Picnic like the 1900s to celebrate 110 years of Summerland Ornamental Gardens

Picnic like the 1900s to celebrate 110 years of Summerland Ornamental Gardens Published 5:02 pm Monday, July 13, 2026 A 1900s style picnic is coming to the Summerland.

Picnic like the 1900s to celebrate 110 years of Summerland Ornamental Gardens Published 5:02 pm Monday, July 13, 2026 A 1900s style picnic is coming to the Summerland. The Friends of Summerland Ornamental Gardens (FOG) are hosting a picnic for the community to celebrate 110 years of the incorporation of the garden.

The picnic is being held on Sunday, July 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Formed in 1916 by two staff gardeners, Joseph Smith and Alfred Aveson, who “sketched out a plan for the gardens based on the English garden scene on a Wedgewood plate (or so the story goes),” reads the Summerland Ornamental Gardens website. “What they were trying to do was to show settlers, overwhelmingly British settlers at the time, what kinds of ornamental plants could be grown in the Okanagan,” said Scott Austin, director, FOG. He added that the garden still holds original plants like the ponderosa trees and weeping beech that were planted less than 10 years after the garden was formed.

The Summerland Museum is partnering with FOG to present a walk down memory lane. Participants can walk down the photo trail to learn more about the history of the gardens and the Agriculture Canada Research Centre. “The history of the research station is very intertwined with the history of Summerland.

The research station put Summerland on the map,” said Austin. “As Canada’s population moved from rural to urban, Agriculture Canada—now Agriculture Agri-food Canada—phased out its horticultural programs and the gardens were slated for the plough. The then director of the renamed research centre, Lorin Godfrey, and the gardens manager, Brian Stretch, persuaded the ministry to leave them in place to be maintained by a non-profit society, Friends of the Summerland Ornamental Gardens (FOG), which was formed in 1991,” reads the website.

The day will also feature live music beginning at noon by musician Gord McLaren. Picnics have been a tradition in the Summerland Ornamental Gardens, attracting huge crowds since its formation, said Austin. “It was really almost the event of the season in early Summerland.

So we thought, why not, let’s relive the farm picnic.” Austin is encouraging everyone to dress the part if they have 1900s apparel, and added that there will be a period costume booth for everyone to dress up and take a picture. “We’ll have live music starting at noon with a popular local musician, Gord McLaren.

It’s just going to be a really fun day and we tell people bring your picnic lunch. There’s lots of picnic tables up there and lots of shade, so it’ll be great.”