Orchard City II advertising Holiday Park Resort at 415 Commonwealth Road - July 17, 2010.

A few miles north of the City of Kelowna along highway 97 there is a large eye catcher with a history.

Orchard City II was commissioned in 1903, running charters and working for the sawmills up and down the Okanagan Lake. In 1948, during a serious storm, the boat sank and remained in a watery grave at the bottom of the lake for more than thirty years.

In the summer of 1968, during the time it rested upon the the lake bottom underwater, it became my first and only wreck dive. That hot summer day I was helping my father clean water intake screens along the south Kelowna residences. We had a 12 foot Thrones aluminum boat that Dad used as a diving platform and I went along to drive the boat and help him with his diving equipment.

This particular day we were out in the boat past the end of Lakeshore Road, near the last residence along the Lakeshore. This particular day I also had along my diving equipment for some reason, normally I don't take my fins mask and snorkel along, but today I did. I think it was the hot, sunny day that made my father decide to make a little side trip from the routine of water intake cleaning, or perhaps it is the fact that dad has an adventurous spirit. When the Scuba equipment was properly stored he looked at me and asked, "Would you like to go see something really interesting?"

With an excited smile I answered "Of Course!" Dad took over the helm and off we went, traveling south along the lakeshore about 50 yards from the water line. He seemed to know exactly where this adventure was to take place. We pulled the aluminum boat up onto a small gravel beach, put on the skin diving equipment and headed for the drop off.

The old boat was in about 30 feet of water, just shallow enough for a quick dive on a lung full of air. The Orchard City II was more or less upright although it was laying partially on its side due to the nature of its hull angles. It was gloomy and greenish brown, the color of the lake bottom where the boat rested, listing to the starboard side.

After poking around the boat's outside hull during a few breath-fulls of air, Dad decided to go inside the boat and see what he could see. He made it down the stairs through the wheel house near the stern of the boat, and motioned to me from the darkness, the only thing I could see was his arm beconing, while his body was cloaked in darkness within. I can tell you; that boat to me was a big monster. At 11 years old my young imagination was a bit too colorful for me to follow dad down into the blackness. Instead I contented myself with conquering the wheel house before going back to top side for another lung full of air.

In 1979 Leo Budnick salvaged and restored the Orchard City II, extending the small wheelhouse to a cabin above deck that took in a larger area between bow and stern. The new owner, Doug Corbett, sold the Orchard City II to Holiday Park Resort located further to the east along Commonwealth Road. The Resort had already begun to advertise in the form of large signage on Highway 97 and Commonwealth road, but it wasn't until a few years after purchasing the boat that the idea was made to incorporate the signage with the parked boat. When the existing signs became old and run down the idea of making the boat a large bill board came into being.

Now the large wooden boat is an eye catching display visible to travelers motoring up and down Highway 97 between Kelowna and Winfield.

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