Summerland Museum & Archives Society

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Summerland Museum & Archives Society Collecting, sharing, and celebrating the history of beautiful Summerland, BC!

The temperatures are falling, and the nights are drawing in 🍂With winter approaching, you'll be looking for indoor activ...
10/09/2026

The temperatures are falling, and the nights are drawing in 🍂

With winter approaching, you'll be looking for indoor activities to while away the cold months. Don't worry, we have you covered! We are holding a puzzle exchange this fall so you can exchange your old puzzles for new-to-you puzzles to keep you entertained all winter long! Don’t have old puzzles to trade? No problem, you can take a puzzle by donation.

FREE puzzles for Bald Range Fire total loss families - no exchange or donation needed.

With the municipal and provincial elections dominating the news at the moment, we thought it would be fun to share this ...
10/08/2026

With the municipal and provincial elections dominating the news at the moment, we thought it would be fun to share this photo from Summerland during the 1949 election campaign.

Today's Throwback Thursday takes us back 77 years to the lead-up to the June 15th, 1949 BC provincial election. The photo was taken at the top of Granville Rd (now Main St), with the well-known hardware store Butler and Walden seen in the background between the Overwaitea grocery store on the right and Laidlaw's Menswear (now Frilly Lilly) on the corner with Victoria Rd.

The 'vote float' in the photo was the idea of the Summerland Junior Chamber of Commerce. The Junior Chamber paraded through West Summerland to encourage citizens to vote; the signs on the float not only displaying information on when and where to vote, but also acting as a reminder that voting is a privilege. It's great to see these young folk getting so involved with politics and realising the importance of their vote.

The 1949 election resulted in a return to power of the incumbent Liberal-Conservative coalition, led by Premier Byron Ingemar (Boss) Johnson of the Liberal Party. The coalition secured a majority government with 39 seats, defeating the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), which won 7 seats.



(We don't have names for any of the people featured in the photo, so if you recognise any of them, please let us know!)

Now your little ones can show their love for our town with our NEW kids' Summerland T-shirts!Made with 100% cotton in a ...
10/07/2026

Now your little ones can show their love for our town with our NEW kids' Summerland T-shirts!
Made with 100% cotton in a vibrant sky blue, the shirts are available in sizes XS to large.

Visit our gift shop, Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, to get yours!

We took a little hiatus last week, but don't worry, we're back with another What-is-it-Wednesday today. Do you recognise...
10/07/2026

We took a little hiatus last week, but don't worry, we're back with another What-is-it-Wednesday today. Do you recognise this week's mystery artifacts? If you think you know what they are, or would like to take a guess, please leave your answers in the comments below. As usual, we will reveal the correct answer next Wednesday.

Well done to everyone who correctly identified the last mystery artifact as a gas lamp! More precisely, it was a Coleman gasoline pressure table lamp, dating from the mid-1930s. Coleman poetically marketed their lamps as "The Sunshine of the Night" - a slogan that is etched into their lamps.

There is still time to sign our giant thank you card to the city of Penticton! If you haven't signed the card yet, plea...
10/01/2026

There is still time to sign our giant thank you card to the city of Penticton! If you haven't signed the card yet, please come down to the Summerland Museum tomorrow (Friday October 2) or Saturday (October 3) between 10am and 4pm to leave your message of gratitude for their support during the Bald Range Wildfire emergency. The inside of the card is pretty full now but we are letting people write on the back.

We are just waiting to confirm details for an official presentation to Penticton Mayor and Council. It would be awesome to have the back totally covered in names amd messages, too!

Thanks, everyone ❤️

The Summerland Museum and Archives will be closed today in observance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.W...
09/30/2026

The Summerland Museum and Archives will be closed today in observance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

We invite you to participate the Walk for the Children organized by the Okanagan Nation Alliance, taking place at 10am this morning in snpink’tn/Penticton. The congregation is meeting at the Safeway parking lot, from which we will walk 2km to the Syilx Indian Residential School Monument on En'owkin Trail. For more information, please visit: syilx.org/event/walk-for-the-children/

Tomorrow is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to honour the Survivors of residential schools, their f...
09/29/2026

Tomorrow is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to honour the Survivors of residential schools, their families, and the children who never returned home.

The Summerland Museum and Archives will be closed tomorrow in observance of this important day.

We invite you to participate in the 2026 Walk for the Children, organized by the Okanagan Nation Alliance, taking place at 10am tomorrow in snpink'tn/Penticton. The group is meeting in the Safeway parking lot and then walking 2 km to the Syilx Indian Residential School Monument on En’owkin Trail. Please wear an orange, green or blue shirt. To learn more, please visit: syilx.org/event/walk-for-the-children/

The Museum is becoming more fun and welcoming for families with young children thanks to the generous support the the Ro...
09/28/2026

The Museum is becoming more fun and welcoming for families with young children thanks to the generous support the the Rotary Club of Summerland and the Summerland Kiwanis Club!

Over the last few months, we have been purchasing hands-on learning materials for our Children's Learning Centre. One of the recent arrivals is this amazing interactive wall panel, now installed beside our model railway! Thanks very much to volunteer David H. for installing it (as well as building the other furniture for the learning centre!!) 🔨🪛

We are still waiting on more materials to arrive and will make a big announcement when everything is ready. In the meantime, we invite families to visit us and discover some of the new additions to the Museum - including puzzles, a learning library, train set, puppets, and an interactive weather station!

Thanks again to the Rotary Club of Summerland and the Summerland Kiwanis Club for their generous contributions toward this project - we couldn't have done it without their support!

It's that time of year when Summerland's apple orchards are teeming with fruit pickers and huge boxes brimming with appl...
09/24/2026

It's that time of year when Summerland's apple orchards are teeming with fruit pickers and huge boxes brimming with apples can be seen lining the adjoining roads. Yes, it's apple picking time!

Today's Throwback Thursday photo shows us that very little has changed in over 100 years in the orchards at harvest time. This wonderful photo was taken in 1918 or 1919, but could have easily been snapped just this week!

It looks like the lucky pickers in this orchard also managed to harvest a couple of cheeky children too! This pair of cherubs were Gordon Nixon and Edith Verity.

Yes, it's that time of the week again... It's What-is-it-Wednesday! Do you recognise this week's mystery artifact? If yo...
09/23/2026

Yes, it's that time of the week again... It's What-is-it-Wednesday! Do you recognise this week's mystery artifact? If you think you know what it is, or would like to take a guess, please leave your answer in the comments below. As usual, we will reveal the correct answer next Wednesday.

There were some great guesses last week, but no one correctly identified the true purpose of last Wednesday's mystery artifact. The pail was actually a bread maker!

The "Universal" Bread Maker #4 was manufactured by Landers, Frary & Clark at the turn of the 20th Century. This tabletop device allowed the user to easily mix, knead, and raise the bread dough. The machine was manually operated, with a hand-cranked handle attached to the lid, which turned a dough hook inside the pail. According to the embossed writing on the side of the pail, the design was awarded the Gold Medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.

Our Universal Bread Maker can be seen on permanent display in our kitchen exhibit!

Address

9521 Wharton Street
Summerland, BC
V0H1Z0

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

250-494-9395

Website

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