Okanagan Dream Rally to roar on new Kelowna to Peachland route

A popular Kelowna event that took a pit stop in 2023 is returning this summer, with a new twist.

“We’re excited to announce that we will have a new route for 2024,” organizers of the Okanagan Dream Rally said in an email.

“This year, we will have the same start line in downtown Kelowna. However, we will be looping through Peachland’s scenic Beach Avenue before returning to Kelowna for an incredible private lunch event.”

The event’s planners said they’re excited about this new route from Prospera Place to Peachland, which will see 200-plus luxury cars cruising along the lake with their co-pilots.

More details for the July 27 event will be available in the days ahead.

In years past, the route was longer, with vehicles travelling from Kelowna to Penticton and back.

1:31 Luxury sports cars roar through the Okanagan to raise funds for charities

Last year, the August Family Foundation announced they were taking a brief hiatus from the event that’s raised $3.3 million for children’s charities.

“It is with heavy hearts that we have made the incredibly difficult decision to postpone the 2023 Okanagan Dream Rally due to circumstances that are out of our control,” said the organization that puts on the event, the August Family Foundation, in a statement released online Thursday.

It did not disclose what those circumstances were.

The event, which has raised $3.3 million for organizations like Ronald McDonald House Charities and KGH Foundation, pairs 250 children with 250 high-end rally cars and drivers for a day.

In turn, upwards of 50,000 spectators would gather and watch as the cars toured the valley.