Kelowna Culture: Wine History, Art, Theatre, and Events

Wine History

Four Kelowna Museums

Kelowna, BC, Canada’s BC Wine and BC Orchard Industry museums are located in the Cultural District deep in the heart of the Okanagan Valley. It’s museums are a wealth of knowledge about its wine making, fruit growing and agricultural history. Viewing photographs of Kelowna during the late 1800s at the Kelowna Public Archives in the Okanagan Heritage Museum will give an excellent overview of how Kelowna has developed as a community. Displays and wine making artifacts at the BC Wine Museum provide insight into the Okanagan’s development as a wine making region; its wine tasting events are educational for those who wish to learn more about the various types of Okanagan wines. The BC Orchard Industry Museum’s displays and exhibits are a great snapshot of how fruit packing, processing, preserving, and picking has evolved over the years. At the Okanagan Military Museum, one will see artifacts from the Boer War, World War I, World War II as well as more recent military operations. Admission to each one of the museums is by donation only. The packinghouse was built in 1918 and is the oldest and largest standing packinghouse in British Columbia. A packinghouse is a facility where fruit is received and processed prior to distribution to market.

Art

Outdoor Public Art

An afternoon scavenger hunt of over 40 works of outdoor public art will provide great insight into Kelowna’s history and development as a community. This art is made from materials such as marble, cottonwood and fibreglass by a variety of well-known artists. Concrete ‘Grizzly Bears’ in City Park are symbolic of Kelowna’s name that is derived from the First Nations term for ‘grizzly bear’. The ‘Peopled Place’ compilation of steel artefacts and implements in the Mission commemorates the Okanagan’s agricultural and industrial roots. The ‘Run’ steel monuments along the Mission Creek Greenway captures the relationship of human movement through water and this bond’s importance in Kelowna’s development. Internationally renowned Gert Maas’ ‘On the Beach’ bronze sculpture is located at the Waterfront Park beach, and his other works can be viewed at the Sculpture Gardens and Gallery in Kelowna. Two cottonwood sculptures, ‘An Old Tree’ and ‘Renaissance of a Tree’, are on display in the Towne Centre Mall and City Park, respectively. They were crafted from two of the cottonwood trees felled by the 1997 storm that devastated the park and harbour.

Turtle Island Gallery

The Turtle Island Gallery is located on Cannery Lane in Kelowna’s Cultural District, not far from the Kelowna Art Gallery and the BC Wine Museum. It is an excellent spot at which to buy a souvenir when visiting the Land of Ogopogo: wood carving, jewelry or a painting crafted by one of BC’s many First Nations artists. The gallery also sells argillite and soapstone carvings like those used as trophies for professional golf tournaments. Turtle Island’s location makes it a convenient place at which to stop while doing a Self-Guided Walking Tour of Kelowna. After visiting the gallery, art-lovers may continue-on and admire the outdoor public art near Waterfront Park. Turtle Island is a wonderful place to browse after enjoying a restaurant meal, and it is not far from great shopping and entertainment on Bernard Avenue.

Tutt Street Gallery

Shoppers in Pandosy Village by the Lake may stop at the Tutt Street Gallery to admire and purchase Canadian and international artists’ contemporary art. The gallery’s oil and acrylic paintings may be either abstract or not, of people, places or things. Painting subjects can range from an Okanagan winery’s lush vineyard to children at play or wildlife in their natural environment. Tutt Street Gallery is close to the Village’s many quaint restaurants, and it is the host of numerous public, private and corporate art showings. For a different experience, art-lovers may visit the Sculpture Gardens and Gallery to admire the bronze art statues of Kelowna’s-own Gert Maas.

Hambleton Galleries

The artists who show at Hambleton Galleries put paint to canvas as a way to express their love for the Okanagan Valley. The gallery has shown oil and acrylic paintings depicting a wide range of scenery: a vineyard, lavender field or new growth at Myra Canyon to name a few. Visitors to Kelowna have been able to compare their actual view of Lake Okanagan from Knox Mountain Park to one hanging on the gallery’s wall. The Valley’s reputation as a fertile fruit-growing region has been represented in works portraying individual fruit and blooming orchard fields. The gallery has also hung paintings that capture an empty Bernard Avenue or a bird perched in a quiet moment of reflection. Located on Ellis Street, Hambleton Galleries also carries stone sculptures, ceramics and glass works that may be admired and purchased.

