1991 Riots

[peach_guy]

Anyone out there have access to video footage of the 1991 riots? Would LOVE to chat to you if you do and if I can borrow or make a copy... Or even photographic footage?

[fluffy]

1991. Still in the dark ages. The internet was for scientists and cel phones weighed ten pounds. Your best bet might be news agencies.

[logman]

I was there! Sorry no video or photos. I think video cameras at the time had to be put on your shoulder. I know 1 of the guys that got charged for destroying the " peach". He was caught on video. Crazy times. Back when it didn't matter how many people you had in the back of your truck.

[Stargazer]

1991 the year tourism died and "Pentictons Yearly Summer Police State " took effect..remember,getting pulled over eveywhere you went..2 cops on every corner, and harrassed for just standing still on the street....geez not much has changed..

[fluffy]

1991 the year tourism died and "Pentictons Yearly Summer Police State " took effect..remember,getting pulled over eveywhere you went..2 cops on every corner, and harrassed for just standing still on the street....geez not much has changed..

The year we found out that the "just let them party" strategy was a dangerous gamble. That single incident and the coverage it received effectively killed the family camping business and it has never recovered. The thought that we could tolerate a little public rowdiness was doomed from the start, it just attracted those who wanted to push the limits beyond the breaking point.

[logman]

Yes I remember being stopped on the way into town. They were looking for booze and what not.

[logman]

Was it " holiday hills" campground that was the huge party? I can't quite remember. At the Skaha lake end of town. Man that was a huge party!

[Stargazer]

Nice try Fluffy...everybody in town that night was a tourist!..they were allowed to party because thats what the city set up and allowed..blame council plain and simple just like today,same issue..poor planning,lack of forethought.lotsa finger pointing...at other people...like PHA today?

talk to anyone who TRIED to come here in the following years..it was never the riot...it was always the cops that killed family camping..law abiding citizens were fed up with the harrassment just to get to there favourite campsite..ask any long time hotel owner!

[fluffy]

There were a couple that catered to the party set, Holiday Hills was one, along the east side of South Main down near towards yacht club. It sold off and was developed to residential many years back. The other was the "Happy Hour" campground west of the airport entrance which deteriorated into a year-round slum until it changed hands and is now being re-developed into the "yurt" campground. Both these operations were pretty successful in their day, offering shuttle service to the downtown core for the night club set and not discouraging late night noise at the camp-grounds.

[logman]

Wow. Some heated feelings about the topic. I never stayed there. Just went to the parties. I was young and dumb but it was fun. Sleeping in a tent was never my thing that's for sure.

[fluffy]

...talk to anyone who TRIED to come here in the following years..it was never the riot...it was always the cops that killed family camping..law abiding citizens were fed up with the harrassment just to get to there favourite campsite..ask any long time hotel owner!

Police presence was always concentrated at potential trouble spots, usually later in the evening and always near night clubs or beach firepits, not areas you would find family campers frequenting. A message was being sent that public drunkeness was no longer tolerated, a message that was obviously needed following the riot. The only people who had reason to complain about police harrassment were people who still figured public drunkeness was acceptable behavior. The same lesson was learned the hard way in Kelowna. The demise of family camping was as much a result of economic conditions as anything, with money getting tighter and campsites disappearing due to unprofitability. The riot was merely a catalyst that made the decision a lot easier for many families.

[twobits]

Police presence was always concentrated at potential trouble spots, usually later in the evening and always near night clubs or beach firepits, not areas you would find family campers frequenting.

Not quite true fluff. Returning from a quick trip to Vancouver on the Friday afternoon of the 92 May long weekend, my friend and I were directed into a roadblock at the Kaleden weigh scales. All vehicles were directed to do so. Despite being Penticton residents and having proof of residency, our car and luggage was completely searched and an unopened case of Extra Old Stock was confiscated. My friend was directed into a trailer on site where he had to strip down to his underwear in a search for contraband. He had none nor was there ever any reason to suspect he did. We were in our early 20's and obvious targets but during the ordeal I witnessed many thirty and forty something couples getting similar shakedowns and liquor confiscations. I look back on it now as rather a surreal and draconian tactic that most surely left a very bad taste in many tourists mouths and a vow to never return. I know I would not have.

[fluffy]

That does shine a different light on things. But...if I remember correctly there was reason for the authorities to be wary wasn't there? Rumours of provocateurs targeting Penticton for a reply of the previous years antics? People being found with caches of "weapons" of varying description? Those were heady times and like I said, I understand the need to send a very clear message that the status quo of "party till you puke" had seen its day.

I remember the night of the riot. I had just come out of the theatre (Terminator 2 if I remember correctly) and was enjoying a pint at the Penticton Inn before heading back to my car which was parked on the other sdie of Main Street. I was heading across the Zellers parking lot when they let the gas go a couple blocks closer to the lake. It made it hard to breathe even at that distance. I took a walk down Main Street a little later and remember very well the look on the faces of some of the shopkeepers as they boarded up broken storefronts and shovelled up glass from the sidewalks. It makes it hard to criticize any measures the cops took to ensure it didn't happen again.

[process99]

Had the police decided Not to close down main street and force 5k plus people down toward the peach with nowhere to escape then NONE of that would have ever happened. I was there I know where , who and when it started and why. DO YOU?
There are many stories but only one truth is and it goes a little something like this.
There is 2k people open consuming, the police in all their wisdom decide to arrest one individual with A BEER inside a crowd of drunks. When the officers decided to kick the man and stomp on him the crowd decided that was very unfair and became VERY angry.
At that point it was on. Then when the Pen force was suitably delt with they decided that they had been wronged and called in RIOT bus from Ktown.
Once you have taken those steps, the people will fight, and they will fight like the drunks they are and that means destroy anything and everything AS A MESSAGE to police.
Not one person was having any serious problems until the police decided to start slamming the heavy hand all over downtown.
That along with assault of a local is what actually caused all that to happen.
I know most of the people still to this day that were there, I know the ones that rolled the peach into the lake ,I know the person shown booting the back window out of the police car and escaping only to be recaptured and sentenced to 5 years for inciting.
There are several smaller incidents that mirror the main one down on lakeside park or as it was back then, but THAT is the real reason it started. People did not like 6 members pounding on one man for having an open container when the other 1999 had them as well. It did not bode well for the mood.
The police took the wrong approach as normally happens since they have lost the training to deescalate situations.
They appear to relish the chance to break out the football gear and kick some field goals with people's heads whenever any form of large crowd disagrees with their tactics.
It destroyed the summer image here and it will never return until all those who think with that mindset are dead and tossed in a hole.
Once that happens then things will slowly start to change again for the better if the town is marketed correctly as THE destination station for summer fun.
Until then it will continue to be be PEnTaKin "A Place to Stay Forever" otherwise known as one of the VERY few towns you move to for the sole purpose of DYING. That's real good for marketing and tourists. pfffft.
I does not matter to me if you believe me or not, however you will find others with the exact same information that don't know me from adam if you ask around about that fateful night. Regardless those are the REAL FACTS of the Penticton riot in a nutshell.
I have many more details but this post is too long already.

P99

[fluffy]

Where one places the blame is not so much the point as that it is pretty much a forgone conclusion that things are going to go south if you permit open drunkeness in a crowded situation. At that point just about any catalyst will incite mob behavior.