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Okanagan
The Okanagan ( ), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of the Okanagan Country, extending into the United States as Okanogan County in north-central Washington. According to the 2016 Canadian census, the region's population is 362,258. The largest populated cities are Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, and West Kelowna. The region is known for its sunny climate, dry landscapes, lakeshore communities, and particular lifestyle. The economy is retirement- and commercial-recreation-based, with outdoor activities such as boating and watersports, skiing, and hiking. Agriculture has been focused primarily on fruit orchards, with a recent shift in focus to vineyards and wine. The region stretches northwards via the Spallumcheen Valley to Sicamous in the Shuswap Country, and reaches south of the Canada� ...
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Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan language, Okanagan word ', referring to a grizzly bear. Kelowna is the province's third-largest Greater Kelowna, metropolitan area (after Greater Vancouver, Vancouver and Greater Victoria, Victoria). It is the List of municipalities in British Columbia, seventh-largest municipality in BC and the largest in the Interior. It is the List of census metropolitan areas and agglomerations in Canada, 20th-largest metropolitan area in Canada. The city proper encompasses , and the Census geographic units of Canada#Census metropolitan area, census metropolitan area . Kelowna's population in 2025 is 165,907 in the city proper. Nearby communities include the City of West Kelowna (also referred to as Westbank and Westside) to ...
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Penticton
Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley of the British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan Lake, Okanagan and Skaha Lake, Skaha lakes. In the 2021 Canadian Census, its population was 36,885, while its Census geographic units of Canada#Census agglomerations, census agglomeration population was 47,380. Name origin The name Penticton is derived from a word in the Okanagan language. It is conventionally translated as "a place to stay forever" but is actually a reference to the year-round flow of Okanagan Lake through Penticton where it enters Skaha Lake. Differing accounts of the meaning are given in the BC Geographical Names entry for the city: History The site of the city was first settled by the Syilx (Okanagan people), of the Interior Salish languages group,#Breese-Biagioni, Breese-Biagioni (1998), p. 10 who initially named the community Phthauntac, meaning the "ideal meeting place", followed by Penticton, meaning a "place to stay forever", or officia ...
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Okanagan Country
The Okanagan Country, also known as the Okanagan Valley, is a region located in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington (where it is spelled the Okanogan Country), defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Okanagan River. With an estimated 400,000 residents, the Okanagan Country spans from the Thompson Plateau near Grindrod, British Columbia in the Okanagan to the Okanagan Highland near Douglas County, Washington in the Okanogan County, Washington, Okanogan. The largest city in the Canadian portion is Kelowna, with a metropolitan population of 222,162 residents as of 2021, while the largest city in the American portion is Omak, Washington, Omak, with 4,860 residents as of 2020. The region took its current name in honor of the Okanagan language, Okanagan term, ''ukʷnaqín''. The mild climate and close proximity to lakes, rivers and mountainous regions make the Okanagan Cou ...
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Okanagan Lake
Okanagan Lake () is a lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is long, between wide, and has a surface area of 348 km2 (135 sq. mi.). Hydrography Okanagan Lake is called a fjord lake as it has been carved out by repeated glaciations. Although the lake contains numerous lacustrine terraces, it is not uncommon for the lake to be deep only offshore. Major inflows include Mission, Vernon, Trout, Penticton, Equesis, Kelowna, Peachland and Powers Creeks. The lake is drained by the Okanagan River, which exits the lake's south end via a canal through the city of Penticton to Skaha Lake, whence the river continues southwards into the rest of the South Okanagan and through Okanogan County, Washington to its confluence with the Columbia. The lake's maximum depth is near Grant Island (Nahun Weenox). There are three other islands: one known as Rattlesnake Island, much farther south by Squally Point. The other two are near Grant Island. They ...
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Okanagan Valley (wine Region)
The Okanagan Valley wine region, located within the Okanagan, region of the same name in the British Columbia Interior, is Canada's second-largest Canadian wine, wine producing area. Along with the nearby Similkameen Valley, the approximately of vineyards planted in the Okanagan (2018 data) account for more than 80% of all wine produced in British Columbia, and are second in economic importance for wine production to the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario (wine), Ontario. Some 182 licensed wineries existed from south to north in the valley in 2018, with many situated along the -long Okanagan Lake and its tributaries and downstream lakes, including Skaha Lake, Vaseux Lake, and Osoyoos Lake. The Okanagan has diverse terrain that features many different microclimates (wine), microclimates and vineyard soil types,J. Robinson (ed) ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'' Third Edition pg 133 Oxford University Press 2006 The Canadian Encyclopedi"Wine Industry" Accessed: January 5th, 2011 contributing ...
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Vernon, British Columbia
Vernon is a city in the Okanagan region of the British Columbia Interior, Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is northeast of Vancouver. Named after Forbes George Vernon, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly, MLA of British Columbia who helped establish the Coldstream Ranch in nearby Coldstream, British Columbia, Coldstream, the City of Vernon was incorporated on 30 December 1892. The City of Vernon has a population of 44,519 (2021), while its metropolitan region, Greater Vernon, has a population of 67,086 as of the 2021 Canadian census. With this population, Vernon is the largest city in the Regional District of North Okanagan, North Okanagan Regional District. A resident of Vernon is called a "Vernonite". History The site of the city was discovered by the Okanagan people, a tribe of the Interior Salish people, who initially named the community Nintle Moos Chin, meaning "jumping over place where the creek narrows". This name refers to a section of the Swan ...
