Star Running Back Harris Returning To Coach Junior Football Raiders In 2024
MARK MACDONALD
There’s a new pizza place in Nanaimo, as Mod Pizza has opened in Country Club Centre. Mod Pizza is a U.S.-based franchise that offers customers the opportunity to personally select the toppings on their pizza, which are cooked in a wood-fired oven. Think Subway style, as hungry patrons point out what they want as they walk alongside a glass-covered station with numerous toppings, and employees behind the counter place them on the not-yet-baked crust. Double toppings? No problem.
It’s a popular eatery below the 49th Parallel, and it should catch on well in Nanaimo. The pizza is delicious and, thanks to the owners’ thoughtfulness and the customer’s appetites, the result is a new and exciting entrant in the competitive local pizza market.
John Lim has owned and operated one of Nanaimo’s best restaurants, Nori Sushi near Costco, for years, and he’s excited about his newest venture: Horang, next to Wendy’s and Popeye’s Chicken at the corner of the Island Highway and Hammond Bay Road. John’s newest venture is a Korean-inspired restaurant and bar offering lunch and dinner, and also has a “grab-and-go” section for takeout orders.
If, as expected, Horang food is as good as Nori, Nanaimo restaurant-goers are in for a real treat.
There are two new restaurants in downtown Nanaimo. Maduban Indian Cuisine has opened one lot over from the McDonald’s Restaurant on Nicol Street, and the Luna restaurant is located in the former Firehouse Grill location on Old Victoria Road.
How long does it take to get a commercial project built in Nanaimo? That depends upon whom you ask. Heard from a builder who states that by the time their building is completed, it could be six years since they bought the property. They have been waiting for over a year for a building permit. One building permit. And it still hasn’t been issued. Tragic, and very expensive to sit on undeveloped land that would be transformed into taxpaying commercial property upon completion, which would benefit city coffers.
Andrew Harris
Three-time Grey Cup champion running back Andrew Harris has announced that he will be returning to the Vancouver Island Raiders following his retirement from the Canadian Football League.
Andrew was a star running back for the Raiders, which won three national junior football championships, in 2006, 2008 and 2009 and filled the stands at Caledonia Park. He has played for the BC Lions, his hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts, winning titles with each franchise. Andrew has signed a one-year, final contract with Toronto for the 2023 season, and will become Head Coach of the Raiders starting in 2024. He will also start a new career with Dave Shortill of Ladysmith’s Orca Wealth and Insurance Services when his CFL career comes to an end.
The Raiders finished with one win in 10 BC Junior Football League games this past season, and are excited to have Harris behind the bench next year.
VMAC President Tod Gilbert is pleased to note the local mobile compressed air manufacturing company has released its new G30=GEN gas powered rotary screw air compressor/generator. It combines two convenient forms of power into one single, innovative system.
Nanaimo-based Seamor Marine has opened a new office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for its remotely operated vehicle manufacturing operation. Seamor Marine designs and manufactures underwater observation and inspection-class remotely operated vehicles such as its Chinook ROV, which has previously worked on projects in the Atlantic Ocean. It was helpful in an RCMP operation to recover the wrecked Chief William Saulis scallop dragger in the Bay of Fundy in 2020.
Due to safety concerns for its staff, Gabriel’s Café on Commercial Street has ended its soup token program, which gave patrons an opportunity to purchase hot meals for people who are experiencing homelessness. The café’s owners will instead make donations to the Stone Soup program operated by the Wisteria Community Association. Gabriel’s started its program in 2016.
Loaves And Fishes will soon have a new home at East Wellington and Hansen Roads, as a nearly 24,000 square foot warehouse with office space is working its way through the city of Nanaimo’s design advisory panel. The city bought the land for $1.3 million in 2021 and approved a 30-year lease for 10 years to Loaves and Fishes.
City councilor Erin Hemmens has been elected Board Chair of the Vancouver Island Regional Library by acclamation. Erin was Vice Chair in 2022.
Island Coastal Economic Trust is contributing half of the $60,000 Price Waterhouse Coopers study into the potential impacts of spending between $35-70 million on the next phase of the Nanaimo Airport Commission. he Airport’s expansion over the past decade and a half has been a tremendous success story for Nanaimo and the immediate region, and Nanaimo Airport is now the sixth largest airport in BC.
Mark MacDonald is President of Communication Ink Media & Public Relations Ltd. and Author of the book “It Worked For Them, It Will Work For Me: The 8 Secrets of Small Business I Learned From Successful Friends”, which can be obtained by reaching him through: mark@communicationink.ca