If it's summer and you're in Penticton, chances are that a festival of some sort is just around the corner. That's simply the way summer rolls here in the town that sits between two lakes.
But nothing touches the granddaddy of them all, the Penticton Peach Festival. It runs nearly a week, it's been around since 1947, and it encompasses so many events and activities that you'd have to clone yourself a few times to get to all of it.
And yes, it's just around the corner. It begins next Wednesday, in fact, and it'll sprint along for five full days to Sunday, August 11th.
At its heart once again is a Peters Bros. Construction main stage entertainment lineup that simply seems too good to be true - particularly when you consider that it won't cost you a penny to experience any of it.
Much of the credit goes to music promoter turned Peach Fest guru Don Kendall, who works year after year with booking agent turned Peach Fest entertainment director Bill Kolter to secure virtually every big-name act by Christmas of the preceding year.
And Kendall is rightfully psyched about 2019, which leads off next Wednesday evening at 9:30 p.m. with a 90-minute performance by Grammy Award-nominated folk-rock band Crash Test Dummies.
"There's all kinds of new entertainment this year that have never been before," said Kendall. "Crash Test Dummies are here opening night and they've never played in the Okanagan. The original lineup got back together after an 11-year hiatus and have been touring the eastern US this spring. We were really lucky to get them on opening night."
But you'll want to get there several hours before the Dummies take the stage if you want to take in the full magnitude of an absolutely killer Night One.
At 5 p.m., the Canadian Armed Forces Skyhawks Parachute Team descend onto Okanagan Lake Park. Then at 6 p.m., the aerial exploits continue virtually uninterrupted when the Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic squad weave their wingtip to wingtip magic above the lakeshore.
According to Snowbirds' Chief Public Affairs Officer Captain Jennifer Casey, you can expect "lots of smoke." And, says Snowbird 2 captain Sarah Dallaire, "We've added a new split that no one has ever seen before this year. And when I ask the crowd what's their favourite, they all say it's that split, right at the beginning of the show. It's called the Athena Split."
Kendall advises to be there early because the crowd along the waterfront will be "mammoth." This is only the second time both the Snowbirds and the Skyhawks have performed at the same Peach Festival.
Thursday night is a big one for fans of country music when none other than Emerson Drive hits the stage at 9:30 p.m. A Canadian band that found its big success when it relocated to Nashville at the turn of the century, Emerson Drive is a country music award factory that's penned and performed an endless string of memorable hits. It played Peach Fest once before, four years ago.
But Kendall is just as excited about Thursday's leadoff band, the power chord-brandishing, southern rock-influenced, jean jacket-wearing Black Mountain Whiskey Rebellion. "They just got nominated for two CMA awards, and Rolling Stone last year named them as one of the '10 New Country Artists You Need To Know know.' Tim Hortons Country Night will be fabulous."
Friday night is most noteworthy for a rare appearance by Vancouver rockers Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts, a band that scored big across Canada in the late 80s and early 90s with hummable tunes such as "Something to Live For" and "Do Ya."
"They only perform together a couple times a year, so we're really happy they agreed to come to Peach Fest this year," says Kendall.
But again, Kendall points to the night's opening artist – this time British pianist Ben Waters – as one to watch. "He was named last year as England's outstanding piano player. He's considered maybe the best boogie-woogie piano player in the world. He's been to Penticton a few times, He played the Dream Cafe and sold out 21 shows there."
Saturday is tailor made for those who rocked out back in the 80s and 90s. "It's ReMax Tribute Night," says Kendall, "and we start in the late afternoon. We've got tributes to Pat Benetar, Bad Company, Heart, The Eagles (Eagle Eyes), and AC/DC (High Voltage). And we go all night long from 4 to 11."
Kendall said Peach Fest normally doesn't book the same tribute band two years in a row, but made an exception for Eagle Eyes. "They were fabulous last year, and we had dozens of people saying we should bring them back. They've become hugely popular throughout western Canada and the northwest US, so we were lucky to get the back again this year."
The festival gets lost in old time rock and roll for its closing night.
"Sunday we have an unbelievable show," says Kendall. "It starts off with 'The Day the Music Died.' It's been 60 years since the plane crash that killed the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly. The guy doing Buddy Holly is considered the number one Buddy Holly tribute guy in North America. And he'll do all sorts of songs by Ritchie Valens (who was just 17 at the time of the crash) and the Big Bopper."
