Canada Day celebration cancelled in Kelowna for second year

With the uncertainty about COVID-19 restart rules and restrictions on public gatherings in place until July 1 at the earliest, Festivals Kelowna and the City of Kelowna have decided to cancel Canada Day celebrations for the second year in a row.

“The Kelowna Canada Day celebration is one of the largest in our province at over 65,000 guests attending each year across multiple indoor and outdoor venues,” a Festival Kelowna news release states. “As such, preparing for such a sizeable, complex event requires a longer lead time than is currently available to us.”

Besides, after suffering through the COVID pandemic, this will give local restaurants, breweries, and wineries a chance to "shine," the release states.

READ MORE: Kamloops to celebrate Canada Day virtually, encourage Indigenous heritage education

The City and Festivals Kelowna are now planning to produce a fall event instead.

Other entertainment efforts this summer are going ahead, including things like buskers, Pianos in Parks, a Parks Alive! concert series, which starts July 6, and an arts program on Bernard Avenue beginning on July 29.

Get more information at the Festivals Kelowna website here.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics

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