Top things in the Okanagan that are great and also really Canadian, eh
It’s Canada Day weekend and rather than offer a list of the obvious — what makes the Okanagan great — we’ve added a twist. Many things that the Okanagan Valley is renowned for are also very Canadian. Here are the top 10, presently alphabetically.
CRAFT BEER
Any tourist destination worth its salt has a burgeoning craft beer scene.
The Okanagan is no exception with no less than a dozen artisan brewers.
You can buy most of the suds at the liquor store, but why not amp up the experience and visit the brewery, do a tasting with someone in the know and leave loaded up with brewskies to enjoy on the patio or boat?
Enterprising tour companies have taken notice and several offer tours where they do the driving and you do the drinking.
There’s even Smile Cycle Tours so you can peddle one of those giant picnic table bikes with a group from downtown brewery to downtown brewery in both Penticton and Kelowna.
Every spring, there’s the aptly-named Great Okanagan Beer Festival in Kelowna’s Waterfront Park and the Okanagan Fest-of-Ale in Penticton.
Penticton’s craft brewers include: Bad Tattoo, Cannery, Highway 97, Tin Whistle and Barley Mill.
Vernon has Marten and Okanagan Spring.
And in Kelowna there are Tree, Mill Creek (Freddy’s), Big Surf, Kettle River, Red Bird and Bone Beer.
FARMERS MARKETS
It’s often easy to forget, as we drive from home to work and back again, but more than half of Kelowna’s land base is agricultural.
When you fly in or out of the city, you notice just how vast the swaths of green are across Kelowna’s landscape. But, there’s an easier and more immediate way to appreciate our agricultural roots — visit the farmer’s market.
There are hundreds of farmers’ markets across Canada, but Kelowna’s was judged one of the 10 best last year by The Food Network.
Here’s what they said: “Located in B.C.’s lush fruit and wine country, it’s a yearround market playing host to more than 165 vendors, bringing farmers, craft-makers and all things artisan together for a shopping experience everyone will enjoy. It’s a true, one-stop shop that’s as delicious as it is beautiful.”
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Most Americans who move to Canada are pleasantly surprised how much time Canadians actually spend outdoors. In the Okanagan, it’s even better as we’re a fourseasons playground.
Hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, golfing, boating, cycling, swimming, walking, running, quading, blading, skateboarding, and fishing... it’s all great in the valley.
B.C. has some of the best fishing in all of Canada, thanks, in part, to the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.’s trout hatchery, which is located in Summerland.
For proof of how outdoorsy Okanagan residents are, look no further than the ‘B’ section every Saturday in Okanagan
Weekend as columnist J.P. Squire has a full page on outdoor activities.
HOCKEY
There are few things as Canadian as hockey, and several Okanagan teams have enjoyed great success on the ice.
On May 23, 2004, the Kelowna Rockets defeated the Gatineau Olympiques 2-1 in the championship game of the Memorial Cup. The Rockets also won WHL championships on either side of their Memorial Cup victory, in 2003 and 2005, and have four league titles since 2000, with the most recent in 2009 and 20015.
Hockey success rings throughout the Okanagan, with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees establishing a North American hockey record with 42 consecutive wins in a fourmonth period from November 2011 to March 2012 en route to a B.C. Hockey League record 110 points.
Long before the ‘72 Summit Series, the 1955 Vees were World Champions and the legacy lives on today, thanks to the preservation of Memorial Arena and speaking engagements by the team’s goalie, Ivan McLelland.
Like the Vees, the West Kelowna Warriors and Vernon Vipers have also won Canadian championships in the past decade.
ICEWINE
It can’t get more Canadian than waiting for grapes to freeze on the vine and then crushing them to extract the most-concentrated, sweetest nectar ever to make icewine.
There are few places in the world that have the climate to grow wine grapes in an ideal summer and then a cold enough winter to freeze those grapes.
Of course, most of the Okanagan’s grapes go into world-class white, red, rose and sparkling wines.
But, the miniscule amount that makes its way into icewine has big impact.
British Columbians and Albertans sip most of it up at premium prices.
But, it’s also a hot commodity for export to Asia, where they love sweet dessert wines reflecting pristine Canada.
Two of the most awarded Okanagan icewines are the 2013 Chardonnay Icewine from West Kelowna’s Kalala Organic Winery, which won best Chardonnay in the world at France’s Chardonnay du Monde in 2016, and the 2013 Small Lots Semillon Icewine from Kelowna’s Summerhill Pyramid Winery, which scored a perfect 100 and won a double-gold medal at the San Francisco Wine Competition.
