It’s the community, people and diversity of a landscape conducive to kayaking, hiking and skiing that make the Cariboo Chilcotin a great place to live for Davana Mahon.
As the marketing and promotions co-ordinator at the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin for just over a year, the 27-year-old Mahon said the job has been great because it allows her to participate in preserving the community’s history and supporting local heritage.
“I’ve stepped in to be more active with the B.C. Cowboy Hall of Fame, taking on more of a role assisting the director and helping handle nominations,” she added.
Born and raised in Williams Lake, she attended Crescent Heights, Chilcotin Road, Poplar Glade, 150 Mile House and Williams Lake Senior Secondary schools.
After completing a year and half of agriculture management at Olds College in Alberta she also studied in the Applied Sustainable Ranching Program at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake and was one of the program’s first graduates.
Read more:SLIDESHOW: TRU celebrates first ranching graduates
Growing up she was involved with 4-H for 11 years, and was a youth leader for one or two years, she added.
It would only make sense that she’d go on to serve as the Williams Lake Stampede Queen in 2011, alongside Stampede Princesses Alexia Colton and Bobidaia Bracewell.
“It was a good experience travelling around B.C. with the princesses,” she recalled.
Mahon has always enjoyed riding horses and learned about agriculture firsthand through her mom Philippa Mahon’s parents, Hugh and Pam Mahon, who owned a small operation in Miocene called the Bunting Creek Ranch.
She also has a step-brother, Brock Everett.
Engaged to James Stafford, who works on his family ranch and as a brand inspector, Mahon lives with his family at the Chimney Creek Hereford Ranch on Highway 20 west of Williams Lake.
Mahon and Stafford are planning their wedding for June 2021, ‘hopefully,’ she said, in light of the pandemic.
She also works at the BC Livestock Producers Co-op Association in Williams Lake in the office whenever there are sales going on, which have continued through the COVID-19 pandemic with restrictions in place as well as being livestreamed.
When she’s not working Mahon is busy with a big garden and her bees.
“I’ve been working on improving my life to become more self-sufficient,” she said, adding she started gardening before the pandemic.
Read more: Hands-on experience enriches ranching program
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