Penticton, British Columbia, February 14, 2019 – Penticton Wine Country Chamber Members have voiced their concern over the Highway 97 closure. The Highway 97 Road closure between Summerland and Penticton has been costly to many Penticton Businesses.   The Chamber asked its members whether business has been affected by the Highway 97 closure and the answer was a resounding yes. The closure has cost local businesses additional delivery costs, late arrivals of product, cancellation of orders and many angry customers. As well, it has resulted in staff shortages with so many employees travelling from West Kelowna, Kelowna and Peachland to…

News Read More.

MEDIA RELEASE Penticton, January 23, 2019 – The Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce launches campaign to support local businesses. #PentictonFirst The Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce launches #PentictonFirst campaign to encourage our membership, the business community at large, and all Pentictonites to support one another when the opportunity arises. The #PentictonFirst campaign gives participants entries to win significant quarterly prize draws while buying products and services from local businesses. The rules are simple – one entry will be awarded each time you shop at a local business and post on the social media platform of your…

News Read More.

Congratulations to all the 2018 Nominees. 31st Annual Business Excellence Award Winners Ogopogo Tours – Award Winning Sustainable Sightseeing & Wine Tours Sustainable Resource Industry Excellence sponsored by Greyback Construction Ltd. Penticton Lakeside Resort and Conference Centre Workplace Culture Excellence sponsored by SOICS Liz Murphy with Hoodoo Adventure Company Most Valuable Employee sponsored by Downtown Penticton South Okanagan Events Centre (SOEC) Newsmaker of the Year sponsored by Penticton Toyota Valley First Health & Wellness in the Workplace sponsored by BDO Canada LLP Cannery Brewing Farm to Glass sponsored by Parkers Chrysler Dodge Jeep Penticton Farmers Market Tourism Excellence sponsored by Visit Penticton YES Project – Penticton Youth Non-Profit…

News Read More.

Photo Credit: Colin Darce The City of Penticton has created an economic development task force with a dozen organizations in the area, focused on building strategic partnerships. Members include the Downtown Penticton Association, the Penticton Indian Band, Okanagan College, the Penticton Chamber of Commerce and South Okanagan Similkameen Immigrant Services, among others. The city said the partnership is “aimed at formalizing how information is shared, priorities are set and common interests are identified when working towards the collective objective of developing Penticton’s economy.” The partnership is in line with goals set earlier this year in Penticton’s five-year economic development strategic plan, the…

News Read More.

Penticton entrepreneur Jason Cox faced the CBC Dragon’s Den successfully by honing his People’s Crafthouse business plan into 90 seconds and now he wants to share the art of the elevator pitch. As part of Small Business Week, JCI Penticton is hosting an elevator pitch workshop. An elevator pitch is a 30 second to two minute speech designed to garner interest in your business, project, idea or yourself. The workshop is an opportunity for business minded individuals to learn the structure of an effective pitch, practice it in from to the coaches and get feedback to help them perfect it….

News Read More.

More than 100 nominees for annual Penticton Business Excellence This year, there were more than 100 businesses nominated for the 17 categories at the annual Business Excellence Awards. “Every one of those nominees really deserves to be celebrated,” said Neil Wyper, president of the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce, speaking at the gala awards banquet Saturday evening. It’s a sentiment echoed by Blair Noel, vice-president of the Okanagan Hockey Group, which was awarded Business of the Year. “There are a lot of great businesses that were nominated in every category,” said Noel. “It just shows what a real…

News Read More.

More than 400 members of the local business community gathered Saturday night at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre for the 30th annual Penticton and Wine Country business excellence awards. Seventeen winners were selected from more than 100 finalists by a secret panel of judges that changes every year. The full list of winners below: Business of the year Okanagan Hockey Group   Business leader of the year Keith MacIntyre – Big Bear Software Inc. Young business leader of the year Mare McHale Winery of the year Poplar Grove New business Nest and Nectar Sustainability Nature’s Fare Excellence in marketing…

News Read More.

The Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce has announced Kim Kirkham as its new executive director. Kirkham is a senior personal banking officer at Valley First Credit Union and community engagement coordinator at the South Okanagan Similkameen Volunteer Centre, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is also host chair for the 2018 Scotties Curling Championships. “The amount of impact that the chamber is committed to generating for our business community requires an executive director to have the skillset to hit the ground running,” said Neil Wyper, president and chair of the hiring committee.  “The board is confident that Kim…

News Read More.

Proposed changes to the federal tax scheme for small businesses may be the right idea, but are taking too broad of a swipe, according to Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce president Neil Wyper. The federal government’s proposed changes would close three loopholes the Ministry of Finance said are used by high-income individuals to avoid paying their share of income taxes. Wyper said he’s still waiting to hear from members to develop a full response to the proposed changes, but offered a general uneasiness about the proposals. “It’s difficult for the government to suggest that taking advantage of rules…

News Read More.