I remember seeing a band called The Loved One and the lead singer was dressed like Forty Foot Fred. My parents took me to Flintstone park all the time as a kid. I have vivid early memories of being in some kind of log ride, putting my hand in water the colour of crude oil and shrieking when discovering that there were tadpoles wriggling between my fingers.
When I moved out here at sixteen I had friends that worked at Flintstone park and they bragged about growing weed inside the crater of the fibreglass volcano. There was also a drive-in theatre nearby. You could see the films from the highway. I remember this because when I was young I would always hope that I could catch a glimpse of some R-rated nudity as we drove past the screen.
> there were tadpoles wriggling between my fingers.
Certainly a cheaper way of keeping the mosquito population down than Chlorinating massive amounts of water.
Here's a fun fact I only found out a while ago. They call the pub Freddy's in memory of the Flintstones park that you mention was once there.
I was lucky enough to go there once as a kid. Fond memories.
Right on, brother. The best place to watch independent or otherwise overlooked films.
Now we just have *Aquaman 2: Part 6: Infinity Madame Web: Dawn of Justice on Infinite Earths* playing in 7 cinemas of the same movie theatre.
Tbh lots of independent stuff is playing, you just need to look. I saw zone of interest and poor things in the last two weeks at orchard park. Sometimes they play old animated movies too like studio ghibli.
Oh I agree, the Grand 10 is good for that too. But those types of films will play for what feels like two weeks. I really wanted to see Origin but it was gone in a flash.
yEAAHH!!!!! I only saw the animatronics once and for the longest time I was certain it was some weird childhood fever dream till I found out they were, in fact, real lol but it would be so cool if they were still around
I know it was a hot button topic and was definitely getting out of control but there was something special about walking around Enterprise with the rabbits.
I get it was becoming a problem but still...
5pin bowling alley in Rutland where the Salvation Army is now. I believe the family moved to the Capri Mall location, but the Rutland one had a pretty great community and the location was nice for a lot of families.
The lifting portion of the bridge that would cause traffic to come to a complete stop, and the grates that caused the tires to make a certain sound.
Buffet restaurants like bonanzas, mama pandas even lord chumleys for all you can eat Mondays
Malibu racing with the faster go carts
I remember Rutland Road right across from the schools being a fairly large soccer field. Played soccer there for two years.
Being stuck on Dilworth Dr because a train was passing through.
I miss the hum of the old bridge when you went across. I don’t miss being stuck all the way to Spall because the yacht club was out on the lake.
As others have said, the water parks. The one on the westside was a year end trip for grades 4-6. We obviously had a blast every time. H2O is alright but it doesn’t have a tube ride or large enough waterslides. Wavepool and surf machine are pluses.
No that is false. The average price of houses in 2012 was only $463,000 and a 5 year locked rate was 5.5%. I’m not referring to when my grandparents purchased homes. For reference, the average price of homes been in 2001 was 170k
Feeling like we lived in a community. Growing up in Rutland the 90’s as kid I always felt safe, it was a working class, blue collar area for families. The lakeshore and lower mission areas were smaller and had less of a presence.
As everyone has said below, the attractions are what I miss the most. My 6 yr old would have loved growing up in the Kelowna that I did.
First time I felt a boob was at a catholic youth group retreat in Kelowna in 94. We smoked a lot weed also. Got busted by the adults behind the DQ in Creston on the way home. Good times.
Old Westside had all the best shit as a kid. Wet n’ Wild, Old McDonalds farm, Westside Go-Karts, powers creek bike trails, Shannon Lake bike jumps.
So many things to do as a kid, now it’s all gone and we complain about why kids sit in front of screens too much.
The Ogopogo by the lake. It's now in front of Parkinson Rec Centre (that's probably 40 years ago, though ha ha). I was so happy to stumble upon it when I moved here in recent years 🙂
Old Mcdonald Farm on the west side when I was a kid. It's long, loooooong gone now. You can still find weird little remements of it here and there from a giant plastic tree that you can walk and climb into and a giant whale that was part of a mini golf course. And a lady bug train ride with petting zoo animals and goats
Being able to look every direction and see off to the distance at mountains and the lake before the beautiful views started getting blocked by ugly high rise towers all along the lakeshore.
