B.C.’s Okanagan is still recovering after being ravaged by major wildfires this summer, with the Bradley Creek complex and the Bald Range wildfire damaging or destroying nearly 400 properties in the region. 

One of those properties was Christine Coletta’s winery in Summerland.

“Unfortunately, our Garnet Valley Ranch winery was really right in the eye of the storm,” Coletta said.

A home on the estate, a wedding venue, and multiple sheds for feed and hay were lost.

And while the vines survived, this year’s yield did not.

“It is a big hit, because it’s potentially 6,000 cases of wine that we now can’t make in the winery with those grapes,” Coletta said.

But with the immediate threat of the wildfires having passed, local communities are dealing with a new crisis – a precipitous drop in tourism.

“There was a sharp exit from the Okanagan,” Coletta said.

“People wisely got out of harm’s way, and they wanted to leave hotel rooms for people that needed to evacuate. That was wonderful, but we really need them to come back.” 

Coletta says she saw a 70 per cent dip in business last month, which is a big hit during peak season. 

Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes says he’s hearing many businesses lost up to 80 per cent of their traffic, which has prompted local governments to form a business recovery task force.

“[They are] trying to measure exactly what the economic impact was, not just for tourism, but just lost business right across the board, lost agricultural production,” Holmes said.

The hope is that those figures will help them determine where provincial and federal supports are needed most.

“We’re fighting for them as much as we’re fighting for residents whose homes have been damaged,” he said.

“We need everybody in the province and in the country to support us the same way they did during the evacuation.”

As businesses begin the work of rebuilding amid new and looming tariffs, Coletta hopes governments can make it easier for the nation to support them.

“What it just shows us is the need for interprovincial trade and free trade between the provinces, because the market I would love to develop is Ontario, and Quebec, and Alberta,” she said.

Whether it takes the form of booking a trip or rewriting legislation, Mayor Holmes hopes the end of wildfire season doesn’t translate to the end of the public’s support for the region.

“This is the long, hard slog part right now,” he said.

“Don’t forget about us, because we still need your help.”