Salmon Arm Observer

Tucked away from public view, beyond the limits of the B.C. legislature’s guided tours, lies one of the province’s best-kept hidden gems. Making your way through the maze-like halls of the government building, you can eventually find the legislative library.

Mountains of muscle were on display at B.C. Strongman Provincials, which took over a corner of the Sevenoaks Shopping Centre parking lot on Aug. 15. Frank Lalonde, who was one of the event organizers, said the competition was a big success and led to many athletes setting new personal records. The competitors went toe-to-toe across five events, which included squats, stone to shoulder, overhead press, deadlifts, and shield carry.

It was a bittersweet start to the week for the owners of a downtown Salmon Arm restaurant that opened Monday for responding firefighters. Around 8:10 a.m. on Aug. 24, the Salmon Arm Fire Department responded to a report of a structure at The Sweet Magnolia restaurant on Shuswap Street NE. Upon arrival, firefighters found the business’ owners, Amy Grundmann and Gary Watters outside. Inside they found smoke but no active flame.

UPDATE 11:46 a.m. After a brief power outage, there are no indications of a broader issue beyond the outage-related activations, KFD assistant fire chief Jason Bedell tells Black Press Media. “We are aware and responding to several fire alarm activations that occurred following the brief power outage,” said Bedell. “It is common for fire alarm systems to generate alarms, or trouble signals during power interruptions and subsequent system resets.” KFD is continuing to monitor the situation.

A Salmon Arm resident is marking his family’s 100th year in the community by running for a seat on city council. Professional engineer and dairy farmer Scott Syme announced his candidacy on Saturday via social media. “Salmon Arm has been good to my family for 100 years. I’d like to do my part to make sure it’s just as good – or better – for the next 100,” said Syme in an Aug. 22 post.

When you think of goats, you might picture cute, four-legged mischief-makers capable of eating just about anything in their path – from underwear left hanging on a clothesline to, according to one person, an entire couch. Fire service volunteers probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind. While tales of goats devouring unusual objects may be more myth than fact, there’s no denying their appetite can serve a useful purpose.

The murder of a Vernon Secondary School graduate on the outskirts of Kamloops remains a mystery one year later. At approximately 4 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, Kamloops RCMP responded to a vehicle fire on Tranquille-Criss Creek Road, where the body of 25-year-old Kamloops resident Dillen Bain was located deceased inside the vehicle. Bain was a 2018 VSS grad. The vehicle, a black 2019 Volkswagen Golf, is believed to have been intentionally set on fire along the service road.

The next Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) board will see a pay bump, by $4,000 and $7,000, over what’s received by current directors. At its Aug. 20 meeting, the board approved changes to the CSRD’s remuneration bylaw, which will see increases in compensation for electoral area and municipal directors effective Jan. 1, 2027 – after the Oct. 17 general local election.

Cutting edge modern technology has stepped in to catch any wildfires spotted in the Nanaimo area before they can grow out of control. The forest company Mosaic Forest Management has installed new smoke-detection cameras on top of Mount Benson with 360-degree coverage and up to 50 kilometres of range to continuously scan the landscape, automatically zooming in when a potential smoke plume is detected.

Classic cars, gleaming aircraft, aviation and car enthusiasts filled the grounds at Kelowna International Airport (YLW) on Saturday for the third annual Wings and Wheels event, but the unexpected star of the show wasn’t a Lamborghini or an airplane – it was a black bear that had climbed a tree near the entrance.