D.O. NOW PRODUCING PODCASTS, RSS FEED, & FACEBOOK PAGE
DO’s CIRO Radio Technician & IT Specialist Keith Calder is now producing podcasts, an RSS feed, and a Facebook page to help get the word out about Osoyoos and DO activities.
Destination Osoyoos is now using popular new “social media” to reach out and communicate about the wonders of Osoyoos to residents, visitors, and people around the world.
For many years, DO has hosted a website full of information about Osoyoos, and for nearly three years it has operated CIRO 106.5-FM, the “Community Information Radio Osoyoos” station that broadcasts interviews and announcements about events and attractions in this South Okanagan desert resort town.
Now DO’s CIRO technician and IT specialist Keith Calder has propelled the organization into the realm of new social media – producing Destination Osoyoos podcasts, an RSS feed, and a Facebook page.
“It’s all part of our new focus on tourism marketing. We’re looking at different ways to get our message out there,” Calder says. “The goal is to create exciting content – to present the information in interesting ways through all these new media – and to make it really accessible and easy for people to use.”
Since late March Calder has been recording a variety of “podcasts” – short mp3 audio clips which are not only broadcast on CIRO Radio, but are also posted on the Destination Osoyoos website. Web users can click on the podcasts to listen to them from the DO site or they can subscribe at no cost using the new RSS syndication tool, which compiles all the podcasts into a list and makes them easily available through the user’s own free RSS subscription web link.
Some of the podcasts available so far include items about the Osoyoos Desert Centre lecture series, the Osoyoos ‘Easter Eggstravaganza’ event, how to obtain a personal watercraft operator’s licence, April events in Osoyoos, news stories from the latest DO newsletter, and an interview about the new hockey team in town. Calder and Destination Osoyoos Executive Director Jo Knight share the on-air hosting duties for the podcasts. The RSS feed and list of podcasts is at: www.destinationosoyoos.com/uploads/ciro1065.rss.
Calder is also putting the finishing touches on a Destination Osoyoos Facebook page which will allow DO to present information in a variety of formats to people around the world. “And it is interactive, so we will be able to get people’s feedback,” Calder adds. The page will be at: facebook.destinationosoyoos.com.
As he introduces these new communications tools for DO, Calder notes, “We’re keeping the focus on tourism and fun!”
WALNUT BEACH RESORT HAS NEW CHEF
Justin Paakkunainen is the new head chef at Walnut Beach Resort.
One of Osoyoos’ newest luxury resorts is gearing up for the 2010 season with a new chef who has exciting plans to create fine culinary offerings for guests and area residents.
Walnut Beach Resort announced that Justin Paakkunainen assumed duties as resort head chef on March 1, bringing more than a dozen years of experience and an enthusiasm for the South Okanagan and the area’s local produce to his new role. Originally from Thunder Bay, Ont., he trained at Toronto’s George Brown College and has worked at restaurants in Alberta – including a stint as executive chef at Elkwater Lake Lodge.
Paakkunainen says he loves Osoyoos and in his first month he has reorganized the kitchen and is creating new menu options for the food and drink offerings at Walnut Beach’s three dining locations: its classy main restaurant – the Promenade Wine & Tapas Bar – as well as its expansive outdoor poolside patio and its private sandy beach “palapas” area. Paakkunainen notes this has the distinction of recently becoming the first licensed beach in Canada, and people will be able to order right out to tables next to their lakeside lounging chairs.
“My focus is on a menu that is local, healthy and fresh,” Paakkunainen says. He will source as many local products as he can for his creations, and will suggest wine pairings with a variety of South Okanagan wines. During Spring and Summer, Walnut Beach also features a special barbecue lunch and dinner menu, with much of it cooked on large barbecues on the patio.
SIGNAGE AT D.O. REFLECTS NEW MANDATE
Osoyoos Signs staff member Jeanne Sapach and owner Derrald Ulry recently installed new signage at the BC Visitor Centre @ Osoyoos to reflect the new “Tourism Services” mandate of Destination Osoyoos, as well as the location of the building’s Conference Room and the CIRO 106.5-FM community radio station facility.
OSOYOOS COYOTES HOCKEY CLUB HOLDS FIRST TRYOUTS
As part of its ongoing practice of helping to promote community events and tourism by partnering with groups throughout the area, Destination Osoyoos is giving a boost to the new local hockey team – the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s Osoyoos Coyotes – which will begin its first season this coming Fall.
