Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada.
The name Kelowna derives from an Okanagan language word for “grizzly bear”.
The city proper encompasses 211.82 square kilometres, and the census metropolitan area 2,904.86 square kilometres.
The estimated Kelowna population is 217,229 in the metropolitan area and 142,146 in the city proper.
The coldest recorded temperature in the city was −36.1 °C recorded on 30 December 1968.
Kelowna has “sister city” agreements with the following cities: Kasugai, Japan & Veendam, Netherlands.
Kelowna was incorporated as a city in 1905.
In 1958, construction of a floating bridge across Lake Okanagan was completed, linking Kelowna to the communities of Westbank to the west and Peachland and Summerland to the south.
Kelowna encompasses 214 km² of land and 48 km² of water area.
Kelowna’s official floral emblem is the Arrowleaf Balsamroot, often referred to by locals as the Okanagan Sunflower.