Kobau Lanes in Osoyoos is once again a beehive of activity as the 39th annual Original Golden Age Jamboree is taking place. Teams from all over Alberta, B.C. and beyond are in town until next week taking part in the annual bowling tournament for seniors. This group from Heritage Lanes in Red Deer includes (from left) Barb Baldry, Anita Coates, Don Knowler, Glenda Butler and Sonja Robinson. (Keith Lacey photo)
After having to endure another long and bitter Alberta winter, the thought of travelling to Osoyoos and the South Okanagan for several days of bowling, wine tours and rest and relaxation never gets old for Sandy Clark and her friends.
For the fifth consecutive year, Clark has co-ordinated the trip to bring bowlers from southern Alberta to Osoyoos to participate in the Original Golden Age Jamboree bowling tournament.
This is the 39th consecutive year the Golden Age Jamboree has taken place at Kobau Lanes in Osoyoos.
A large contingent of bowlers from Heritage Lanes Bowl in Red Deer are joined by bowlers from Olds, Cochrane and Bashaw in Alberta as well as a couple from Kindersley, Sask. to participate in the Golden Age Jamboree.
“This year we brought 30 bowlers and another five or so spouses who wanted to get out of the cold in Alberta and come to Osoyoos,” said Clark. “I think this is our fifth-straight year of coming to Osoyoos and I can tell you that I really look forward to it and so do the rest of our bowlers.”
Competing in the Golden Age Jamboree is just a very small part of their five-day trip to Osoyoos and the South Okanagan, said Clark.
“We stopped at bee farm in Alberta before we got to B.C. and we will be having a spa day on the way home as well,” she said. “When we’re in Osoyoos, a bunch of the bowlers also play golf and have a day set aside for that and most of us head to Penticton for a night of gambling at the casino.
“Many of our group will also be going on various wine tours and a large group spent a few hours at the Desert Valley Railroad and that was just so much fun. What a great little hidden gem that place is. The owners are such nice people and they spent hours with our group.
“We try and get in as many things as we can during our trip. It’s about much more than bowling.”
Clark said she personally loves visiting Osoyoos every spring the past five years and so do her fellow bowlers.
“I actually love this town,” she said. “It’s just so laid back and the people are so friendly. The hotel staff and restaurant staff really appreciate having us in town and they tell us that.
“We actually have a couple of couples who are looking at purchasing retirement homes in Osoyoos and I know a few more are looking into spending the winters here as snowbirds.”
Clark said she and her fellow bowlers are already looking forward to returning to Osoyoos for the 40th anniversary of the Golden Age Jamboree next spring.
Bonnie-Lynn Sarazin, the manager of Kobau Lanes and co-ordinator of the Golden Age Jamboree for many years, said she’s proud to be involved in the longest-running bowling tournament for seniors in Canada.
The Golden Age Jamboree began in Osoyoos when Richie Schneider, the longtime owner of Kobau Lanes, invited bowlers from Nanaimo and Langley to travel to Osoyoos and compete against local bowlers back in the early 1970s.
“Things just took off from there,” she said. “We had a few more teams come down after that and it just grew and grew.”
At its peak in the late 1980s, more than 2,000 bowlers and 700 teams from across Alberta and B.C. would visit Osoyoos to participate in the Golden Age Jamboree, said Sarazin.
This year’s event, which kicked off April 23 and will continue until May 4, will attract more than 300 teams and 1,500 bowlers.
There are now numerous bowling events across Canada that attract competitors from different provinces, but the tournament in Osoyoos is the “original” and that will never change, said Sarazin.
“We had such great success with our tournament that other communities started copying what we were doing,” she said.
The event is all about allowing people to visit Osoyoos, meet fellow competitors and have fun, she said.
The economic benefits for the town due to this event are impressive she said.
“We bring hundreds of people to town every spring and the hotels, motels and restaurants have really benefitted from our event for the past 39 years,” she said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