LAKES
In a country full of lakes (31,752 to be precise), with land bordering three oceans, there’s only one District of Lake Country.
The great outdoors is synonymous with Canada, but many urbanites have to drive long distances to find a waterside piece of paradise.
Not so in the Okanagan. There’s water, water, everywhere you look, and a refreshing dip or a peaceful paddle is never much more than 10 minutes away.
Perhaps the community that best expresses this connection between everyday living and lakeside luxuriating is the aptly-named District of Lake Country, the town north of Kelowna.
It has Okanagan Lake, Kalamalka Lake, Wood Lake, Duck Lake, and Beaver Lake, as well as oodles of beautiful beaches.
When the communities of Winfield, Carr’s Landing, Oyama, and Okanagan Centre incorporated in the mid-1990s, the new municipality’s name perfectly encapsulated the community — the District of Lake Country.
LOVERBOY
One of Canada’s most iconic rock bands — Loverboy — has roots in the Okanagan.
Lead singer Mike Reno grew up in the Okanagan and attended high school at Pen-Hi. (He was Mike Rynoski in those days.) Before the rest of Canada knew who he was, Penticton certainly did.
Reno briefly fronted bands including Hammersmith and Moxy, but with Loverboy the band scored nine top 10 hits in the U.S., won a record six Juno Awards in the same year, was featured on the “Top Gun” soundtrack, and was a top five touring act for several years in the early 1980s.
Their signature song, “Working for the Weekend,” which Reno co-wrote with founding members Paul Dean and Matt Frenette, is played every Friday around 4 p.m. somewhere in Canada.
Reno had a hit single on his own, “Almost Paradise,” a duet with Ann Wilson of Heart featured in “Footloose.” In 2009, Loverboy was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
More cowbell!
POLITICAL DYNASTIES
The U.S. had the Kennedys, but Canada has the Trudeaus, the Mannings, Paul Martins Sr. and Jr., and now Doug Ford — family political dynasties.
The Okanagan is home to one of Canada’s most influential political families, the Bennetts.
It began with W.A.C. Bennett, who served as the Social Credit premier of B.C. from 1952 to 1973, winning seven straight elections.
Bennett oversaw expansion of the province’s highway system, the creation of BC Ferries, BC Hydro and hydro-electric dam projects on the Columbia and Peace rivers.
The Bennett legacy continued with Bennett’s son, Bill Bennett, who was elected premier of B.C. in 1975.
In his time as premier and leader of the Social Credit government, Bill Bennett was part of delivering big-ticket projects, including Expo 86, SkyTrain, BC Place and the Coquihalla Highway.
Bill Bennett’s son, Brad Bennett has not run for office himself, but he too has been involved in B.C. politics, serving as an adviser for former Premier Christy Clark.
POUTINE
Poutine may come from Quebec, but a Penticton chip truck has perfected the dish.
Besides the usual spot downtown on Nanaimo Avenue, Jeffer’s Fryzz trucks can be found at most community events and festivals.
The truck serves up the poutine in oversized Styrofoam cups perfect for sharing. The fries — which warrant a top-10 list of their own — are then smothered in gravy and mounds of cheese curds that squeak when you chew. Order a large and you’ll be full for a week. Owned by Jeff Treadway, Jeffer’s has been in business for two decades and in 2016 was named one of the 10 best chip trucks in Canada by no higher an authority than the Food Network. Manger!
PROXIMITY TO THE U.S. BORDER
Ninety per cent of Canadians live within 160 kilometres of the Canada/U.S. border.
One of the most oh-so-Canadian things about living in the Okanagan is actually its proximity to the United States.
If you’re in Osoyoos (which is a lovely town in case you’ve never been), the border crossing is just a couple minutes from downtown.
Once across the line, you’ll find yourself in Oroville, a quirky little town in which American patriotism is on full display.
Gas is a little bit cheaper and you’ll also save yourself money on beer and dairy products.
The best part of heading south, however, is the abundance of authentic Mexican food trucks and restaurants.
They’re everywhere and you can’t go wrong.
If you keep driving, you can be to Seattle in about five hours or Spokane in less than four.
And what could be more Canadian than celebrating another culture by taking a big bite out of it?
Okanagan Top 10 is an opinion piece which apperas every Saturday.
To comment on this or any other article in Okanagan Weekend, please write: letters@ok.bc.ca.