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Our History

The District of Lake Country is located the central Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. It has evolved over the last two hundred years from the homeland of the Syilx/Okanagan Nation, who used the area for hunting, fishing and gathering, to an area dominated by widely separated cattle ranches, to a region with a more dense rural, fruit growing population and, more recently, to an community of mixed industry.

Since the early twentieth century local farmers have been serviced by small villages: Oyama, Winfield, Okanagan Centre, and Carr’s Landing. In 1995 these communities amalgamated to become the District of Lake Country but these communities retain their own identities. Lake Country maintains its rural character, based on fruit growing, viticulture, light manufacturing, all-season tourism and retirement living. The area is an all seasons playground with an abundance of parks, beaches, playing fields, sports facilities, hiking trails, and cultural amenities.

With both the Kelowna International Airport and the University of British Columbia Okanagan at its doorstep, Lake Country anticipates and welcomes significant change, but we are determined to retain our small town ambience and neighbourly attitudes.

A more complete history of Lake Country is available in PDF format.