Westbank – West Kelowna Community, BC

City of West Kelowna, located on the central western shores and hillsides of Okanagan Lake, is the primary gateway into Central and North Okanagan from Highway 97C (the Okanagan Connector). As with the Okanagan in general, West Kelowna is known for its four season playground, from water recreation to snow fun. The City of West Kelowna rightly describes itself as follows:

“West Kelowna is a visually stunning community and a four-seasons playground, located on the western shores and hillsides of Okanagan Lake”.
(reference: About West Kelowna)

On June 26, 2015, the Municipality of West Kelowna was reclassified to the City of West Kelowna. Generally, many still refer to West Kelowna as Westbank, Westside or Greater Westside.

The name of “Westbank” came from the “Westbank First Nations”, located within the boundaries of West Kelowna. Westbank is one of the many communities within the City of West Kelowna. The area of Westbank First Nation is 5,340 acres of Reservation land.

Other communities within the City of West Kelowna are: Bear Creek, Casa Loma, Gellatly/Goats Peak, Glenrosa, Green Bay, Lakeview Heights, Pritchard/Sunnyside, Raymer, Rose Valley, Shannon Lake, Smith Creek, South Boucherie and West Kelowna Estates.

Many of these community-neighbourhoods, such as Glenrosa, Lakeview Heights and Westbank, to name a few, have rich histories in the Okanagan Area, some as far back as the mid-19th century.

City of West Kelowna hosts a large array of amenities for Okanagan living and tourism. With it four season recreational opportunities from beaches and Okanagan Lake to Skiing at the local Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, West Kelowna is complemented with businesses and services as big box stores, retail outlets, theatres and tourist accommodations and attractions and cafes and restaurants. This includes the many businesses owned and managed by Westbank First Nations people.