Theatre

Kelowna’s Cultural District

In 2004, Kelowna was named the ‘Cultural Capital of Canada’ by the Government of Canada’s Department of Canadian Heritage, and its six-block Cultural District is a big reason why. Hockey fans may catch a Kelowna Rockets hockey game or their favourite concert at Prospera Place, right across the street from the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Here, individuals can watch, or take pottery, jewelry-making, painting and other lessons from, working artists. There’s also lots of art to browse at numerous galleries along Cannery Lane. One can enjoy a Kelowna Community Theatre live performance or learn about the natural, cultural and military heritages of the Okanagan at the Kelowna Museum. The secluded, three-acre Kasugai Japanese Gardens near City Hall is a wonderful place to meander, admire and relax in Kelowna’s warm climate. There’s lots for artistic explorers to see and do in Kelowna’s Cultural District!

Kelowna Art Gallery

A trip to the Kelowna Art Gallery in Kelowna’s Cultural District can be an educational experience about life in Kelowna’s urban agricultural oasis. The gallery hosts local, national and international exhibitions of painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, and sculpture on a variety of topics. It’s permanent collection of several hundred works portrays vineyards, orchards and other realities of life in a fertile valley. They provide a wonderful artistic impression of life in the Okanagan Valley that can otherwise be experienced by taking an agri-tour, attending the Annual Apple Fair or sipping at the Okanagan wine festivals. The Kelowna Art Gallery is located on Water Street, not far from another gatekeeper of Kelowna’s agricultural history: the BC Orchard Industry Museum. Browsing the Kelowna Art Gallery may be part of an enjoyable evening that includes a restaurant meal and quiet stroll on the Waterfront Park beach boardwalk.

Kelowna Community Theatre

The Kelowna Community Theatre has been making audiences laugh, cry, sing, and dance with live performances since 1962. The indoor theatre is located in Kelowna’s Cultural District near Waterfront Park: live comedy, concerts and theatrical performances are a major contributor to Kelowna’s cultural scene. Kelowna Community Theatre’s local, national and international acts tap into a wide range of audience emotions. Attending one of its shows is an excellent way to spend a night on the town: after a restaurant meal and before dancing the night away. The pleasure of attending a show at the theatre will remain long after the curtain falls and one’s head hits the pillow back at the hotel. The theatre also hosts special events such as the BC Interior Music Awards and the Artscape program showcasing local art.

Kelowna Actors Studio

Kelowna Actors Studio makes going out for dinner a funny and thrilling experience. Tony and Emmy award-winning productions from Broadway can be enjoyed while dining on a full-course menu of great food and wine. Kelowna’s only licensed dinner theatre is located on Ellis Street near Kelowna’s Cultural District, not far from the Kelowna Community Theatre and Rotary Centre for the Arts. The Studio also offers classes in acting, musical theatre, TV, film, and improv theatre for those who wish to take to the stage themselves. These classes may inspire some to become buskers or perform at ParksAlive! in City Park, others might be content to simply broaden their cultural horizons. The Kelowna Actors Studio is close to hotels, shopping and other attractions in downtown Kelowna.

Events

The Habitat

The Habitat is neither a hotel nor a wetland: it is a funky spot in downtown Kelowna where concerts, workshops and special events like the BC Interior Music Awards are hosted. A full-course menu and espresso bar make the Habitat an ideal place for hosting a private function or anywhere between 50 to 300 guests. It occasionally hosts open-to-the-public events where people can eat, listen, dance, and celebrate to afrobeat, funk rock, jazz funk, or electro funk. Kelowna’s arts, music and nightlife scene is a more vibrant one thanks to the Habitat. The Habitat is located on Leon Avenue near City Park in the Kelowna North real estate neighbourhood.

Prospera Place

Prospera Place is a facility where flocks of fans may gather to watch sports, dance at concerts or hear a high-profile guest speaker. This 6,000 to 8,000-seat ‘entertainment coliseum’ also accommodates home shows and live theatre productions that are too big for other venues. Prospera Place’s location makes it a weekly hub of activity in Kelowna’s already buzzing Cultural District and a convenient walk from many hotels; its Manhattan Point restaurant provides a great place to grab a meal before or during an event. Prospera offers ‘entertainment surrounded by fun’ in downtown Kelowna: guests may stroll in Waterfront Park before a Kelowna Rockets hockey game, hit the casino after a concert or go shopping during convention breaks.