Penticton

Penticton

A PLACE TO LIVE FOREVER!

A popular destination in the Okanagan Valley, situated between Skaha Lake and Okanagan Lake, Penticton is surrounded by scores of vineyards that produce award-winning wines and offer world-renowned chef-inspired menus and tastings. The drive north from Penticton to Naramata along Lake Okanagan offers breathtaking scenery of the vines as they stretch down to the lakeshore below. Beaches, swimming, tubing, the Kettle Valley Rail Trail, rock climbing on Skaha Bluffs, golfing and so much more bring visitors here year after year.

Pen-tic-ton, as translated by the local Salish Native Americans, means “a place to live forever” (the commonly accepted translation) or “a place to live year-round”.

Tom Ellis, the first non-Native settler in the area, took the meaning to heart and settled here in 1865. Ellis, from England, planned the formulation of the new town. In 1892, a townsite was laid out which is now called Front Street, home to many unique stores and boutiques.

A strange little known fact was that some of the older, wooden buildings were built on skids and could be moved to a new location by simply hitching them up to a team of horses and dragging them away.

By 1907, Penticton had grown to 600 residents, and was officially recognized by the British Columbia Government as a municipal district. In the teens, the building of the Kettle Valley Railroad increased the population to around 1,500 people. By 1921 the city was 4,000 strong, but it took until 1948 for Penticton to gain City Status.

Many changes have come to Penticton. The city now has a population of over 33,000 and continues to grow. And, if you listen on a quiet night, you can almost hear the horn of one of the old sternwheelers, announcing its arrival on the beach.