KELOWNA CANADIAN ITALIAN CLUB
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la nostra famiglia italiana

Upcoming Heritage Sessions at LNFI
L'ACQUA : THE GREENING OF THE OKANAGAN
Wednesday, February 15 at 7 pm • At the KCIC Hall & Via Zoom
THE RECORDED ZOOM SESSION

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SPECIAL GUESTS

IAN POOLEY
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Ian Pooley is an Okanagan historian. His previous articles have appeared in academic journals, and Okanagan Historical Society reports. Ian Pooley comes from a Kelowna orcharding family; his grandfather, Walter R. Pooley, along with E.M. Carruthers, bought the Lequime Ranch in 1904, and shortly afterwards, along with T.W. Stirling, started the Kelowna Land and Orchard Company. He has just finished writing a book on the history of South-East Kelowna.

WAYNE WILSON
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Wayne Wilson served as the Executive Director of the Kelowna Museums Society from 2000 – 2012. He began work with the Kelowna Museum in 1978 and since then has worked in the various capacities including Exhibitions Co-ordinator, Museum Education, Assistant Director, and has curated dozens of exhibitions and public programming series.
The video of our trip up to Ideal Lake to look for the rock ovens. 9:57 in length
​
Early in the 20th Century, massive infrastructure projects were undertaken to open up the tantalizing potential of the BC Interior. One of these were the building of railways. The other was bringing the water needed to enable commercial agriculture. Italians were integral to both.
From the turn of the century to the outbreak of World War I, Italian sojourners came by the thousands to find work in North America. The economic situation in Italy was desperate and both Canada and the U.S. were booming. This was certainly true here in the Okanagan Valley. The Kettle Valley Railway was being built high in the hills over Kelowna, but in terms of impact to our Valley, the construction of major irrigation works would literally change the landscape, bring commercial scale agriculture to Belgo, Black Mountain, the Glenmore Valley and South-East Kelowna.

In this fascinating presentation, Ian Pooley and Wayne Wilson will share how important irrigation was to the Okanagan and how labour intensive the construction projects were. We'll also share some select video footage from our own Legacy Project, showing two amazing rock ovens up at Belgo and talking about the role of Italians in the construction.


CHECK OUR CALENDAR FOR ALL THE LNFI UPCOMING EVENTS

Our Clubhouse

770 Lawrence Ave.
Phone: 250 762 0900

What people Are Saying about us

"Great People, Wonderful Food! So nice to have a little bit of our Italian culture in Canada:)"
"Great people, family oriented and great food of course!"


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The Kelowna Canadian Italian Club acknowledges that our clubhouse is situated on the beautiful unceded traditional territory of the Syilx/Okanagan people. Who, for thousands of years, have lived in harmony with nature and continue to this day to offer us so much culture and understanding.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • About KCIC and Our History
    • President's Message
    • Vice President's Message
    • Executive and Directors
    • Membership
    • Volunteers
  • NEWS & ARTICLES
    • The Grapevine Newsletter
    • THE ITALIAN GARDENER
    • Kelowna's First Families
  • WHAT'S HAPPENING AT KCIC
    • 2025 Calendar
    • Club Happenings >
      • Bocce
      • Ferragosto Family Picnic
      • Giuseppe's Cafe
      • Trattoria Dinners
      • LUNCH Open House
      • La Bella Tavola - Cooking Classes
      • KCIC Library
      • La Nostra Famiglia Italiana >
        • Order First Family Books!
        • CASORSO DOCUMENTARY
        • Upcoming NFI Events
        • Il Nostro Lascito Legacy Project
        • Past NFI Events >
          • NFI - ROOTS TO RESILIENCE
          • NFI - Follow That Bell!
          • NFI - Spaghetti
          • NFI - Bisnonno
          • NFI - L'Acqua
          • NFI - Terrazzo
          • NFI - Guerra
          • NFI - Lilia
          • Coming to Pier 21
          • Dalla Terra
          • Dialetti!
          • Sveva Caetani
          • Emilio Picariello
          • Between Neighbours
      • Ladies Night Out
      • Vendemmia Highlights 2024
      • Family Games Night
      • Festa Della Repubblica
    • Our 55th Birthday!
  • More From Us
    • CONTACT US
    • Clubhouse Rentals
    • 50th ANNIVERSARY >
      • 50th Anniversary
      • Mercato
      • Dinner & Dance Gala
    • Miss Kelowna Cdn. Italian Club
    • Calendar Page
  • Take Out Dinners
  • Family Games Night