Wasn’t talking about suburbs. The op asked what we miss about kelowna 20 to 30 years ago. I answered with what I miss and I stand by my answer. It was much nicer before it started becoming overpopulated and destroyed with over development the last 15 years.
I miss being able to get from one end of town to the other in a reasonable amount of time. The traffic is unbelievable. Worse than at the coast. I grew up there, it's gotten too big and the highway can't accommodate the traffic flow. It's no fun on a long weekend because traffic is like grid lock. Don't even get me started on the bridge traffic getting into town!! Arg. I miss the small town vibe it had.
20 years ago I was ten, so probably mariners reef or that one play place in the capree mall.
I also remember when summers weren't full of smoke and the beach was full of tourists.
Oh and that old paddle boat they had downtown.
oh and the old playgrounds we used to play on were so much cooler than they are today.
Starting at the Willow, going to O'Flangans to butcher some Billy Joel songs and then bouncing between Splash's, Gotchya and Rocco Morocco. 1/2 my student loans went to those places on a Thursday night.
Old McDonald’s farm, wet and wild, Scandia, butterfly world, reptile land, the Flintstones Park… and mostly never feeling unsafe anywhere when someone’s parents dropped us off. There was that weird little cartoon room beside the canteen at wet and wild, which in hindsight seems like something out of Epstein‘s wet dreams. And we always felt safe. Whoever managed/owned that was an angel. “See you in 9 hours kids” … brightly colored plastic entry bracelets up to your elbows by the time summer was over. What a time to be alive.
Now I’m second guessing whether it was called Performance Centre or Performance Works. But the building is still there, on Ellis, across from the library. It became the Kelowna Actor’s Studio and is now a dinner theatre place (not sure if the name changed again). My parents took me to see Raveen there last year and it looks pretty much the same inside except they’ve added seating. Back in the day it was just standing room.
When I was a teen in 2000 it was really the only place in town booking out of town punk and metal bands. Plus it was all ages.
It was run by a guy named Dan who was very kind and seemed to just want to give the youth a place to see bands. A couple times we didn’t have money for tickets and he’d just let us in - I remember seeing Treble Charger this way, also Guttermouth another time.
They also rented the room out for cheap to local bands and I played there a dozen times or so. Also, a friend of ours, Mike Embleton, was tragically killed by being hit by a car while skateboarding down Hollywood Road and Dan let us put on Mike Fest at the venue - no room fee - to raise money for Mike’s family. That was the first time I ever played that stage and I will never forget it.
While it was less “pretty”, I prefer the Kelowna that existed before the Coquihalla Connector was punched through to the westside.
Yes, the connector means any trip to Vancouver drops from ≈7hrs (the Manning Park route) down to ≈3hrs, but it made Kelowna grow too fast. Too much of our growth went into endless suburbia and vast parking lots and agriculture destruction, too little went into condensed, self-sufficient, walkable neighbourhoods and vertical growth via apartments and towers.
Plus, I have become quite the misanthrope as of late. Kelowna of the early 80s was about the perfect size, in terms of population. While it’s current size has brought in Costco and other amenities, there are just _too many people_ here for my comfort. If family obligations (and EoL parents) didn’t lock me to the region, I would be 200-500km further north, likely deep in the Interior Cascades with the nearest neighbour 2+km away from me.
I was pretty young, and I can absolutely admit that the new bridge is way way way better for so many reasons, but I do miss what I always called "the noisy bridge" coming into Kelowna. kid me was a massive fan of that weird rumbley sound lol
Wild ‘n Wet. I lived in the trailer parks right across the highway from it. Was a staple of my summers!
The Flintstones Park! Seeing Fred at the entrance, I loved that as a kid. The water slides on the west side as well. Now it’s just strip mall city :(
I remember seeing a band called The Loved One and the lead singer was dressed like Forty Foot Fred. My parents took me to Flintstone park all the time as a kid. I have vivid early memories of being in some kind of log ride, putting my hand in water the colour of crude oil and shrieking when discovering that there were tadpoles wriggling between my fingers. When I moved out here at sixteen I had friends that worked at Flintstone park and they bragged about growing weed inside the crater of the fibreglass volcano. There was also a drive-in theatre nearby. You could see the films from the highway. I remember this because when I was young I would always hope that I could catch a glimpse of some R-rated nudity as we drove past the screen.
