Pro-waterslide group launches website, plans rally supporting Skaha Park proposal

PENTICTON – A group of people in favour of the constroversial Skaha Marina and waterslides development in Skaha Park have created a website and a Facebook group to get their message out.

One of the organizers Miranda Tumbach says they just want to show their support for the proposed project and don't want to criticize or insult the people who are against it.

The Facebook group called, Support Skaha Lake Improvement Project – Supporting council’s decision, went up just last week and has 850 members.

“We decided there was a need to show support, based on all the negativity we’ve been seeing," Tumback says. "We just felt there was need for the positive side of the story to come out, and to show our council we’re supporting their decisions."

The development has had a polarizing effect on Penticton residents and has even spawned legal action against the city.

The group is holding a rally in Skaha Park at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015. They are planning to make a heart-shaped formation with the people who show up and then take an aerial photo with a drone. The Save Skaha Park Society held a similar event last month.

“We want to show there are a number of us who are excited about these plans for the park," she says.

Tumbach wants to ensure people they are not associated with the developers, Trio Marine Group, or with city council.

"We have no ties to anyone. We’re just a group of people who feel there has been a lot of negativity towards this in the news, and we want to show our support," she says. "It’s not only young people who want to see this going ahead, we have many people 50-plus on our website who talk about how businesses will benefit from this."

Tumbach hopes their website and Facebook group will help dispell what she calls "a lot of misinformation and wrong perceptions out there" and encourages people with questions to contact them.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.