They came. They saw. They shipped.

It was the late 1930s, and you can only imagine what the abundant forests and mountainsides of BC’s Slocan Valley must have looked like, and how life and technology would have been far different than they are now.

It’s been 81 years since the Kalesnikoff family started their family-run logging business, and there’ve been more than a few highs, and lows.

This past week, the company celebrated a big win when the provincial government honoured Kalesnikoff as the province’s lead exporter of manufactured products.

CEO and President Ken Kalesnikoff spoke with KCR’s Kootenay Morning about the BC Export Awards, eight decades of logging and international deal making, and the key to raising kids skilled enough to run a multi-million dollar family business.