DO has partnered through its Visitor Services in the BC Visitor Centre @ Osoyoos along with the local accommodation sector to help the Coyotes promote the team’s first-ever “Spring Prospect Camp” which will be held at the Osoyoos Sun Bowl Arena on April 9-11. Prospective players must be born between 1990 and 1995. They will be divided into 10 trial teams that will play against each other during the camp. The new team’s website (www.osoyooscoyotes.com) states, “This spring camp is the first step in our process of identifying players who could become future Coyotes ... Players identified at this camp will be invited to participate in our Main Camp in August of 2010.”
The Osoyoos squad is the latest addition to the 18-team KIJHL, which has teams from Princeton to Kamloops and Kimberley to Spokane. A team statement says the Coyotes organization is “committed to building a competitive team that will provide the South Okanagan with a junior hockey club of which they’ll be proud, both on and off the ice. The Osoyoos Coyotes are ready to begin a proud and successful tradition that will help players reach their hockey, educational and personal goals.” The club is led by President John Kapusty, General Manager Roy Schultz, Business Director Randy Bedard, and Head Coach & Assistant General Manager Ken Law.
PLANS UNDERWAY FOR 2ND ANNUAL OSOYOOS CELEBRITY WINE FESTIVAL
Following the great success of last year’s inaugural Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Festival, organizers are all set to go with the 2nd Annual Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Festival, to be held June 10-13 at a number of area locations.
Once again the event will feature celebrities Jason Priestley (Beverly Hills 90210), Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek, National Treasure), chef Ned Bell (Food Network), and a number of their Hollywood friends – and once again a featured gala event will be the Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Auction, which last year raised more than $55,000 for children’s charities. ET (Entertainment Tonight) Canada has confirmed that it will attend and provide television coverage of the three-day Festival, as it did last year.
The five events that will make up this year’s Festival are:
• “The Vinos” – June 10 (8 p.m.) at the Watermark Beach Resort. A wine commercial film festival for amateurs. It will give amateurs the opportunity to compete for cash prizes and free wine by producing a 60-second video on their favourite B.C. wine. A celebrity judging panel will choose the winners.
• “Ride with a Winemaker Bike Tour” – June 11 (9 a.m.-noon) at the Walnut Beach Resort. Join local winemakers as they enjoy a bike ride and picnic lunch in the South Okanagan.
• “VIP Reception & Beach Party” – June 11 (5-10 p.m.) at the Walnut Beach Resort. Participants can sip an array of South Okanagan wines and nibble on delicious appetizers from local restaurants while rubbing shoulders with celebrities.
• “3rd Annual Nota Bene Release Party” – June 12 (noon-3 p.m.) at the Black Hills Estate Winery. Meet fellow wine enthusiasts, taste Black Hills’ latest releases, enjoying great regional cuisine, meet the winemaking team, and get barrel samples of some upcoming releases. Food & Wine pairing stations will be open, a DJ will play music, and the hosts will run optional vineyard tours. Included live band ‘Double Magnum’.
• “2nd Annual Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Auction” – June 12 (7-11 p.m.) at Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort. Proceeds to children’s charities. Participants can sip wines from an array of South Okanagan wines, nibble on delicious appetizers from local restaurants, and bid on rare wine from great Canadian wineries in both Silent and Live Auctions.
The 2010 Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Festival is being co-sponsored by Destination Osoyoos and Black Hills Estate Winery. Tickets for Festival events are only available through the Festival website. For tickets and further information, go to www.osoyooscelebritywinefestival.com.
‘GUNLESS’ WORLD PREMIERE SHOWING IN VANCOUVER APRIL 19
The major motion picture filmed near Osoyoos last June is about to hit the big screen. ‘Gunless’, a comedy western from Alliance Films starring Paul Gross and Sienna Guillory, will have its premiere April 19 in Vancouver and will begin regular runs in theatres on April 30. Filming took place during a mid-30s heatwave at a western-town set constructed in the hills just west of Osoyoos. The cast, crew and production companies Brightlight Pictures and Rhombus Media all praised the location. The production pumped millions of dollars into the area’s economy, and the producers suggested the Osoyoos area may be in line for more filming in the future.
In ‘Gunless’, a notorious American gunslinger, the Montana Kid (Paul Gross), finds himself in the tiny western Canadian town of Barclay's Brush, unable to find a pistol in order to have a gunfight with a local rival.
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