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By Marshall Jones
Our Nine Weeks of summer wraps up our local beaches this week, minus one week due to coverage of this summer’s forest fires. We are sure you will find a different beach every weekend, depending on what you are looking for.
1. Hot Sands Beach: Located in City Park with a great view of the William Bennett Bridge, Hot Sands Beach is a mecca for both residents and tourists. It is long and big and has room for even the biggest families. A new retaining wall has been added to stop erosion along the edges where the bike path meets the beach. On the far end volleyball nets sway gently in the warm breeze begging to be used.
2. Rotary Beach Park: Rotary Beach is a family friendly place where tourists and locals rub shoulders on the sun kissed sand as boats and jet skis race across Okanagan Lake. Large trees both on the beach and the large grassy area offer much needed shade from the blistering sun, a perfect spot to whip out the blanket and get lost in a book. The children’s playground is small and colorful and offers children a diversion after building sandcastles on the beach, next to the lapping waves, no longer perks their curiosity.
3. Gellatly Bay dog park: Gellatly Bay is one of the few places where you can legally take your dogs off leash for a good swim and run along a clean beach. Sure there are plenty of places where you can get Rover into the water, but if you ask him he’ll tell you that the key is making friends with other dogs. I know that spooks some of you but we have been bringing our dogs here for almost 10 years. We haven’t run into an unhappy dog there yet.
4. Bertram Creek park: Charred and blackened trees surround you as you fight to find a parking spot at this beautiful regional park but there is extra parking just past the main entrance. The 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park destroyed 75 per cent of the 17.9 hectare beauty spot although there is no evidence of that now as you follow the trail into the shady park.
5. Tugboat Beach: After a walk around the grounds, with a view of some of Kelowna’s tallest buildings and the Grand casino, the beach is at the north end. It’s almost always cleaned, thanks to a machine sifter to pick up all those ugly cigarette butts and other litter. It’s a beach for the civil with few tent food stands but actual concessions. There’s plenty of choice for food, ice cream and drinks. The beach is often less busy than some of Kelowna’s other hot spots.
6. Gyro Beach: It has clean sand and playground equipment running right into the water. You can rent kayaks or water trikes or even rent a scooter across the road. It has food and cold drinks, change rooms and washrooms and never forget that it has beach volleyball. There’s plenty of cool grass and even some tall trees to hide under.
7. Pritchard Park: There is just enough free parking along the fence line to populate the beach. It’s not the biggest of beaches but it has just all the amenities of a provincial park including washrooms, a few pieces of playground equipment and enough picnic tables to accommodate a birthday party or multi-family gathering.
