Lakeside celebrates its new convention space
Hundreds of people helped celebrate completion of the stunning new East Ballroom at the Penticton Lakeside Resort during a grand opening party on Thursday evening.
The ballroom — built in the former home of Lake City Casino — boasts 13,000 square feet inside and another 2,000 square feet on decks outside. The decks feature views of Okanagan Lake Park and Okanagan Lake.
“It’s quite the versatile space, so anything from vehicle shows to weddings, special events, we’re doing Oktoberfest here in the fall, we’ve had trade shows up here, conferences already,” said Brannigan Mosses, director of sales and marketing for the resort.
The new ballroom bears little resemblance to its former self as a casino: interior walls were removed and vast expanses of glass installed along the north and east sides to allow access to the decks and views outside.
Added to the resort’s existing convention space, the facility now poses a formidable threat to the city-owned Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, which does not have an attached hotel. Mosses insisted, however, the two venues are not competitors.
“In opening this space, it’s so that we have opportunity to reach out to more national business, larger groups that we can bring in for city-wide events that can utilize both spaces,” she said.
But in his more candid remarks to the crowd at the grand opening, resort general manager David Prystay thanked the City of Penticton for making it an easy decision to build the new ballroom – an apparent reference to the local government luring the casino to publicly owned land at the South Okanagan Events Centre campus.