Each August, Penticton is treated to a huge range of entertainment at the Peach Festival. This year, that ranges from the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, West Coast Lumberjacks and sandcastle competitions to performances from the likes of 54-40, George Canyon and Barney Bentall.
Then there is the Grande Parade and the Kiddies Parade. And this goes on for five days, for free. Not many cities can boast of an event that even comes close.
There are two things that have to come together to make this work. The first is the volunteers.
Planning for Peach Festival starts as soon as the current one ends for the volunteer board members, who spend much of their year putting it all together. Then, too, there are all the volunteers on the ground, helping set up, managing the crowds and performing countless other duties to ensure Peachfest comes off smoothly.
Penticton is lucky to have a dedicated core of volunteers. We benefit from their involvement in so many ways, whether it’s coaching youngsters, raising money for the hospital, or helping out at big events like the Gran Fondo, Challenge Triathlon or Peachfest.
For all these wonderful and important activities, we owe our volunteers a deep debt of gratitude.
The other group that makes Peachfest possible, and who also deserve a round of applause at least as big as George Canyon is going to get when he hits Peachfest’s main stage tonight, are the sponsors.
Without the generosity of sponsors like Dave Kampe of Peters Bros. Construction, Tim Hortons, The Lakeside Resort, Penticton Speedway, Valley First and many, many others, Peachfest would likely be a lot smaller, and it wouldn’t be free.
We would like to extend our thanks to the volunteers and sponsors who devote so much to making Peach Festival an incredible, matchless event.
