Robin Poon
News Reporter

Customers at the Merritt post office donated more to the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health during a recent collection drive than at post offices from 100 Mile House to the Okanagan.

Donations to the foundation from Merritt customers totalled $1,718, according to Iris Rogalski, who works at the local Canada Post.

Rogalski says the total exceeded contributions at post offices throughout Merritt's postal district, bordered by 100 Mile House to the north, Revelstoke to the east, and the Okanagan to the south.

Customers at post offices in Logan Lake, Cache Creek, and Kamloops—all within the district—did not donate as much as Merritt.

"I'm always amazed, with the small town, how well we do here," says Rogalski.

"Naturally, we want to thank residents of Merritt and area for their generosity."

Canada Post founded the Canada Post Foundation for Mental Health in 2008.

The foundation provides money to a variety of causes related to mental health, such as counselling and shelters for abused women and the homeless.

Post offices across Canada participated in the foundation's donation drive, raising $1.1 million, beating its overall fundraising goal of $1 million.

Staff at each post office decided how to raise money, according to Rogalski. In Merritt, customers who made a donation were allowed to enter a contest in which they guessed the number of jellybeans in a glass jar. Customers were allowed to enter each time they donated.

However, the winner, local woman Sandra Tiessen, guessed just once.

"Sandra guessed it exactly and she was the only one with 316 jellybeans. We didn't have to worry about a tie," says Rogalski.

Hundreds of entries were received, adds Rogalski. Tiessen won a stamp book containing all of the stamps issued in 2008.

Rogalski says Merritt post office employees are already thinking of ideas to raise money for the 2011 drive, including having a hot dog roast.

"Next year, we're hoping to make it bigger and better."

Larry Plotnikoff only took over as the City of Merritt's leisure services manager last August, but he has worked in recreation since his high school days.

Plotnikoff, who was born and raised in Castlegar in the West Kootenays, found his first job at an outdoor swimming pool in nearby Nelson at the age of 15.

He worked in Nelson and at an indoor pool back in Castlegar before making his way to Simon Fraser University to study economics.

To support himself, he also took a job at the SFU aquatic centre, eventually becoming the school's aquatic co-ordinator and pool manager. There, Plotnikoff realized that his duties at the pool were far more interesting to him than his classes.

"There was a lot of history—sports history—at SFU," he recalls. Among his fondest memories was meeting players from the B.C. Lions, many of whom were alumni.

Overseeing the pool in the face of budget cuts in the mid-80s was an excellent way to cut his teeth as a manager, Plotnikoff adds. "It was really neat to have some challenges."

Plotnikoff enjoyed the work so much that he abandoned the economics degree and decided to pursue recreation as a full-time career.

After getting married, Plotnikoff returned to the West Kootenays and worked for the recreation departments in Nelson and then Trail.

He stayed in Trail for nearly a decade. However, with a daughter in university, a son well into high school, and other relatives moving away, Plotnikoff decided it was time for a change of scenery and the next step in his career.

Merritt offered a relatively central location in British Columbia and fairly mild weather.

"My daughter is in Vancouver. From the Kootenays, it's an eight-hour drive. The Kootenays are definitely more isolated."

He visited Merritt with his family to get the lay of the land after applying for the post of leisure services manager here.

"We really felt comfortable. You don't always see that, even in smaller towns.

"Just as strangers, we felt really welcomed."

The friendly atmosphere and the nearby mountains sealed the deal for Plotnikoff and his outdoorsy family—fans of dirt biking, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing. "This area is great. Just the terrain is fantastic for us.

"I could see myself being here for the long haul."

He started work in Merritt on Aug. 23, succeeding then-acting leisure services manager Carolyn Marleau, who is now the City of Chilliwack's manager of leisure development.

"I'm still getting my feet wet to a point," admits Plotnikoff when asked what challenges he faces.

Nevertheless, he notes that many municipal recreation departments are expected to not just maintain facilities, but also provide services.

Plotnikoff says he looks forward to co-operating with local groups to expand the City of Merritt's menu of recreational programs. He says he hopes the city can support more community events as well.

He adds that better leisure services improve local quality of life, but drives economic activity, too.

"Certainly, recreation is a factor in many people's decision to move to an area."

Mike Youds
Kamloops Daily News

Canada's No. 1 country music festival and the country music capital that hosts it have a new lease on life.

After a year in hiatus, Merritt Mountain Music Festival returns July 7-10, 2011, Claude Lelievre, general manager of Active Mountain Entertainment and a festival co-founder, announced Wednesday.

Although the first headliner won't be announced until November, it didn't take long for word to spread. There are simply too many fans out there clamouring for a revival.

A standing army of volunteers is keen to rejoin the excitement.

High demand by the general public was a key factor in the company's decision to carry on.

"It's amazing," Lelievre said. "The phone calls and emails have been overwhelming."

After 17 years of producing the B.C. Interior's largest entertainment event — attracting as many as 140,000 festival visitors one year — family-owned Active Mountain folded its tent immediately after the 2009 festival, citing financial burdens despite a top draw in headliner Kenny Chesney.

Lelievre said at the time that the festival would be back, but when his invitation to bring aboard new financial partners didn't have the desired effect, hope for a revival began to flag.

"We just worked at it," he said without divulging details. "We've spent the last year working on it, thinking and refining it."

Some of Active Mountain's larger creditors have come aboard as partners, he added.

"The company has come around."

With much of the North American music industry still weathering a sluggish economy, the time is ripe for signing entertainers to the festival, he noted.

"This is probably one of the best years in the business because it has been slow in the concert business."

September's Electric Mountain Music Festival, which had touted itself as a potential successor to Mountainfest, was a case in point. The hip-hop, electronica festival failed to win enough audience to keep it going. It won't be back next year, Lelievre said.

"It was very poorly managed. I would never want to live that experience again."

As for Mountainfest, the format will remain as it was. In 2009, the event was reined in with reserved-only camping and an end to the wide-open, wild partying of Camp ground. That change was exaggerated by "viral marketing," he said.

"The old Mountainfest is not changing. We'll still have fun and sunshine and great country music."
Tickets will now be sold expressly by the company through its website and toll-free phone number.