Peachtime in Penticton (ca. 1950)

“Sun on a peach!”

These travelogue excerpts show highlights of the Penticton Peach Festival, ca. 1950, including the parade, midway, and rodeo. The excerpts have been selected from a 19-minute source film entitled Peachtime in the Valley: Penticton, British Columbia (BC Government Travel Bureau, 1949-51). The original film is BC Archives item F1983:02/033.01 at the Royal BC Museum.

Another big chunk of this film can be viewed in a separate blog post. That clip depicts a road trip from Hope to Kaleden, over the (then-new) Hope-Princeton Highway and through the Similkameen.

The film’s opening and closing graphic—a painting of ripe peaches on the tree, with the shores of Okanagan Lake in the background—exemplifies the simple but effective artwork that enhanced the BCGTB travelogues of the 1940s and early 1950s.

Digital frame grab from video copy of the film.