‘A normal Sunday’: Summerland, B.C., residents gather at first market since wildfire

SUMMERLAND — For the first time since the Bald Range wildfire forced the evacuation of around 20,000 Summerland, B.C., properties earlier this month, residents gathered for the weekly community market.

Hosted by the Rotary Club of Summerland, the now 11-year-old market was started with the aim of helping downtown businesses.

Sunday’s market was the first time many community members gathered since the wildfire surged on Aug. 7, destroying about 150 structures.

“It was just really good to see neighbours again and people connecting,” the club’s market director, Dave McRae, said in an interview.

There weren’t as many vendors as a normal market, but good weather and good spirits were in ready supply as orchardists, vintners and ceramacists — people who make ceramics — sold their wares, he said.

“It feels good because it’s the first sign of kind of a normal Sunday, a normal summer Sunday,” McRae said.

Summerland is a resilient community and is ready to bounce back after the fires, he added.

Jennifer Taylor, a public relations director for the Rotary Club, said the burnt landscape was visible as she shopped for groceries Sunday afternoon.

“It’s going to be a constant reminder to all of us of that night,” she said in an interview.

The BC wildfire service said new wildfires ignited across the province Saturday after more than 7,000 lightning strikes, which it said were caused by a subtropical weather system that brought hot weather to most of the province.

Lightning-caused wildfires started in all of B.C.’s southern fire centres, with the province recording about 50 new fires in 24 hours.

But rainy weather across much of the province meant many of the new fires were already being held or under control on Sunday.

The wildfire service said hot, dry and windy conditions are expected to return this week, bringing the potential of new wildfires.

It said the change in weather could bring lightning-caused holdover fires, which happen when fires smoulder undetected until the weather leads to more visible smoke.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2026.

The Canadian Press