WATCH: Summer street staple returns to downtown Kelowna

The cars are gone and art, music, street games, and sun-soaked patios are back along Bernard Avenue.

Though only in its second year, Meet me on Bernard has quickly become a summer staple in downtown Kelowna.

“We are operating for the first time … without public health orders. We don’t have a 45-degree heat dome, there’s no smoke. We are pretty happy it has come together as well as it has,” Mark Burley, executive director of the Downtown Kelowna Association, told Kelowna10.

The program was birthed in the pandemic plagued summer of 2020. It was much simpler, and didn’t have a name, as the corridor was just shut to temporarily allow restaurants to extend their patios.

But in 2021, and again this year, it was branded, and art and a wide array of entertainment was added to active the street and draw larger crowds downtown.

“Now we have parklets, we have displays, we have art that moves when you put your phone on it, we have the patios, and we have all the businesses in between,” Burley said.

Returning programs include restaurant row, as well as live music courtesy of Festivals Kelowna with Parks Alive! and the Busker program.

Parklets line the street, each designed by local landscape architects, and plans are in place for the Downtown Kelowna Block Party.

New this year is AR Bernard, an augmented reality art project and exhibit through the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art.

Dozens of events are scheduled to take place sporadically throughout the summer. For instance, Try it Tuesday, which runs from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Community Square, gives people a chance to try their hand at some free recreation programs.

Various markets and classes are set to take place over the next several weeks.

“There’s all kinds of things that are different than what we do during the off season,” Burley added.

The closure runs seven days a week until Sept. 5. More details around happenings can be found online.