"Kelowna's Amusing Past" is the name of the display at the Kelowna Museum, and soon it will be gone. The staff at the museum gathered together artifacts from a host of events and attractions that have been dropped over the years in Kelowna. You might describe some as tourist traps, but many are dearly missed. We paid a visit to the Kelowna Museum where Curatorial Manager Amanda Snyder spoke with us about the collection.
You may remember the Old MacDonald's Farm that used to draw crowds to the Westbank area, but what about the Okanagan Zoo in Kelowna with the smoking chimp?
"It came to Kelowna with the habit, in all fairness," said Snyder with a chuckle. Myta, the Smoking Chimp, was the most famous attraction at that zoo which didn't quite last a decade. It's one of scores of attractions from the days when tourist attractions were competing with one-another to encourage travellers to pull-over. There was the Malibu Grand Prix race track, the Wet 'n Wild Waterpark, The Boardwalk roller rink and, of course, Flinstones Bedrock City.
"When you think of 40 Foot Fred with his thumbs-up," she asked, "how could that not lure you into Bedrock City?"
The exhibit also celebrates special events like the Regatta and Snowfest, which were both eventually dropped from the calendar. "Maybe there weren't enough volunteers anymore," wondered Snyder. Working on the project has her feeling nostalgic."I think it would be great to bring back some of these things."
"At one point, the city was calling itself "The Fun Capital of Canada", added Snyder. "It really was a hot spot for kids, and for family destinations."
The exhibit will be on display until November 18.
