Penticton's iconic Peach will stay a peach as it gets new operators
The iconic Penticton Peach ice cream stand will be serving up lemonade this summer as city has picked a new operator to run the beach concession.
The Peach’s operating agreement expired in January 2022, so the city began looking for new licensing agreements from businesses.
Diana Stirling, owner of the former Peach Ice Cream Shop, announced last night, April 4, on social media that the lease had been awarded to Family Squeezed Lemon, a Calgary-owned business and not herself.
"I am sorry to break it to you but sadly that means…no more crazy shakes (from me). While I’ll be passing my menu to Lickity Splitz down the road, my voice as the Penticton Peach will fall silent today,” she wrote of Facebook.
“I hope the new Family Squeezed Lemonade from Calgary will love me as much as I’ve been loved by the LocoLanding family,” she said in the post speaking as the peach. “From the bottom of my pit – thank you for all the amazing times we have shared. I will miss you all and wish the new peach (or lemon) on the block all the very best.”
Stirling declined to comment further on the matter.
The concession stand will continue to operate as a peach, the City of Penticton said in a media release issued today.
The Peach's new menu will include an assortment of fresh-pressed fruit and herb lemonade, handmade family frozen iced pops, street bubble waffle sundaes, ice cream and cookie dough waffle cones and cookie dough ice cream burritos, the city said.
"The Peach has been around for decades, it's sort of an iconic fixture down there," city communications manager Phillip Cooper said. "It's always made clear this thing is a peach and you can't turn it into something else as part of your business."
READ MORE: Penticton’s iconic fruit once had a sibling that served ice cream in a nightclub
Family Squeezed Lemon co-owner Jennifer Andrews said the business started in Alberta by herself and her husband to teach their children business values and has since spread across Canada and into parts of the U.S. The company is still family owned and operated. Andrews said her cousins and their families are running other stands across North America.
The business operated in Kelowna's City Park last year and it was very successful, she said, so they decided to branch out to Penticton.
"We were very welcomed and we always have our cousins there but we also hire locals as well to help run it," she said. "We plan to make The Peach proud."
The Peach is set to open for the summer season on May 1. The new contract with the city runs until April 30, 2025.
— This story was updated at 1:49 p.m. Monday, April 4, 2022, to include a comment from Family Squeezed Lemon.
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