“I can’t claim to being a true Revelstokian,” Mike Dragani chuckles after explaining he was born elsewhere.
But everyone who knows Mike knows he’s Revelstoke through and through.
Mike came to town when he was four.
His father worked as a machine operator on the Roger’s Pass highway construction.
After attending school and working the odd job, Mike followed in his father’s footsteps.
“I’m a nepo baby,” he said.
“I was in my early twenties and my dad asked what I was doing with my life and if I wanted to try his line of work.”
Mike jumped into apprenticeships, and the rest is history.
A ticketed tradesperson in crane operation and concrete plant operation, Mike worked at both Mica and Revelstoke dams and the Canadian Pacific train tunnels through Rogers Pass.
The dams required concrete plants exponentially bigger than most.
“It is hard to imagine the scale, but a concrete truck load is eight yards of concrete. At the dam plants, the smallest output was 250 yards an hour,” he recalled.
When the local work dried up in 1988, Mike purchased an existing business, the Rebel Boom Crane Truck Service.
He took a small business course and a bookkeeping course and operated his new enterprise successfully for 20 years.
“I was down the end of every forest road out there bringing building equipment like culverts and concrete, getting to see the countryside like a tourist, and getting paid for it.”
Mike and his partner of 40 years, Mary, live in a beautiful heritage home downtown.
When they purchased the house, Mike was invited to join the Community Heritage Commission, an advisory group that helped the city brainstorm how to manage all things heritage.
“There is nothing I can take credit for myself, but one thing I am proud that we did at the time was create the heritage conservation area downtown.
“It gave the city some say in what you can do with a heritage house or infills to not take away from the heritage feel.”
Heritage is only significant if it means something to people, Mike notes.
“At that point of time, it was relevant.”
While Mike did not grow up skiing, his friend talked him into trying in his early twenties. It sparked a lifelong passion.
Previously, the ski hill was owned by the city and operated by a volunteer club, the Alpine Sports Society.
Mike learned to ski and as his skills strengthened, he joined the ski patrol, all of whom were volunteers.
Eventually, he became the patrol representative in the Alpine Sport Society.
When the ski hill was purchased for the creation of Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Mike was excited.
“There used to be a T-bar, a lower and an upper chair,” he explained.
“By then, the lower chair wasn’t usable.
“It was old and hadn’t passed safety inspections, and there wasn’t the money to fix it.”
During this past winter, Mike skied 119 days. The season before, it was 122 days.
“I don’t go all day. But I do let skiing consume me a bit.”
Summer has Mike pursuing the things he has always enjoyed – spending time with Mary camping, fishing, riding his motorcycle, working on his house and garden, walking his dog, and “strolling around in the alpine.”
When he feels like tinkering, he heads to his garage, where a decades old kit car, a replica of a 1934 Ford Roadster, awaits.
“This town has been amazing to me,” Mike said.
“I have given back a little bit, but I have taken way more because it has given me everything.”