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PEACHLAND VIEW
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July 8, 2016 |
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ThePeachlandView
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On top of old Pincushion: a Canada Day story CRAIG GILBERT EDITOR
editor@peachlandview.com
PEACHLAND VIEW OFFICE administrator Annick Stoltz replaces the flag atop Pincushion Hill on July 1.
MATT STOLTZ
If there’s one thing Peachlanders are serious about, it’s their view. Highway 97 is probably up there too, these days, but from the top of Pincushion Hill the tiny grey band looks more like a pluck-worthy hair than something to worry about in this lifetime. For the untold numbers of locals and visitors who brave what must be among the most challenging hikes in the valley each year, though, it’s the Canada flag flying proudly over Lake Okanagan that occupies the foreground. So when Annick Stoltz, our office administrator here at the Peachland View, noticed the state of the flag was, well, flagging, she sprang into action. “I’ve always been an outdoor person, and I’m up there quite a bit,” she said. Usually our office mascot Calvin, her yearling Golden Retriever, goes along on morning marmot patrol. “It’s a really nice hike and I love the scenery on top,” Stoltz said. “A lot of people take pictures with the flag so I thought it would be nice to have a new one.” She contacted MP Dan Albas to request a flag and had an enthusiastic email from his office within 20 minutes. When she returned to the sum-
mit to check out what she needed to swap in the new colours, though, the plot thickened: this was no ordinary national symbol, it had been dedicated as a memorial to longtime Peachlander Murray Byrne with a plaque at the base. The quest was put on hold while Stoltz found out more. The Peachland Museum was able to connect her with Murray’s son, Greg. Greg told the View members of the family usually swap the flag about twice a year, including on Father’s Day, but weren’t able to bring it together this past June. He said strangers have replaced the flag on occasion in the past. Murray was the one who erected the flagpole in the first place about 21 years ago. It was someone else who cemented in the base a few years ago, and another party that dedicated it as a memorial. “My dad spent a lot of time walking around those hills, he did a lot of hiking,” Greg said, “and he thought that view was just spectacular.” Murray died after having a massive stroke at the end of his driveway – something Greg said he is partially thankful for, reflecting that if his dad had passed on a sortie, he might never have been found. Suffice to say, the Pincushion hike has a special significance. “It’s a way for me to reconnect with him,” he said. “So to know someone has taken care of the flag, it’s awesome. It’s not my flag, I think. It’s everybody’s.”
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