I was very offended to read the Mayor’s comments regarding the Centennial RV park.

As it happens, I was googling ‘Oliver’ to find out what’s happening in one of our favourite little towns before we come down to stay at this very nice campground soon, and read this bad news.  We have camped there since discovering it several years ago, after having given up on trying to get a spot at Haynes Point every year.

The Mayor said he’d like to see it change to a “higher and better use” and he noted it as a 30 site rv park doesn’t make a lot of economic sense.  I find the term “higher” very offensive.  Perhaps the Mayor would like to see Oliver become the Beverly Hills of the Okanagan, but I think that’s unlikely to happen.  I’m not sure what he means by “higher” – could it be class of visitors he refers to?

Centennial park is a beautiful spot, but it’s not lakefront resort material.  It’s a great campground, next to the river and your wonderful biking trail.  The people who run it deserve a big thanks and a lot of credit for the great job they do.  I can say we stay there an average of 7 days a year and spend usually at least 100.00 per day in the town.  We go out for a meal, we stock up on groceries and other supplies, we shop the shops, we buy gas before the long trip home.  When we leave, someone is waiting to take our spot and do the same as we just spent ( x 30 campsites, all summer).

The people of Oliver should take a look at other tourist communities who have dumped campgrounds and other tourist attractions in favour of townhouses and expensive developments.  Very little is happening in these towns (think Sicamous – now a ghost town, North Shuswap etc).  Townhouse owners come only a few weeks a year, the rest of the time the buildings sit empty.  They bring their supplies and groceries from home (ie: Calgary) and don’t take advantage of the local ice cream shop, the restaurants,  the community pool, the movie theatre, etc etc.  In fact, there are many municipal campgrounds sprouting up because property values, taxes etc make the costs in running a campground prohibitive.

In my opinion, the town of Oliver would be foolish to close this popular place to stay.  If this campground is no longer there, it will be a sad day for us, and another town we will have to give up on.

Joanne Dyck
Sorrento, BC