More booze, more beaches

Booze on the beach is coming – legally – to Summerland.

Following in the footsteps of their neighbours to the south, councillors at their meeting Monday unanimously approved a 12week pilot project.

The idea was put forward by the Summerland Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Summerland and is modelled after Penticton’s program, which since 2020 has allowed adults to consume alcoholic beverages in designated public spaces.

Summerland’s program will start with three designated spaces on the waterfront: Rotary Beach, Peach Orchard Beach and Powell Beach.

Booze will be permitted each day from noon to 9 p.m. during the 12 weeks of the program from June through August.

Reviews are scheduled every four weeks to ensure the program is running smoothly and the plug can be pulled at any time.

“I’m actually very excited by this opportunity. I think it’s time for our community and time in the world,” said Coun. Janet Peake.

“I believe this is already happening at our beaches – it’s just well hidden,” added Coun. Doug Patan with a laugh.

Others mused about expanding the program to include downtown Memorial Park, which Lori Mullin, director of community services, thinks might be a good candidate in the future.

“At this point, the chamber was proposing one beach as a pilot and it got extended to the two other destination beaches,” explained Mullin. “We didn’t have a fulsome discussion about Memorial Park, outside that there could be some issues potentially with bylaw and other consumption outside of events, so we decided just to start with three beaches and see how that goes.”

Penticton city council in February made its booze-on-the-beach program permanent and now permits consumption of alcohol in designated spaces all year long.