The Presidents Dinner honouring Chamber volunteers held Monday night was the setting for awarding the Volunteer of the Year (2026) award to George Marine of GMK Consulting, long time Chamber Ambassador, and newly sworn in director of the Chamber Board.
The award for the Marion Bremner Director of the Year went to Curtis Tarapaski, President of Crosspace Construction, who stepped down from the Board in 2026. Curtis was Chair of the Policy Advisory committee throughout 2025 and travelled to the Canadian Chamber Policy Conference in Halifax in 2024 where he presented the Kelowna Chamber policy promoting dismantling interprovincial trade barriers.
Dan Brown was named Ambassador of the Year; Derek Gratz received his departing Chair Gavel; and Maryse Harvey, Chamber President in 2024 was given a lifetime Honorary Chamber membership.
Patrick Bobyn, Chamber President was the enthusiastic host of the 2026 Presidents Dinner. “I am honoured to be following in the footsteps of our first Board President, D.W. Sutherland,” said Bobyn.
“He would be amazed to see Kelowna today, and what the efforts of Chamber presidents over the past 120 years have brought to the city. Our 2026 Presidents Dinner was a great event for everyone.”
One of the evening’s highlights was the swearing in of new Board Directors by Mayor Tom Dyas, himself a two-term Past President. The swearing-in is always a task given to the City’s Mayor after each new Chamber board election. All past presidents and directors received a box-framed 120th Chamber anniversary medallion.