Penticton is getting beach ready.
With the first big weekend of the summer (Peach City Beach Cruise and Elvis Festival) Penticton’s beaches have been groomed and flood mitigation cleaned up on Okanagan Lake, businesses dependent on the summer heat are being set up and the city is being prettied up.
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“This is the weekend that kicks everything off for the summer. The tourists and locals get out and use the beaches so our parks crew are out and getting everything ready to go,” said Len Robson, City of Penticton public works manager.
Work on Okanagan Beach started on Monday and went quickly as they moved down towards the marina. A small pocket of gabions will remain on the beach until the water recedes a bit more. Preparations for high water situations this year allows the sand brought in to use on gabions placed along the shore to remain on the beach and replace some of the sand lost last summer.
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“I’m surprised and pleased everything went together really quick. H&M Contracting has done a really great job for us down here putting things together for us. By the end of tomorrow we will be in pretty good shape for the weekend,” said Robson.
While the last bit of grooming was being done on the Peach side of Okanagan Lake, the Wibit inflatable water attraction was strewn across the beach near the S.S. Sicamous as they assembled the pieces hopeful for a weekend opening.
“Yeah, it should be a big weekend with the car show going there should lots of people coming by,” said T.J. Paisley, assistant manager of the Penticton Wibit. “When I came in this morning they just finished cleaning up the beach so there wasn’t any branches and all of that so that was pretty good. It is amazing compared to last year. I’m excited.”
Further down Lakeshore Drive, staff at Coyote Cruises was busy with general maintenance of their building as they prepare for their official opening day of the summer this weekend after a soft opening last weekend that took tubers down the Okanagan River Channel.
“This is always the main weekend we open up. We expect a lot of people with the car show and everything else that is going on. I hope everyone gets a chance to do everything in Penticton and if they make their way here that they stay safe on the river, that is our big concern this year,” said Nick Kruger, operations manager.
Kruger said the water is higher than it was last year so they are ensuring they are communicating with everyone who is using the channel. He added they took extra measures this year developing a safety plan and are working with the Penticton Fire Department swift water rescue team, putting up extra signage and communicating with the general public about the dangers of fast-flowing water with those coming onto the channel
Kruger said Coyote Cruises is under new management and planning to undergo some re-branding in the future, but they still will offer customers tube rentals, family inflatable boat rentals, lifejacket rentals and the bus service — which is currently running from the top entrance to the bottom exit of the channel. Once the channel starts slowing down they will go to the halfway point as well.
“The water will be going down in the next week to two and half weeks so it will be back to normal and riders will be looking at a longer floating time,” he said, adding that currently it takes about an hour and a half.