Recollections from childhood of Peach City

EDITOR’S NOTE: We have invited members of Penticton and Summerland councils, as well as several members of the school board, to submit a guest column, on any topic. We encouraged writers to pen something personal and upbeat that’s not necessarily related to

COVID-19 or municipal politics.

Igrew up and went to school in Burnaby. I was fortunate in that my parents thought going on a two-week holiday was something we should do each summer.

This gave my two brothers and me a great opportunity to learn about many parts of our orovince. Over the years we got to the Kootenays, the Caribou and the Okanagan. Since these holidays happened quite a while ago, just getting up to the Interior of B. C. took a long time. No freeway out to Hope and a pretty slow trip up the Hope-Princeton.

For us, just getting to Manning Park took nearly a full day with just a bit of time to set up the tent and explore the campsite.

A number of our holidays were spent in different areas of the Okanagan, but the favourite was Penticton. The affordable accommodation was pitching a tent at the back of Kelly’s Campsite — located almost across the street from the Sicamous and now the site of the Golden Sands Motel. What a great place to be.

Okanagan Lake across the street, warm water for swimming, paddleboard rentals nearby and a small store with pop and candy if I was able to find some pop bottles in the lake and get a refund.

Talking to my brothers about these vacations, we agree the favourite memory at the lake was the plywood paddleboards. Although I remember that more than once mine leaked, we were able to paddle around the Sicamous and over to the bulrushes near what today is the Red Wing homes.

I believe it was in Penticton that after a rainy night, I woke up with green hair due to the dye in our green canvas tent. I don’t recall that being as funny as my brothers did. Our mother, with the help of just a Coleman camp stove, made all but one or two of our meals. Campfires and marshmallows in the evening were great. And all that freshly-picked fruit from either a packinghouse or a fruit stand was available close by. It was a time when our city’s natural amenities were sufficient to attract families for an enjoyable holiday.

You don’t realize it at the time, but for me the impact of these vacations has been lasting as an adult. One day we did a trip to Kelowna to visit a great aunt and uncle. The floating bridge was not quite open so the trip included a ferry ride across Okanagan Lake.

In later life I did some research and learned more about my uncle’s First World War service in France and the medals he received.

This led to a trip to France that included visiting Vimy Ridge and it’s First World War memorial site where he served.

Touring this site, the tunnels and the graveyards had all the more meaning for me due to that one and only visit with my uncle.

And, just having the fond memories of Penticton was one of the reasons my family moved here over 30 years ago. We have a beautiful city to live in. Let’s hope we can soon get social distancing behind us and open the city for our citizens and tourists to enjoy.

Frank Regehr is a Penticton city councillor.