Kaleden


Kaleden is a designated place extending from Skaha Lake in the east almost to Nickel Plate Provincial Park in the west. The City of Penticton is located just north of the lake. Kaleden was established by James Ritchie in the early 1900s as an agricultural settlement. Ritchie purchased and planned construction of an irrigation system to bring water to the arid hillside, and in 1908 held a competition to name the new development. The name Kaleden combines Eden, the biblical garden, with the Greek word for beautiful, "kalos". As of the 2016 Canadian Census the population was 1,203, a -1.7% change from 2011.
The "Kaleden Cots", a form of apricot tree producing golden yellow apricots with red cheeks, were first propagated in Kaleden from trees purchased by Frank Harrison in 1910. From the community beginnings as a small orcharding community, the town has evolved from fruit to vineyards and has become a bedroom community of Penticton. The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory was founded there in 1960.
Kaleden has an elementary school which provides K to Grade 5 education for approximately 100 students, and many summer cabins on the water as well as a resort, Ponderosa Point. There are two parks in Kaleden: Kaleden Hotel Park, which contains the shell of an old hotel with "heritage significance" that was built in 1912 and was in use for two and a half years before World War I broke out and the hotel closed; and Pioneer Park, a park with a public beach, boat launch and BBQ area.