LAKE COUNTRY – A life-long Oyama resident is spear-heading a community park proposal for the isthmus between Wood and Kalamalka lakes where the old CN rail line will be developed into the Okanagan Rail Trail.
Allan Gatzke believes it’s the perfect spot for a railway themed day-use park with picnic tables, barbeques, washrooms and parking areas.
The centre piece feature would be a replica railway station or platform.
“I hope it to be a place where we can tell the history of the growth of the Okanagan, the role the railway played in the growth of agriculture and the waves of immigrants that came,” says Gatzke. “And also tell pre-contact stories involving the Okanagan Indian Band.
He envisions the park serving as a launching point for people using the rail trail to explore either north or south.
“It will play an important role, I think, in re-vitalizing the economy in Oyama and generally for all of the Okanagan in the appeal it will have to in-bound tourists,” says Gatzke.
The working name for the proposed park is Oyama Station and Spirit Square.
Gatzke says about $200,000 would cover most of the costs of building the park.
He anticipates the money coming from donations, government grants and fund-raising initiatives rather than local property taxes.
“I can’t really see why this won’t go ahead.”