70th edition of Peachfest promising to be best ever
Seventy years is a long time to keep the biggest free family festival in Canada thriving. The president of the Penticton Peach Festival Society said the secret is its accessibility.
“It’s a great event because everyone can afford to go,” Don Kendall said, Sunday.
The five-day family festival will be packed with local fan favourites including the popular peach bin races, the Sheila Bishop Memorial slopitch tournament, the sandcastle contest, and the Pentown Throwdown BMX and skateboard event, but Kendall insists they aren’t “stuck in the past.”
“This year, we are featuring some of our most popular shows and groups while launching some exciting new events,” he said. “It’s going to be the biggest one we’ve ever had with the most attractions, and the best parade and entertainment. We wanted to make the 70th anniversary something really special.”
Attendees of all ages can look forward to seeing new events and activities including the Inner Ring Circus, led by ringmaster and “Man of Many Talents,” Nigel Wakita, on Thursday and Saturday at Okanagan Lake Park; the Skaha Lake Ultra Swim, which gets under way at 7 a.m., on Sunday at Skaha Beach, and for the youngsters, the Home Hardware Kids Zone at Gyro Park which runs Thursday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.
Of course, he added, bringing back popular events like the Mega Motocross and the dog agility show, which are returning this year on multiple days, always helps maintain enthusiasm.
“People loved the motocross, so we had to bring it back,” Kendall continued, adding that the same three Okanagan-based riders, Chris Nolan, Jay Soltes and Chris Garwasiuk, who performed in 2016, will be returning, and will do two shows per day. The event is being held in conjunction with Sledgehammer Apparel.
The “ever popular” dog show, which is in its second consecutive year, will be performed by the Central Okanagan Dog Agility Club Saturday at noon and Sunday at 1:40 p.m. at Okanagan Lake Park.
In addition to the impressive array of local musical acts hitting the festival stage this week, including three of Canada’s best tribute bands, Arrival (ABBA), Dreams (Fleetwood Mac) and Brent Stewart (Rod Stewart), Kendall is particularly looking forward to seeing audiences of all ages enjoy a performance by the world-famous RCAF Snowbirds, and “a few of their friends.”
In keeping with this year’s unofficial theme —“a bigger, better Peachfest” — Kendall says the opening festivities will kick off with a first-time event for the festival, an air show sponsored by Peters Bros. Construction.
The show will begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday when the Skyhawks Parachute Team jump from their airplane over Okanagan Lake Park. Roughly 20 minutes later, the Skyhawks will land in the middle of the park. At 6 p.m., the Snowbirds will soar over Okanagan Lake and at 6:45 p.m., the CF-18 Hornet will thrill spectators with its gravity defying manoeuvres.
The official opening ceremony will follow, with Cod Gone Wild taking the stage at 8 p.m., and 54/40 performing at 9:30.
Kendall says this year’s entertainment line-up promises to be the best yet.
“We’ve got 54/40, Trooper, Powder Blues Band and Aaron Pritchett, and this is the only place anywhere you can see acts of that calibre and not have to pay for it.”
The popular Peter Bros. Grande Parade will be held Saturday morning, beginning at 10 a.m., but with a new route which will bypass the 100 and 200 blocks of Main Street.
Kendall, who has helmed the festival for more than a decade, says providing five days of free events and entertainment isn’t the only thing that keeps him involved in a “massive undertaking” like Peachfest. For him, it’s all about offering residents and tourists a “real family event.”
“There’s no beer tent, so it’s truly for everyone,” he said. “It’s neat to go down to the park at night and see three or four generations down there enjoying the festival.”
He attributes the festival’s success to a bevy of enthusiastic sponsors and volunteers, as well as the families who return to support the event each year.
“We have a board of 16 volunteer directors who work year round to put this together, and hundreds of volunteers to come out and help us run the events. And we couldn’t do it without them.”