Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Lets Explore Houston - Houston British Columbia


Above Photo: A flower garden, and the flowers arranged in order to 
spell out the towns name, which is Houston.

On August 23, 2015 it was “Lets Explore Houston” day, and the Houston merchants gave back to the community. 

Canfor, the large sawmill in town held a free barbeque to all. They set up their tents, tables and chairs in the beautiful Steelhead Park which run along side Highway 16 in Houston, B.C.

There are a number of photos below to look at, and some videos as well 
closer to the bottom of the page.


Above Photo: This Canfor booth was set up so people could put their name in for a draw that was taking place later in the after noon. There was a number of nice gifts.


Above Photo: Some of the prizes Canfor was giving away in their draw.


Above Photo: Some of the prizes Canfor was giving away in their draw.

Below some history and other information about Canfor.

Canfor Corporation is a Canadian integrated forest products company based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The company traces its roots to the late 1930s, when brothers-in-law John G. Prentice and L.L.G. "Poldi" Bentley and their families left their native Austria just before the outbreak of World War II. They settled in Vancouver and built a small mill that was the beginning of the 73-year-old company.

In 2006, the company was subject to a proxy fight between billionaires Jim Pattison and Stephen A. Jarislowsky, who owned 30% and 18% of the firm's shares, respectively. Pattison won and ousted CEO Jim Shepherd over Canfor's poor performance and declining share price, which saw Jim Shepard appointed as interim CEO.


Above Photo: Canfor brought along two large cakes which was going to be cut and handed out to everyone who wanted a piece. They were huge.


Above Photo: Canfor brought along two large cakes which was going to be cut and handed out to everyone who wanted a piece. They were huge.

Poldi Bentley's son Peter Bentley is now the Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors. Canfor produces softwood lumber, plywood, oriented strand board and remanufactured lumber products. The majority of the company's operations are in British Columbia and Alberta; however, it owns a sawmill and timber harvesting rights in Quebec as well as numerous locations in the southern United States. Canfor also owns a controlling share in Canfor Pulp Limited, which produces northern softwood kraft pulp and kraft paper in BC.


Photo Above: All the adults that attended the Canfor barbeque, brought their children along and you can see the kids are having a good time on the playground in the Steelhead Park.

As of 2010, the company has an annual production capability of 4.8 billion board feet of lumber, 270 million square board feet of plywood, and 1 billion square board feet of oriented strand board. Through its forest tenures and timber licenses, Canfor has 15.1 million cubic metres of annual allowable cut, all of which is CSA-SFM (Canadian Standards Association-Sustainable Forest Management) certified. 


Above Photo: Folks sitting down enjoying their Canfor barbeque.


Above Photo: Folks lined up waiting for their meal.

Canfor is the owner of the world's largest sawmill in Houston, British Columbia with an annual production capacity of 600,000,000 board feet (1,400,000 m3). Additionally, Canfor's operations in British Columbia include Plateau Sawmill (near Vanderhoof); Isle Pierre, Prince George, Rustad and Polar sawmills in the Prince George region, Fort St. John sawmill, Chetwynd sawmill, Vavenby sawmill, Radium sawmill and Mackenzie sawmill. Mills outside of BC include those in Grande Prairie, Alberta; Sainte-Foy, Quebec; North Carolina and South Carolina. Oriented Strand Board plants are located in Fort Nelson, British Columbia and Fort St John, and a plywood plant is located in Fort Nelson as well. Canfor also owns a remanufacturing plant in Bellingham, Washington and a tree nursery in Prince George.

Canfor formerly owned the Englewood Railway on Vancouver Island, but sold it to Western Forest Products in 2006.

Canfor has 4,690 employees as of March 2011 and is the second-largest producer of dimensional lumber in Canada.

Canfor is a member of the Forest Products Association of Canada.


Above Photo: Folks sitting down enjoying their Canfor barbeque.

Link Below: This is a short video clip of the people who were lined up awaiting their meal, and others who were sitting down enjoying the food. 

Thanks goes out to Canfor for putting on a great barbeque.

Source Information: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

If you have a picture or story you would like to share on the Travel British Columbia with Brian Vike blog, please contact me at b_vike@telus.net

Travel British Columbia with Brian Vike.

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