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Tourism BC
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Tourism BC
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Tourism BC
Staff Writers
Rolling farmland, forest-fringed highlands, mountain peaks and an intricate web of lakes and beaches known simply as the Shuswap. Think you’ve found the ultimate outdoor playground? More like a Salmon Arm way of life. One that, at its core, holds fast to year-round outdoor pursuits, a thriving arts and culture scene and local, homespun tastes of BC’s sunny Shuswap region .
You can sit front-and-centre during artful stage productions, or feel the rhythm during the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival, a lively folk, blues, roots and world music celebration that draws over 30,000 enthusiasts to this houseboating haven each year.
Be sure to peruse the local talent on display at public art galleries and private studios, or pop into the city’s array of retail shops to snag a locally fashioned find. Push the rewind button at RJ Haney Heritage Village & Museum, a hub for local musicians, and you may be treated to the museum’s monthly plucking session, complete with guitars and the occasional banjo.
Weigh anchor and cruise along the Shuswap’s 700 kilometres (435 miles) of houseboat-friendly sandy beaches, where waterskiing, swimming, kayaking, canoeing and fishing are all part of a day’s play.
Should you prefer your adventure on solid ground, Larch Hills shelters an abundance of walking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails, while Salmon Arm’s Nature Bay Trails guarantee an all-ages leisurely hike along the foreshore of Shuswap Lake. For those big on birding, Nature Bay also provides the perfect perch for binocular-friendly views of over 230 winged-species in their natural habitat.
Feed your appetite with menus as down to earth as the visionaries who craft them. First stop: the Shuswap Pie Company for a tasty breakfast or lunch, and a slice of their just-like-Mom-used-to-make pie.
The Barley Station Brew Pub offers sips of award-winning handcrafted beer, paired seamlessly with delectable out-of-the-box pub fare, while a seat at Table 24 restaurant is sure to showcase simple, local menus within the restaurant’s Podollan Inn setting.
When you pull up to the 21-metre (70-foot) Burner Restaurant & Lounge in Sicamous, you might just need a moment to take it all in. After all, this former “beehive” burner, minutes from Sicamous in the community of Malakwa, isn’t quite where you’d expect to find tasty, home-cooked menus. Indeed, this structure, with its distinct wider-at-the-base cone shape, was more at home in the rural forestry industry, used primarily to burn off sawdust and other waste wood products during day-to-day operations. Decommissioned in the late ‘90s, these burners are all but obsolete — save for this one, salvaged from the now-closed Beaumont Mill.
Disassembled and transported piece by piece from its original home, this structure underwent a year-and-a-half reconstruction and was reborn as, fittingly, The Burner. With a nod to its forestry background, restored machinery and images from logging days past create an ambience amid the Douglas fir and cedar post-and-beam interior that might just draw your attention away from the roast beef and gravy-slathered Burner Yorkies, beefy signature burgers on garlic-toasted buns and delicately prepared Ocean Wise blackened sockeye salmon. www.theburner.ca
To select the best from seasonal harvests, take in the scene at Salmon Arm’s bustling farmers markets. DeMilles Farm Market and Askew’s Foods are favourites, offering a true taste of the community’s agricultural roots.
For waterfront views, slip into slumber, Shuswap-style, aboard the many comfy houseboats offered by Twin Anchors or Waterway Houseboats. A fitting adieu to your day in “Canada’s Houseboat Capital.”
For more information, or to find out what other adventures await in Salmon Arm, visit www.shuswaptourism.ca.