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PENTICTON is a corruption of the
Salish phrase pen tak tin - "a place to stay forever"
- but this is not a sobriquet the most southerly of the Okanagan's
big towns even remotely deserves. Its summer daily average of
ten hours of sunshine ranks it higher than Honolulu, making tourism
its biggest industry after fruit (this is "Peach City").
That, along with Penticton's proximity to Vancouver and the US,
keeps prices high and ensures that the town and beaches are swarming
with water-sports jocks, cross-country travellers, RV skippers
and lots of happy families. Off the beaches there's some festival
or other playing virtually every day of the year to keep the punters
entertained, the key ones being the Wine Festival
in May and the Peach Festival in August.
Most leisure pastimes in Penticton - water-oriented
ones in particular - take place on or near Okanagan Lake, just
ten blocks from the town centre. Okanagan Beach
is the closest sand to downtown and is usually covered in oiled
bodies for most of its one-kilometre stretch; Skaha Beach
, 4km south of town on Skaha Lake, is a touch quieter and trendier
- both close at midnight, and sleeping on them is out of the question.
If the beaches don't appeal, you can take your sun from a cruise
on the lake aboard the Casabella Princess , which departs from
45 E Lakeshore Drive (call 492-4090 for times and prices).
If you're determined to sightsee, the museum
at 785 Main St has a panoply of predictable Canadiana (Mon-Fri
10am-5pm; donation) and you can take tours around the SS Sicamous
(May-Sept daily 10am-4pm; Oct-April Mon-Fri 10am-4pm; $3), a beached
paddlesteamer off Lakeshore Drive on the Kelowna
side of town (take in the lovely rose gardens alongside the boat
while you're here). Just off Main Street there's the South
Okanagan Art Gallery , 11 Ellis St, which often carries
high-quality shows, and apparently qualifies as the "world's
first solar-powered art gallery" (Tues-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat
& Sun 1-5pm; donation). More tempting perhaps, and an ideal
part of a day's stopover, is a trip to the Tin Whistle
Brewery , 954 W Eckhardt Ave (drop-in tours and tastings
year-round), which offers three English-type ales and a celebrated
Peaches and Cream beer (summer only). If your taste is for wine
rather than beer, head for the Hillside Estate Winery
, 1350 Naramata Rd (tel 493-4424), Lake Breeze Vineyard
, Sammet Road (tel 496-5659), or Casobello Wines Vineyard
, 2km south of town off Hwy 97 on Skaha Lake Road, all of which
offer tours and tastings. Otherwise, Penticton's main diversions
are the curse of many Canadian tourist towns - the water slides.