And that's just the warm-up. Headlining Sunday evening is the "New Jersey Jukebox: A Tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons." Kendall says it'll "be a great way to wrap-up Peach Fest," but we YouTubed them anyway and can say that fans of the massively popular, generation-crossing Four Seasons will find what they need in the final night of Peach Fest.
But of course the festival goes way beyond the main stage headliners. And Kendall rattled off the attractions like he knew them by heart. Which he undoubtedly does.
"We have amusement rides at Rotary Park all week and the Rona Kids Zone at Gyro Park Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. McDonald's Kiddies' Day is Sunday. London Drugs Seniors Day is Wednesday afternoon. We have a square dance festival out at the Seniors' Drop-In centre (2965 South Main), and the Sheila Bishop Slo-Pitch tournament at King's Park."
"The Pentown Throwdown BMX event is at Riverside Park (August 10 from noon to 6 p.m.), and Thursday through Saturday, right adjacent to Okanagan Lake Park on Lakeshore Drive, we have the third annual Canadian Tire Mega Megacross. Five of the top motocross riders in Canada will be here for that."
The festival kicks off Wednesday at noon in downtown Penticton with the 4th annual Peach Bin Races, and Kendall was all about pumping up the new blood. Seems that teams from both the Snowbirds and the Skyhawks will be in it to win it. "They'll go against the defending champs form Greyback Construction."
He also alerted us to a new event. It's called Chill’n 4 Summer and it's a "tailored" food and wine-tasting and shopping soiree happening August 8th, starting at 5 p.m. at Mondo Creation on Main Street. Guests will travel to several other downtown retailers, and the backing organization, the Downtown Penticton Association, says there'll be wine and hors d’oeuvres at every stop. Head to this website for more information.
All of that and we still haven't gotten around to the festival's biggest draw of all - the Peter Bros. Grand Parade, commencing Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the corner of Main and Eckhardt and then ambling north on Main and then west on Lakeshore Drive to the SS Sicamous.
"It's the largest parade between Calgary and Vancouver. We'll have 100 entries this year, including ten American floats, and at least two US bands. And the Vancouver Police Motorcycle Drill Team will go out beforehand at 9:30 to perform on the route."
And the Skaha Lake side of town has not been forgotten. The Peach Festival Sandcastle Competition goes Thursday, with registration at 4 p.m. at the sun dial, and the Skaha Lake UltraSwim, a dastardly 11.8-kilometer open-water swim from one end of Skaha to the other begins Sunday at 7 a.m. It's already sold right out in case you were thinking of torturing your body to the max.
Kendall says that a freebie festival of this magnitude takes huge dedication, a ton of time, and a wide variety of knowledgeable people.
"We have 17 directors on the board, and they're all volunteers. Each of them has an area that they're responsible for. We have a parade director, a slo-pitch tournament director, we have someone who looks after sandcastles, we have someone who looks after the kids zone."
"It's become such a huge event to do with volunteers. We're a member of the Northwest Festival Hosting Association, which includes the Portland Rose Festival and Seattle's SeaFair. All those events have representatives who come to Penticton to see what we're doing, and they can't believe we're doing this with volunteers."
According to Kendall, the event has "grown tremendously" in the past few years. And he credits not only the volunteers, but the sponsors. Sponsors like Peters Bros.
"The support of Peters Bros. Construction has made a huge difference when they stepped up as our title sponsor eight years ago. And having them get so involved has encouraged other sponsors to also step up. Without our sponsors and vendors, we simply couldn't have Canada's largest free festival."
And Kendall is once again looking forward to a sea of humanity. "We had two people count at last year's festival. They didn't know each other, and they randomly counted. We estimated there were 8,000 people in the park every night. And that's not including what goes on in the afternoon. We used to think it was just north of 6,500, but in two separate crowd counts, we each came up with 8,000."
Kendall says another 15,000 to 17,000 people took in the parade and up to 20,000 watched the Snowbirds and Skyhawks perform the last time they hit the festival together.
For more information, times and dates, including all the stuff we couldn't fit in, hit up the Penticton Peach Festival website. Just remember – no rolling The Peach into the lake. That's so been done.
