Peachland is a district municipality in the Okanagan Valley on the west side of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1899 by John Moore Robinson, although the region had long been home to the Okanagan people. Peachland is approximately half-an-hour's drive south of the city of Kelowna and about a 20-minute drive north of Summerland. The Okanagan Valley is very narrow in the area and there are few terraces that mark former lake levels and the former lake bottom. As a result, the city is largely located on a steep sidehill. Like many other areas in the Okanagan, Peachland is rapidly growing, with new residents coming from all across Canada. Across the lake from Peachland is Rattlesnake Island, home of the legendary Ogopogo. Peachland is approximately 370 km from Vancouver, British Columbia, on the British Columbia south coast. History Peachland was founded on the site of a tiny community called Camp Hewett. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Peachland had a population of 5,789 living in 2,689 of its 2,936 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 5,428. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Religion According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Peachland included: Irreligion (3,165 persons or 54.9%) Christianity (2,465 persons or 42.8%) Judaism (30 persons or 0.5%) Buddhism (15 persons or 0.3%) Indigenous Spirituality (15 persons or 0.3%) Sikhism (10 persons or 0.2%) Other (60 persons or 1.0%) Government Federally, Peachland is, since 2015, within the electoral district of Central Okanagan — Similkameen — Nicola. The current MP is Conservative Dan Albas, elected in the 2011 (in the previous constituency of Okanagan—Coquihalla)Canadian federal election following former MP Stockwell Day's retirement from public life. The local MLA for the area is Dan Ashton. The municipal government of Peachland consists of the mayor and six at-large councillors, elected to three-year terms. One former councillor, Jean Fraser, was elected in 1995 and served several consecutive terms. In her last election she received the highest number of votes in the municipality's history. Fraser retired from council on November 13, 2011, as she felt the work she could do on council was complete. The current mayor is Patrick Van Minsel who defeated Cindy Fortin by a landslide vote in the 2022 municipal election. Climate The climate of Peachland is very similar