It is a milestone birthday but Kelowna’s celebration marking Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation will not include the traditional fireworks display.
The fireworks are always the big finale to the day-long celebration which brings tens of thousands people to Kelowna’s downtown core.
This year however, there will be no such display.
Organizers made the announcement at a news conference Thursday morning citing safety concerns due to this year’s unprecedented high water levels as the reason behind the decision.
“The simple reason for that is we know we get 30,000 plus people along the lakeshore,” Renata Mills with Festivals Kelowna said. “The parks are not really in a position to welcome people just yet. We need to give them some time to dry up and breathe.”
Activities including live entertainment at Waterfront Park are also being relocated and will take place on Water Street instead.
“We know that our citizens have been looking forward to this wonderful summer after a very challenging spring,” Mills said. “So rather than view it as a bummer we are using the opportunity to create a really fun street party atmosphere for Canada Day.”
The fireworks display has been postponed to the August Long Weekend.
“The idea behind that is simply let’s keep this Canada 150 birthday going all summer long,” Mills said.