Karen Powell is one of the greatest heroes in Quesnel for every young person involved in media. Whether it's the person starting their own media company or the new reporter fresh to Quesnel, Powell takes people under her wing and supports them however she can.
"These reporters come into town, they're new here, they don't know the town," she explained. "And they need to know the town, they need to know the people."
When this reporter started at The Observer, Powell took me to the police department, introduced me to event organizers and pointed out people I should probably get to know. From my early days in Quesnel all the way to the final events I covered, she was in my corner.
"This is my hometown, I was born and raised here and I just want them to know. And when they leave, I want them to feel like they've had a good experience here and have enjoyed what we have to offer."
Powell used to work in sales at The Observer and saw many new reporters come to town and she always had a hand in making sure they knew what's what about Quesnel. She sees the paper as history being recorded and has special care for the physical paper.
"There's nothing better than sitting down with a cup of coffee in the morning and reading the newspaper," she said.
Now working at the visitor centre, Powell added people are always looking things up in the old copies of The Observer which has been digitized for the museum's archives.
"Working at the visitor centre is a lot of fun. You get to meet a lot of interesting people, we've had so many people come in and say they're moving here. They come from the coast and the Okanagan and they just love it. They always say that the people are so friendly," she said.
One of her other great passions is photography. Whatever the event, Powell will do her best to be there and snap photos.
"It's mostly wildlife and the happenings in Quesnel," she said. "I love to take pictures of sports like hockey and grand kids were in softball so I took pictures of that."
A favourite photo of hers is of a grizzly bear she saw in West Fraser Timber Park. She described the terrifying experience of seeing a bear in the middle of a trail in the park and her first reaction was to snap some photos before backing away.
"He was 90 feet away from me and my first reaction was to take his picture. It was pretty exciting, I cherish that moment," she said.
She also grabs her camera and races to the scene of fires and vehicle crashes as the official photographer for the fire department. That began after her time at The Observer, fire chief Ron Richert asked if Powell would be willing to continue taking photos for the department and she agreed.
"Karen's photos help us reflect back on incident calls and helps with department morale," Richert explained to The Observer. "Karen is always there to support our firefighters with positive encouragement and is always willing to help."
Powell said the firefighters in and around Quesnel are like a family to her now.
"I've held them when they've cried from accident, we talk, we laugh. They're just very special people," she said. Each year Powell gives the department a book of photos she has taken throughout the year of different calls the department has responded to. From car crashes at noon, to dumpster fires in the middle of the night and major blazes and crashes, Powell is there to capture the moments.
"I can go up to an RCMP officer - some of them - some not so much, and just bug them. They're just good friends, they're not people to be afraid of, they're here to help us and they're just great people," Powell said.
Not only that, but she has been involved with organizations in town over the years including the Quesnel Rodeo Club, which she was part of for 20 years. Quesnel's rodeo was originally a mile and a half from where Powell grew up near Bouchie Lake and she said she spent a lot of her youth at the old rodeo grounds.
While Powell has moved out of Quesnel in the past, she adores living in the city she calls home.
"I love the leaves on the trees, other places I've lived have had cedar trees or jack pines and I really missed the dancing leaves on the trees, on the cottonwoods and such," she said. "It's just home."
Note: Without Karen, I would not have been able to do my job nearly as well in Quesnel over the past year. Whether it was introducing me to people, showing me how close I could get to take photos at a fire, telling me about events going on or listening to me rant and rave, Karen has been incredible. If there's one word of wisdom I can give to my replacement at The Observer, it's to get to know Karen.
