 |
Welcome to the latest series of Super, Neighbours blog posts where we highlight incredible travel destinations in British Columbia! |
It's Festival Season, and I was pretty excited about heading to the Keloha Music & Arts Festival for the first time, in one of the cities I always have a great time in: Kelowna!
I packed up my car that Ford hooked me up with, a C-Max Hybrid (I named him Tom HaverFord) and got ready to hit the open road...aka the 4 hour scenic drive down the Coquihalla to the Okanagan. It is an amazing trip, that I've driven a few times before, but this one was aided by a great sound system, voice control/GPS (great because I was driving by myself!), and was great on fuel.
Everything was smooth sailing on this beautiful highway all the way into town (see picture below).
...except maybe my hair (I left the windows down the whole time, hah).
The great people over at Tourism Kelowna set me up in a really cool hotel: the Kelowna Ramada Hotel & Conference Centre.
The suite I ended up in was two-floors with a loft bed upstairs, an amazing view (see below), excellent staff (that didn't judge my late/arrival times post-festival), and it was in a nice, quiet location. Basically everything you could ask for in a hotel during a loud, crazy, music festival.
It ended up being a little oasis... a home that was great to come back to, to recharge and nap! (Yes, nap... vs sleep hah, it was a music festival after all).
Oh and by the way, it was amazing to show up at the front desk to check in and see THIS. *blush*
Now on to the festival... Keloha was three days of music, on the waterfront, with local, national, and international bands.
What more could you ask for? Sunshine? You got it.
The festival also had 'after party' shows at various venues downtown, so not only were the days filled with music, the evening were too. New friends were made, amazing talent was seen and Kelowna was a great host.
(above: Willhorse on the Island Stage. below: Broken Down Suitcase at Fernado's)
The venue for the festival itself is pretty unique.
It's rare, specifically for a festival, that you can sit on a beach, or float in a crisp, cool lake and still see/hear the bands playing, but that's one of the many things Keloha offers! Just check out the photos below:
Kelowna is a pretty amazing city, and while 95% of my time that weekend was spent on site/at venues, the area has so much to offer. Delicious food from so many local restaurants, wineries galore as well at breweries and distilleries. Markets, shopping, trails, beaches, farms...just thinking about it makes me want to go back right now! Check out all of the fun things you can do over on the Tourism Kelowna website.
I don't think there is any question, I will be back next year for sure, hopefully I'll be able to visit Kelowna again before then, but right now I'm daydreaming about floating in Lake Okanagan, listening to some awesome music.
If you're planning a trip to Kelowna, make sure to check out Tourism Kelowna's website: www.tourismkelowna.com or give them a call: 1.800.663.4345
