Milestone for historic site

As the nation gears up to celebrate a Canadian milestone, Historic O'Keefe Ranch was celebrating one of its own a little bit earlier.

On July 1, Canada turns 150, two weeks after the North Okanagan ranch reached the same age.

On Thursday, the ranch that was founded by Cornelius O'Keefe, turned 150 and hundreds of people came out to celebrate the anniversary.

Carla-Jean Stokes, ranch curator, said the festivities are something the ranch has been building up to for a long time.

“We have a lot of things going on and we're going to be having some Family Fun Days in July and August as well, so we are going to keep the birthday party going,” she said, adding the Family Fun Days will include children's activities, family events and more.

The ranch played a big role in the Okanagan Valley.

“This was the end of the wagon road coming from the north, and if you wanted to go south you would have to stop here and keep going on foot,” said Stokes. “So this was where it was all happening in the early 1870s and 1880s before Vernon was really established.”

The City of Vernon is 125 years old this year.