The North Okanagan lifestyle paired with the multitude of wineries nearby are just two of the reasons Carolyn Baldridge packed up her life in Port Coquitlam to move with her husband, Craig, to Vernon.
Baldridge was officially introduced to Vernon council Monday, Jan. 22, by city director of corporate administration Kevin Poole as the city’s new manager of communications and grants.
The Baldridges are quite familiar with the area.
“We’ve been vacationing in Vernon for 15 years,” said Baldridge. “We come for a week, hang out at Swan Lake, and go paddleboarding on Kal Lake. We came here for the lifestyle, paddleboarding, skiing and cycling.”
The closeness to wine country, she said, is one of her “personal favourite” reasons for relocating to the North Okanagan.
“My husband said I can only join two wine clubs,” joked Baldridge, who spent the past seven years as manager of communications and engagement for the City of Pitt Meadows.
The family business in the Kootenays was operating radio stations, and Baldridge got her start in broadcasting at age 14, then made her way into the communications field.
She has worked for Geoscience B.C., the Fraser Valley Health Authority, and the Ministry of Forests’ wildfire department, along with other communications stints in policing and education.
Baldridge takes over from Christy Poirier, who left Vernon at the end of September to return to Alberta for family reasons. Josh Winquist, who had been handling Poirier’s duties after she left, stays with the communications department at the city.
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