Canada's wine capital on an inland sea — where Kelowna sits at the centre of the Okanagan Valley (a 150 km north-south valley in British Columbia's interior that produces 90% of Canada's tree fruit and 60% of its commercial wine), Okanagan Lake (135 km long, 4 km wide, 232 metres deep) creates a Mediterranean-esque microclimate that is the warmest and driest of any city in Canada, Mission Hill Family Estate Winery's Romanesque colonnade (built 1981, rebuilt 2001 as an architectural statement intended to match the Napa Valley's finest) is the most photographed winery building in Canada, the Okanagan Rail Trail runs 50 km along the lake's eastern shore through orchards and vineyards, and Ogopogo — the Okanagan's own Loch Ness Monster (from the N'syilxcn Syilx people's oral tradition of the N'ha-a-itk, 'lake demon') — has allegedly been spotted from Kelowna's City Park beach since 1872
Kelowna (150,000 city; 230,000 metro) is the largest city in British Columbia's interior and the primary commercial centre of the Okanagan Valley — the major fruit-growing and wine-producing region of western Canada. Kelowna's lake and valley position give it Canada's warmest summers on average (hotter than most of Ontario in July–August) and an annual sunshine record that equals Vancouver Island.
The Okanagan Valley was the traditional territory of the Syilx (Okanagan Nation) people — one of the Plateau peoples of the Columbia River system, who depended on the annual sockeye salmon run up the Okanagan River and the abundant game, roots, and berries of the valley. Catholic Oblate missionaries established a mission near present-day Kelowna in 1859, and European orchard farming began in the 1890s when the valley was found to be suited to apple, cherry, and peach production. The federal government's internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII (approximately 22,000 Japanese-Canadians were…