Organizers looking for another campground for next year
Organizers of the annual CanAm Rally, held in Osoyoos for the past 11 years, say this year's event has been cancelled and they don't know if it will be back.
The Rally, which attracts more than 300 drivers of Honda Gold Wing motorcycles and RVs from Canada and the U.S. for a four-day camping stay in town, was to have been held June 21-24 this year.
Each year the Rally features a Lite Up the Mountain Night Parade, with a string of hundreds of lit-up vehicles snaking their way down Highway 3 on Anarchist Mountain in the night. For a few years the event attracted 700 participants.
But organizers Gerry Niessen and Jim Carey say the CanAm group hasn't been able to come to an acceptable agreement with the Nk'Mip Campground Resort on the terms of their stay there next month.
Niessen says the group hopes this is just a sabbatical for one year, and it will try to work out a long-term agreement with another camping site for future years.
Carey, a Kelowna resident who until recently was regional director of national CanAm events, says their members haven't been pleased with the situation at the Nk'Mip campground for the three years they've stayed there. The rallies began in 1995, with members staying at Walton's Mountain campground, but growth of the event meant they had to move to larger campgrounds “ first to Oasis campground and then to Nk'Mip.
Carey says last year there were problems when workers paving an area near the beach sprayed sealant chemical onto many of the expensive motorcycles parked nearby. Also, he says, the group was promised exclusive use of the pool at certain times, but then had it opened up to others at the last minute.
Nk'Mip Campground Manager Chris Bower says it's unfortunate the group has cancelled out.
The CanAm group's Carey says Nk'Mip is the nicest campground in the whole Okanagan, but the the problems means we won't be going back.rnHe's worried there aren't any other campgrounds big enough to handle their group.
Carey says CanAm participants really appreciate the support we've had from the community and merchants over the years.
He says CanAm members are upset we're not doing it this year. I've had hundreds of phone calls. There were going to be two weddings at it this year.