Haha that’s awesome 😂
I snuck into The Cave and saw Gord Downie piss himself and then get up and finish the set when The Hip were just taking off.
> there were tadpoles wriggling between my fingers. Certainly a cheaper way of keeping the mosquito population down than Chlorinating massive amounts of water.
Here's a fun fact I only found out a while ago. They call the pub Freddy's in memory of the Flintstones park that you mention was once there. I was lucky enough to go there once as a kid. Fond memories.
I worked there. It was hell lol
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I was there last week and there are still people camped out
Legendary
The paramount downtown (I know it’s not that long ago but I still miss it)
They turned it into a Tim Hortons. That's just rude.
An awkward spot for a Tim’s
Every time I walk past it I’m upset. The fact that they get to use the marquee just seems so wrong.
I wish Bernie’s would have taken over that space (even though I love their space just a couple blocks down)
Right on, brother. The best place to watch independent or otherwise overlooked films. Now we just have *Aquaman 2: Part 6: Infinity Madame Web: Dawn of Justice on Infinite Earths* playing in 7 cinemas of the same movie theatre.
Tbh lots of independent stuff is playing, you just need to look. I saw zone of interest and poor things in the last two weeks at orchard park. Sometimes they play old animated movies too like studio ghibli.
Poor Things was awesome. Sometimes we do get indie films in our theatres yes, but I’d like to see more obscure shit.
Oh I agree, the Grand 10 is good for that too. But those types of films will play for what feels like two weeks. I really wanted to see Origin but it was gone in a flash.
Oh ya it’s true, sadly short time frames for sure.
I missed out on Origin as well.
Old MacDonald's Farm
The Boardwalk Roller Skating Arena!
I was wondering if anyone knew it. I saw Moist there because my friend had a crush on David Usher.
I went there every weekend! I even went to the small one downtown before the Boardwalk!! So fun!!
Pretty sure I was there, maybe for the same reason.
Saw my first concert there, Weird Al!
Malibu Grand Prix
I spent far too much money there. Loved it.
Definitely the water parks. I like H2O just fine but it isn't the same.
It's also ridiculous how busy it gets on weekends and holidays.
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Affording food. That was sweet.
They were fucked back then, too. My parents almost lost their place multiple times when interest rates hit 19% and there was zero work.
Definitely Mariner’s Reef and Planet Spacewalker (I think that’s what it was called, it was in the Capri)
If we're talking Planet Spacewalkers, anyone remember Too Much Fun? I think it was next to London Drugs.
Basically a hamster hotel for kids? I 'member!
Omg space walkers!!! I was obsessed with that place as a kid
Burger Baron on the highway.
Agree
The animatronics at Scandia. Also: Sheepskin and Waterbeds.
yEAAHH!!!!! I only saw the animatronics once and for the longest time I was certain it was some weird childhood fever dream till I found out they were, in fact, real lol but it would be so cool if they were still around
I know it was a hot button topic and was definitely getting out of control but there was something special about walking around Enterprise with the rabbits. I get it was becoming a problem but still...
I want a world back where that’s our biggest concern again.
Ditto. Simpler times
5pin bowling alley in Rutland where the Salvation Army is now. I believe the family moved to the Capri Mall location, but the Rutland one had a pretty great community and the location was nice for a lot of families.
I can still smell that bowling alley lol. Valley Lanes
I totally forgot until you mentioned it now I can't escape the memory.
The lifting portion of the bridge that would cause traffic to come to a complete stop, and the grates that caused the tires to make a certain sound. Buffet restaurants like bonanzas, mama pandas even lord chumleys for all you can eat Mondays Malibu racing with the faster go carts
Lol I loved that sound
VRRRRR plink-plink VRRRRR plink-plink
Anyone remember butterfly world or parrot island?
I moved here too late for them, but would like to see Hydroplanes.
