Vernon’s Camp Hurlburt will become a public waterfront park

VERNON – Camp Hurlburt has been sold to the North Okanagan Regional District and will become a public recreation area with about 1,000 feet of waterfront.

The camp on Eastside Road on Okanagan Lake near Ellison Provincial Park, which has been a fixture in Vernon for over 80 years, has been purchased from Trinity United Church.

With declining attendance each year followed by limited operations in 2012-13, discussion over a two-year period led to the decision to close shop and put the property up for sale this past summer.

“Lakefront property is limited and in high demand,” the chair of the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee Juliette Cunningham says in a media release. “We are fortunate that the members of Trinity United Church were interested in keeping this property open and available to the community.”

With declining attendance each year followed by limited operations in 2012-13, discussion over a two-year period led to the decision to close shop and put the property up for sale this past summer.

"Since 1931, thousands of young people and families have been blessed by the opportunities available at this beautiful place,” Trinity’s Rev. Jeff Seaton says in the release. “The sale of the property to the Regional District allows Trinity to maintain that legacy through community-based programs for children, youth, and families, while ensuring the entire community can benefit from direct access to this special location."

The property will be open to the pubic once it goes through a park planning process by the regional district.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.