Summer gets even sweeter during the Penticton Peach Festival
Penticton PeachFest is offering another stacked lineup of music and entertainment, and admission doesn't cost a dime. This year’s musical headliners at the five-day festival include Kim Mitchell, 54-40, Aaron Pritchard. For country music listeners, Pritchard’s performance will top...
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Penticton PeachFest is offering another stacked lineup of music and entertainment, and admission doesn't cost a dime.
This year’s musical headliners at the five-day festival include Kim Mitchell, 54-40, Aaron Pritchard.
For country music listeners, Pritchard’s performance will top off a full day of the genre on Aug. 10. He may be the most familiar name on the lineup that day, but entertainment director Don Kendall says fans won’t want to miss Matt Lang, who performs right before Pritchard.
“Matt Lang is going to be a real highlight,” Kendall said. “He’s one of the biggest country music stars in Eastern Canada right now and he’s never played in Western Canada before.”
PeachFest also hosts an evening of cover music. And while it’s rare to invite the same band back two years in a row, organizers made an exception for Eagle Eyes – an eagle tribute.
“If you closed your eyes you’d swear it was the Eagles,“ Kendall said.
The festival will include 29 local acts from the valley. And Captain Tractor from Alberta, as well as the Hip Replacements – a Tragically Hip tribute, will be making their inaugurate performances at Peach Fest this year.
Beyond the live music, this year’s Peachfest is packed with daredevil entertainment, with performances scheduled by the Canadian Armed Forces Parachute Team, Flying Fools and Canadian Tire Mega Motocross.
Locals get to put their creativity on display again through the Reel Peach Film Festival, and professional beach goers will be competing in the sandcastle competition.
The Shooting Star midway is always a staple of the festival, along with the competitions - peach bin races, the Skaha Lake ultra swim, and beach volleyball tournament.
Kendall says the fastest-growing part of PeachFest – which has been around since 1947 – is the Home Hardware Kids Zone, which runs from 9 a.m. to noon at Gyro Park for the first three days of the festival.
“It’s a great events for kids, three hours of non-stop fun in Gyro Park,” he said.
A festival of this caliber can only be put on for free thanks to the volunteers and sponsors who stepped up, Kendall said.
PeachFest 2023 runs from Aug. 9 to 13. Find the full schedule of events at peachfest.com.
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