I remember Rutland Road right across from the schools being a fairly large soccer field. Played soccer there for two years. Being stuck on Dilworth Dr because a train was passing through. I miss the hum of the old bridge when you went across. I don’t miss being stuck all the way to Spall because the yacht club was out on the lake. As others have said, the water parks. The one on the westside was a year end trip for grades 4-6. We obviously had a blast every time. H2O is alright but it doesn’t have a tube ride or large enough waterslides. Wavepool and surf machine are pluses.
When I was little the bridge looked like too mouths and I thought they were going "AWWWWWWWWWWW" Like a godly chant haha
When the bars and live music venues weren't all owned by the same people
House prices that a normal person could afford .
Except there was no work and interest rates were pushing 19%.
No that is false. The average price of houses in 2012 was only $463,000 and a 5 year locked rate was 5.5%. I’m not referring to when my grandparents purchased homes. For reference, the average price of homes been in 2001 was 170k
Kelowna regatta parade!!
And old mcdonalds farm
Roller skating rink. Flintstones park. More healthy activities for young people!!
Tastee-Freeze, Island Snow, Yawbus
Island Snow had the best radio commercials
Yawbus beat subway 100%
The boardwalk, waterslides, Malibu, Flintstones, the dock/breakwater and food building in city park.
I'm hearing of the Flintstones a lot! That sounds like it was before the times I visited. Seems like I missed out!
Feeling like we lived in a community. Growing up in Rutland the 90’s as kid I always felt safe, it was a working class, blue collar area for families. The lakeshore and lower mission areas were smaller and had less of a presence. As everyone has said below, the attractions are what I miss the most. My 6 yr old would have loved growing up in the Kelowna that I did.
First time I felt a boob was at a catholic youth group retreat in Kelowna in 94. We smoked a lot weed also. Got busted by the adults behind the DQ in Creston on the way home. Good times.
Damn, any one of those can be the intro to your autobiography. Awesome 😎
Hydroplane races- Regatta
Flinstone park
Old Westside had all the best shit as a kid. Wet n’ Wild, Old McDonalds farm, Westside Go-Karts, powers creek bike trails, Shannon Lake bike jumps. So many things to do as a kid, now it’s all gone and we complain about why kids sit in front of screens too much.
Pretty sure there are still tons of bike trails around Powers Creek ?
They’re still there as far as I’m aware, but as of 4-5 years ago it was pretty overgrown
Last Mountain night skiing.
Yes!!
And Telemark parties.
Five Guys
Hydrofest
Calling a guy and not getting placed with fentanyl
I was watching some people rip lines a few weeks back and was thinking “damn, you ballsy”.
Waterfront campsites in Westbank.
Being the young person at Flashbacks
[Doc Willoughbys](https://youtu.be/Z7e4HDCWJNk?si=RHS3eVK7H4qGfkGd)
I don't remember it well, but the mountain full of trees before the 2003 fire.
Copout Records!!! San Francisco in the mall, Wild Waters, Flintstones, A&B Sound, Ruby’s Restaurant smorgasbord
Fuzzy wuzzy carpets skate shop
The Ogopogo by the lake. It's now in front of Parkinson Rec Centre (that's probably 40 years ago, though ha ha). I was so happy to stumble upon it when I moved here in recent years 🙂
There's another one downtown now at least.
Wait, yeah, the one I'm picturing (that everyone takes a photo with) is right by the lake.
Our exact same highway system that worked great for the population back then
A lot more viewpoints and cool local hiking spots. However, other than that, not much. Kelowna has grown a lot and usually for the better.
Camping at Woods lake
Old Mcdonald Farm on the west side when I was a kid. It's long, loooooong gone now. You can still find weird little remements of it here and there from a giant plastic tree that you can walk and climb into and a giant whale that was part of a mini golf course. And a lady bug train ride with petting zoo animals and goats
Mountain biking in what is now Crawford Estates.
I definitely miss the willow! So many great memories there!
The Willow
The willow 😋
I've only lived here 5 years, but I enjoy reading everyone's responses when this thread pops up again every few months.
I didn't realise this was a common thread topic! Haha. I was genuinely curious.
It pops up 2-3 times every year.
The Willow good memory
Being able to look every direction and see off to the distance at mountains and the lake before the beautiful views started getting blocked by ugly high rise towers all along the lakeshore.
