Photo: Mike Biden

Osoyoos fireworks show back in 2019

Osoyoos is ready to celebrate its 72nd annual Cherry Fiesta, pulling out all the stops for the return of one of the region's biggest Canada Day celebrations.

The events will kick off on Friday at 8:30 a.m. with a pancake breakfast, followed by a parade down Main Street at 11 a.m.

The afternoon will consist of a pie-eating contest, live entertainment and potato sack races, before the evening’s biggest fireworks show.

Annette Star, who is the coordinator for fundraising for the Osoyoos Fireworks, raised $95,000 this year, doubling the last celebration's budget.

The entirety of donations raised go towards the show.

“I mean, it's an institution in this town and we enjoy it. It takes a great deal of cooperation from the police, bylaw, town staff, the festival society, and all kinds of people. We're hoping that it's a good, fun weekend,” Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff said.

Osoyoos typically draws crowds of 30,000 people for the day-long celebration but is expecting this year to have between 40 to 50,000 people watching the fireworks.

“We know the hotels are all filled. Lots of people come up to spend time with their families,” McKortoff added.

With Canada Day and the Fourth of July sandwiching the long weekend for the border town, McKortoff said it could be a bit of a “wild weekend.”

“We're really hoping that people will be sensible, that they will be considerate, and they will be kind to others.”

The firework show will start at 10 p.m. and last for around 30 minutes.