and Behind the Gate both produced by Cheryll Gillespie Media Group Inc.

Clean Slate is a reality TV series with a pilot episode air date of August 22nd on the Global Television network where contestants compete in a variety of challenges testing their financial savvy for a cash prize. The home at 1025 Westpoint Drive was used for a variety of group scenes and post-challenge interviews with the show’s host.

Behind the Gate is a series that will air on Wealth TV in the United States and showcase some of the most unique and luxurious homes in North America and around the world. The episode where the same WestPoint Drive property is featured not only showcases its architecture and unique features, but also speaks to Kelowna as a destination for affluent home owners.

Woodland Hill’s developer Geby Wager believes the broadcast opportunity will be beneficial to the city and tourism. In the personal interview portion of the episode shoot, Gillespie posed several questions about the city and Wager’s answers positioned Kelowna as a premiere place to live. “I believe Kelowna is Canada’s gem and the secret is getting out”, Wager states in his sit-down interview with Gillespie.

Cheryll Gillespie, producer and host of both series, found Woodland Hills to be a perfect fit and plans to return in the fall to shoot a subsequent Behind the Gate episode. Gillespie also looks forward to highlighting Woodland Hills in her syndicated newspaper column, distributed to 283 newspapers across North America. Although Gillespie’s production office and staff are based in Toronto, she is a proud Kelowna resident when she is not traveling the globe with her current television show “Let’s Shop”.

These productions come right on the heels of Woodland Hills also being selected as a shooting location for Antares Media television series Relationships. A pilot episode was shot there in May of this year with further filming to commence in the fall.

--------------------

Plans have been derailed to bring the ABRA Unlimited Hydroplanes and POPRA Off Shore power boats back to Kelowna, this August 8th-9th, 2009. Several factors have attributed to this situation. A lack of corporate sponsorship and a significant amount of costs to facilitate an event of this nature made it impossible to continue under the current conditions.

Kelowna Hydrofest was set to take place in Waterfront Park and would have played host to the Unlimited Hydroplanes, Unlimited Light Hydroplanes and Off Shore Series boats. But with the economic environment in the current condition and companies not in a position to place the kind of financial support behind the event, its future was placed in doubt.

Why IMG International is so successful at these kinds of events is that they do have a sponsor base and they have the dollars to make promotions like this work. More importantly the know-how of how they should work and the people to create an event for success. IMG were the Wakefest promoters.
Amateurs can’t make it in today’s promotion world because of the marketplace we face today and the lack of sponsorship that is readily available. Companies make their plans for a year at budget time and in today’s world that means these are things we are going to put our name to and that is it. This won’t be the last thing that is cancelled at City Park in the future.

--------------------

What was always a large publication in the past Recreation and Investment Properties from the Calgary Herald is down to 26 pages with the current publication just released this past week. Eight of the stories and ads are from British Columbia. I wonder how many buyers are still looking for a new home in Okanagan?

--------------------

After 14 years of ownership Dustin Bigney has decided to trade in his snowboard at Island Snow.

Co-owner, Riley Darke is now the sole proprietor of the snow, skate, wake and fashion store located in Orchard Plaza.

Bigney says he is looking forward to some time off and he has some opportunities he wants to explore.

Day to day operations remain the same under the ownership change and staff is looking ahead to a prosperous future.

The partners have built an incredible franchise there and their growth has been spectacular in a well-managed atmosphere of understanding the customer and delivering the goods.