Bob Kronbauer’s latest project is a hit with people.
Now you know.
Kronbauer, from Vernon, aka BC Bob, tells stories about British Columbia to the people of his home province. And he does this via social media, and through his TV show Now You Know BC, which airs weekly on CHEK TV, based in Victoria.
The former newspaper founder/editor/publisher/reporter turned to kickstarter.com to launch his latest endeavour – an independent, printed time-capsule of life in B.C., titled BC Bob’s Now Your Know BC Almanac.
He was looking to raise $25,000 through donations, advertising, to help with the printing. With more than a month to go on his deadline (35 days as of Oct. 30), Kronbauer had surpassed his goal with more than $33,000 being pledged. Nearly 700 people have ordered copies.
“I am literally stunned by how fast it happened,” said Kronbauer, 49, from Vancouver, where he resides. “It was an experiment and I really wasn’t sure what kind of reception it was going to get. But close to 700 people have secured their copy of the almanac, we have advertisers, $33,000 is funded…it’s insane.”
Kronbauer will be able to get the almanac printed, and is hoping to have it out to those who have ordered the journal in December. That’s a best-case scenario. On his Kickstarter profile, he promised by February.
With the goal surpassed, BC Bob will have the ability – and encouragement from fans – to publish more issues after the inaugural, with more stories. All backers will be offered a discount on future issues.
“At a minimum, I hope to release at least one every year,” said Kronbauer. “If things go really well it’ll become a quarterly.”
The almanac project is the culmination of a triangle of media projects.
“There’s social media, where the videos I do are fun, they’re awesome, and it’s fulfilling,” he said. “I’ve got the TV show. And now that I’m bringing this into print, everything goes into the ether. When you have something in your hand, someone can hold onto this (book), someone can keep these stories. Keep my stories. They don’t have to hear them and forget them.”
The almanac is filled with stories Kronbauer has been telling professionally for more than two decades; stories, he said, “you don’t normally see in traditional media,” and he tells them in a friendly, fun, engaging way.
Asked if his hometown is featured in the almanac, Kronbauer listed off a trio of tales.
“One of my favourite stories is all about Cariboo camels, and how they were brought up here for the gold rush to serve as pack animals,” he said. “I go into a deep dive on that one.
“I found a guy who actually bought camels of his own and replicated the journey that they took from Yale all the way up to Barkerville. When I first asked him how it went he said ‘You can ask my ex-wife about that!’”
He writes about how Clearly Canadian tried to buy out Sun-Rype right around the time that Clearly Canadian’s fad drink, Orbitz, was taking the world by storm.
And he tells a version of the Eddy Haymour/Rattlesnake Island theme park story on Okanagan Lake that’s rarely been heard.
“I co-produced a documentary about him and the saga, and one time when I drove him to the airport he had a lot of stories I’m not able to tell,” said Kronbauer.
“What you’ll find in this first printed edition of my work are deep dives and smaller bites of some of the stories I’ve researched for years and told on TV and on my social media accounts.”
You’ll also read new features about B.C. people, places, and things Kronbauer has never shared before.
BC Bob’s Now You Know BC Almanac is $25 for a single copy of Volume 1, Issue 1. If you would like it signed, it’s $50.
More information on how to order the book or how to advertise in it can be found at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bcbob/bc-bobs-now-you-know-bc-almanac.