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West Kelowna
West Kelowna, formerly known as Westside and colloquially known as Westbank, is a city in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley on the west shore of Okanagan Lake. The city encompasses several neighbourhoods, including Casa Loma, Gellatly, Glenrosa, Lakeview Heights, Shannon Lake, Smith Creek, Rose Valley, Westbank, and West Kelowna Estates. As of 2021, West Kelowna had an estimated population of 36,078. West Kelowna incorporated in 2007 as Westside District Municipality, reflecting the name of the former Central Okanagan Regional District rural electoral area. On January 30, 2009, the municipality was officially re-named West Kelowna. The municipality was re-classified as the City of West Kelowna on June 26, 2015. History Westside District Municipality was established December 6, 2007. Prior to that date, the Westside had been governed as a rural area under the Central Okanagan Regional District since the 1970s. A June 2007 referendum offered residents the choice to change t ...
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Okanogan River
The Okanogan River (known as the Okanagan River in Canada) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 115 mi (185 km) long, in southern British Columbia and north central Washington. It drains a scenic plateau region called the Okanagan Country east of the Cascade Range and north and west of the Columbia, and also the Okanagan region of British Columbia. The Canadian portion of the river has been channelized since the mid-1950s. Course The Okanagan River rises in southern British Columbia, issuing out of the southern end of Okanagan Lake, which is on the north side of the city of Penticton. It flows south past Penticton, through Skaha Lake, past Okanagan Falls, through Vaseux Lake, and past Oliver to Osoyoos and Osoyoos Lake, which spans the Canada–United States border and has its outlet into the Okanogan River at Oroville, on the southern shore of the lake, in Okanogan County. At the border the river's name (and the region and also the name of the ...
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Sicamous, British Columbia
Sicamous () is a district municipality in the Shuswap Country region of south central British Columbia. The place is adjacent to the narrows, which is the confluence of Mara Lake into Shuswap Lake. At the BC Highway 97A intersection on BC Highway 1, the locality is by road about west of Revelstoke, east of Kamloops, and north of Vernon. First Nations and fur traders The Secwepemc (Shuswap) First Nations have long inhabited the shores of Shuswap and Mara lakes, evidenced by the presence of pit-houses dating back over 3,200 years. An annual potlach was held at the mouth of the Eagle River. In the 1840s, an encampment existed west of the narrows on the slopes later called CPR hill. From the early 1820s, they brought furs to trade at the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) fort at Kamloops. By the 1840s, an HBC outpost opened at the mouth of the Eagle River. For centuries, the river had provided an abundance of salmon, which also created a trade in dried fish. A trail on the nort ...
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British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains. British Columbia borders the province of Alberta to the east; the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north; the U.S. states of Washington (state), Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south, and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of over 5.7million as of 2025, it is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, while the province's largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver and its suburbs together make up List of census metropolitan areas and agglomerations in Canada, the third-largest metropolit ...
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Boundary Country
The Boundary Country is a historical designation for a district in southern British Columbia lying, as its name suggests, along the boundary between Canada and the United States. It lies to the east of the southern Okanagan Valley and to the west of the West Kootenay. It is often included in descriptions of both of those regions but historically has been considered a separate region. Originally inclusive of the South Okanagan towns of Osoyoos and Oliver, today the term continues in use to refer to the valleys of the Kettle, West Kettle, and Granby Rivers and of Boundary and Rock Creeks and that of Christina Lake and of their various tributaries, all draining the south slope of the Monashee Mountains. The term Boundary District as well as the term Boundary Country can both refer to the local mining division of the British Columbia Ministry of Mines, Energy and Petroleum Resources. Geography The Boundary Country comprises the lower valleys of the West Kettle and Kettle Ri ...
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Shuswap Country
The Shuswap Country, or simply the Shuswap (pronounced /ˈʃuːʃwɑːp/) and called Secwepemcúl̓ecw in Secwepemctsín, is a term used in the Canadian province of British Columbia to refer to the environs of Shuswap Lake. The upper reaches of the Shuswap basin, southeast of Shuswap Lake and northeast of the Okanagan, are generally considered to be part of Okanagan or of the Monashee Country rather than "the Shuswap". Roughly defined, the Shuswap Country begins on its west at the town of Chase, British Columbia, Chase, located on Little Shuswap Lake, west of which is the South Thompson area of the Thompson Country, and includes Adams Lake to the northwest of Shuswap Lake as well as communities in the Eagle River (Shuswap), Eagle River area as far as Craigellachie, British Columbia, Craigellachie and/or Three Valley Gap, which is at the summit of Eagle Pass (British Columbia), Eagle Pass, beyond which eastwards is the Columbia Country. Settlements and towns *Chase, British Co ...
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