The Penticton Peach Festival is now a member of one of the most prestigious festival organizations in North America.
At its recent annual meeting, the Northwest Festivals Hosting Association accepted Peach Festival as its second Canadian member.
The Seattle Seafair, the Portland Rose Festival, the Spokane Lilac Festival and the Wenatchee Apple Blossom Festival are among the 10 American members. The only other Canadian festival in the association is the New Westminster Hyack Festival.
Peachfest vice president Rebecca Ogden said she is pleased to have the festival accepted into the association. “This will be great for Peach Festival and for Penticton,” Ogden said.
“This is a recognition that Peach Festival is considered to be one of the premiere events in the Northwest.”
Besides the sharing of information, one of the major advantages for Peach Festival is that most of the other association members are expected to send their floats to Penticton for participation in the annual Peters Bros. Grand Parade, on Aug. 6. As a condition of membership, all festivals must send representatives to the other events.
Spokesperson Jacquie Janulis, from Portland, said the association is excited to have a new member that follows the same ideals as the other festivals. “We know that Penticton is a beautiful place, we know that Peachfest is a great festival and we know that the entire community is involved in the festival.”
Ogden said, “We expect that some of our partner festivals will send their float and 30-40 representatives to Peachfest. I think we’ll see a lot of visitors from the U.S. who will take advantage of our low Canadian dollar.”
The 69th annual Peach Festival is scheduled for Aug. 3 to 7.