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Penticton’s Peach dressed for Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Peach on the Beach dressed in Scottish best

The ongoing evolution of Penticton’s iconic Peach on the Beach continued Wednesday, this time in honour of the city’s hosting the annual Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Related: Scotties a stone’s throw away

Decked out in the world’s largest tam-o’-shanter, measuring nine feet in diameter, roughly 28 feet in circumference and three feet tall, the work was crafted by Amanda and Paul McPhail of McPhail’s Kilts.

The Scottish, brimless wool cap complete with centre bobble two feet in diameter, is named after the hero of the 1790 Robbie Burns poem of the same name.

Six panels of Canadian tartans, B.C., Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Newfoundland adorn the cap which has a one foot, black cotton front.

Unlike the traditional cap, this one is held together with chicken wire, two-by-four inch irrigation pipes and foam tubbing.

Related: Field is set for Scotties Tournament of Hearts

“You name it, we put everything you can think of to put it together,” said Paul admiring the couple’s creation, at the unveiling. “We also got lots of help from family and friends, we owe people lots of bottles of whiskey.

“Basically what we ended doing was getting a whole bunch of fabric from our supplier and we cut it to make the shape, and we’re used to making nine-inch tams…

Added Amanda with laugh: “We just turned our inches into feet.”

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The couple say they intend to submit their work for inclusion into the Guinness Book of World Records.

According to Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit, the decorated Peach concession is a nice reminder of the Scottish heritage of the event.

“Hopefully people will see this and think about ‘I’ll go and watch some of the matches,’” he said.

Related: Song penned for Scotties in Penticton

Peach owner Diana Stirling summed it up this way: “We’ve decorated the peach in honour of the Scotties that are coming to Penticton this weekend so to welcome all of the top women curlers in Canada to Penticton and what better way than to dress up our icon the peach.”

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Ushering in the Scottish Peach (wearing the world’s largest tam-o’-shanter) on the pipes is Graham Burley (centre) with tam makers Paul (left) and Amanda (right) McPhail of McPhail’s Kilts and peach owner Diana Stirling Mayor Andrew Jakubeit and Coun. Judy Sentes. Mark Brett/Western News