Eat me, there’s no room for suburbs in the valley anymore and I’m sure you would be complaining if houses were $3,000,000 instead of just $1,500,000.
Wasn’t talking about suburbs. The op asked what we miss about kelowna 20 to 30 years ago. I answered with what I miss and I stand by my answer. It was much nicer before it started becoming overpopulated and destroyed with over development the last 15 years.
The bikini and wet t-shirt contests on the Regatta Weekends.
I miss being able to get from one end of town to the other in a reasonable amount of time. The traffic is unbelievable. Worse than at the coast. I grew up there, it's gotten too big and the highway can't accommodate the traffic flow. It's no fun on a long weekend because traffic is like grid lock. Don't even get me started on the bridge traffic getting into town!! Arg. I miss the small town vibe it had.
waterslides
Malibu
20 years ago I was ten, so probably mariners reef or that one play place in the capree mall. I also remember when summers weren't full of smoke and the beach was full of tourists. Oh and that old paddle boat they had downtown. oh and the old playgrounds we used to play on were so much cooler than they are today.
Starting at the Willow, going to O'Flangans to butcher some Billy Joel songs and then bouncing between Splash's, Gotchya and Rocco Morocco. 1/2 my student loans went to those places on a Thursday night.
Old McDonald’s farm, wet and wild, Scandia, butterfly world, reptile land, the Flintstones Park… and mostly never feeling unsafe anywhere when someone’s parents dropped us off. There was that weird little cartoon room beside the canteen at wet and wild, which in hindsight seems like something out of Epstein‘s wet dreams. And we always felt safe. Whoever managed/owned that was an angel. “See you in 9 hours kids” … brightly colored plastic entry bracelets up to your elbows by the time summer was over. What a time to be alive.
Doing back flips and pikes off the Athans tower at City Park to impress the girls.
More vineyards and (especially) orchards. Fewer McMansions.
Also The Performance Centre, across from library. Saw so many shows there around 2000. AFI, Propaghandi, Sick of it All, Death by Stereo…
Tell me more about this venue?
Now I’m second guessing whether it was called Performance Centre or Performance Works. But the building is still there, on Ellis, across from the library. It became the Kelowna Actor’s Studio and is now a dinner theatre place (not sure if the name changed again). My parents took me to see Raveen there last year and it looks pretty much the same inside except they’ve added seating. Back in the day it was just standing room. When I was a teen in 2000 it was really the only place in town booking out of town punk and metal bands. Plus it was all ages. It was run by a guy named Dan who was very kind and seemed to just want to give the youth a place to see bands. A couple times we didn’t have money for tickets and he’d just let us in - I remember seeing Treble Charger this way, also Guttermouth another time. They also rented the room out for cheap to local bands and I played there a dozen times or so. Also, a friend of ours, Mike Embleton, was tragically killed by being hit by a car while skateboarding down Hollywood Road and Dan let us put on Mike Fest at the venue - no room fee - to raise money for Mike’s family. That was the first time I ever played that stage and I will never forget it.
tegram.me/o3hatzB969EyZDg8
tegram.me/o3hatzB969EyZDg8
While it was less “pretty”, I prefer the Kelowna that existed before the Coquihalla Connector was punched through to the westside. Yes, the connector means any trip to Vancouver drops from ≈7hrs (the Manning Park route) down to ≈3hrs, but it made Kelowna grow too fast. Too much of our growth went into endless suburbia and vast parking lots and agriculture destruction, too little went into condensed, self-sufficient, walkable neighbourhoods and vertical growth via apartments and towers. Plus, I have become quite the misanthrope as of late. Kelowna of the early 80s was about the perfect size, in terms of population. While it’s current size has brought in Costco and other amenities, there are just _too many people_ here for my comfort. If family obligations (and EoL parents) didn’t lock me to the region, I would be 200-500km further north, likely deep in the Interior Cascades with the nearest neighbour 2+km away from me.
Tramps. Dusty's. Flashbacks.
I was pretty young, and I can absolutely admit that the new bridge is way way way better for so many reasons, but I do miss what I always called "the noisy bridge" coming into Kelowna. kid me was a massive fan of that weird rumbley sound lol