The Penticton Peach Festival is in full swing and on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, things will kick off at 9 am with the Home Hardware Kids Zone in Gyro Park (featuring Kiki the Eco Elf) until noon. Head over to Okanagan Lake Park at noon and catch a day full of entertainment including the Flying Fools High Dive show (presented by RPR Heating), whose opening performance will be tonight, Canadian Tire Mega Motocross, a trio of Indigenous dancers and much more! Shooting Star Amusements will be set up in Rotary Park (near the Peach on Okanagan Lake) from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Tim Hortons Country Night:
Expect a night (well, technically an afternoon and evening) of toe-tapping, boot-scooting fun! Get down to Okanagan Lake Park early in the day to make sure you don’t miss a minute of it.
At 2:45 p.m., Penticton’s own Dane Bateman will hit the Peters Bros. Paving stage bringing his take on a 90’s, and modern day country sound. Make sure your cowboy hats are on tight as the Hillside Outlaws bring their high-energy performance to the stage at 4:15 p.m. Ben Klick, who has achieved multiple British Columbia Country Music Awards and International Country Music Awards, will join us with his guitar-driven, modern country sounds mixed with a traditional twist at 5:45 p.m.
Give a warm welcome to Matt Lang, one of the biggest country music stars in Eastern Canada, who has never played in Western Canada before! His first album, ‘More,’ spawned four hits including ‘Getcha’ and ‘In A Bar.’ Recently, he teamed up with Tyler Joe Miller to record the huge radio hit, ‘Never Met A Beer.’ Lang is performing at 7:45 p.m.
Be prepared to keep on dancing when Canadian country rocker Aaron Pritchett brings his high-energy show to the stage at 9:30 p.m. He has numerous hit singles like “Hold My Beer”, “Let’s Get Rowdy”, and “Better When I Do”.
Family-favourite Sandcastle Competition at Skaha Lake:
Registration is now open for the annual Penticton Peach Fest sandcastle competition, presented by the Rotary Club.
There are four team entry categories available, each with cash prizes: kids, youth, family/friends and corporate/business. The business category will win $500 for a charity of their choice, whereas the other categories will take home prize money ranging from $100-$250 for their own usage.
Registration starts at 4 p.m. by the sundial on Skaha Lake Beach (east end of the beach) and sculpting will kick off at at 5:30 p.m. For more information and to register, click here.
Getting around:
Expect a lot more foot traffic around the Okanagan Lake Beach and Skaha Beach areas today and tonight. Please consider leaving the car at home and walk, ride bikes or take transit wherever possible.
The City has extended its bus services and set up Park ‘n’ Ride locations as an option to avoid parking congestion and ride transit to Peach Festival. A temporary “Peach Fest” bus stop will be set up at Veterans Way near Lakeshore Drive to pick up riders heading southbound after the festival. The City has extended the hours of BC Transit’s #5 bus route for the duration of the event, with the last bus leaving the festival site at 11:42 p.m.
The BC Transit #5 bus will arrive every 30 minutes during the day (until 6:40 p.m., when it changes to every hour) from Aug. 9-12, and every hour on Sunday, Aug. 13.
Riders are invited to park along the #5 bus route, including Cherry Lane Shopping Centre or Penticton Seniors’ Drop-in Centre (2965 South Main Street), and ride the bus the rest of the way in. The transit fare is $2.25 one way and it’s always free for ages 12 and under.
