PENTICTON- Big changes could be coming to Penticton’s Peachfest parade because of road renovations.
Road reduction along Main Street means that three blocks will be losing a lane and Peachfest organizers are worried less room could spell problems for their annual parade.
The city’s mayor, however, isn’t overly concerned.
“Certainly an event that happens once a year can’t dictate how the street is laid out,” says Penticton’s Mayor, Andrew Jakubeit. “This has been [in work] for over two years.”
The 100, 200, and 300 blocks of Main are facing 4.2 million dollar upgrades to make more space for businesses and sidewalks.
Jakubeit says festival organizers’ concerns about the upgrades are unwarranted because of the size of the parade’s floats.
“I think over 100 entries there’s probably a small margin of those that are large-scale marching bands or large-scale floats. And they come here on single-lane trucks.”
The Peach Festival Society claims they’ve been concerned about the lane reduction since 2014 but have been largely ignored by council.
~ By Timm Bruch
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