E.B. Horsman and Son Ltd. took home a bit of the Cariboo after Stampede weekend when the local branch presented the company with a Pioneer Log Homes bench to mark the company’s 115th anniversary.
“I decided to celebrate the anniversary with a bench and had it made for head office,” said Tom Wittal who has managed the company in Williams Lake for 23 years.
The bench seemed fitting for a B.C. company, Wittal added.
For the third year in a row, Wittal and his wife, Uli, hosted a VIP tent on the Stampede Grounds where they fed their guests Friday and Saturday.
“We invited VIPs from local industry, people from the mills, mines and construction,” he said.
E.B. Horsman Ltd. was started by Edward Bodwell Horsman, originally in Moosomin, Sask., but Edward moved to Vancouver in 1907, said fifth generation family member Tim Horsman who runs the company and attended the celebration.
“I’ve attended every year,” Horsman said.
“Tom puts on a tremendous event and I enjoy getting out to visit all our branches. The company was founded on grass roots and resource business.”
As a child Horsman spent five years living in Francois Lake on an 80-acre farm.
Now that he’s a parent raising children in the city and working at the head office in Surrey, he also enjoys travelling to the company’s 20 locations in B.C.
While Horsman divulged the company will be doing 115th anniversary events throughout the year, he wouldn’t disclose his plans for the bench.
“I’ve got some ideas,” he smiled.
In the meantime, Wittal said he continues to love working for the company he has been with for 29 years ago.
“I have the most amazing customers and consider them all as friends,” he said.
Presently E.B. Horsman’s Williams Lake branch has five employees.
Wittal was working for the company in Kamloops when an opening came up for a manager in Williams Lake.
“I put my name in,” he said. “It was an easy choice to come here.”
As for the VIP event, Wittal credited his staff and family for helping him.
"I would not be able to put this event on without the help of my staff and friends, they do tons of work on this as well," he said.