VERNON – The Okanagan Summer Festival Society has big plans for a grassy gorge at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus. They are hoping to build an outdoor amphitheater where up to 5,500 people can watch performances overlooking Kalamalka Lake.
“This would be an addition to our tourism infrastructure here in the valley,” says the society’s managing director Diane Bond. “It would also be a destination for residents to come on a beautiful summer evening…with their picnic baskets to sit out and enjoy music and the gorgeous view.”
Big plans often come with big price tags and in this case the final cost isn’t known yet.
“We don’t have a final design. We are just getting feedback on a preliminary design. At this point we are expecting that the capital cost is going to be between $5 and $10 million,” says Bond.
The society says it won’t be asking the regional district to hold a referendum to fund the project.
“We are eligible for senior government funding for this kind of infrastructure development. We also expect to hold a public campaign which would be soliciting support both from individuals and businesses,” Bond.
The land is owned by the college and the institution is quick to point out nothing set in stone yet.
“We haven’t signed a lease agreement with the society yet,” says the college’s director of public affairs, Allan Coyle. “The board has indicated that is the direction we are moving. We want to ensure all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.”
The college believes the amphitheater would have tourism benefits and potentially give them a space to hold convocations. An open house is planned for Monday night and the society is already anticipating some issues that might come up such as noise.
She says an architect who looked at the site thinks that building the amphitheater lower down in the gully will also mean the “sound will be largely contained within the site.”
Exactly when the amphitheater could be built is unclear. The society says the planning phase will take at least another year.
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