Getting cherry pickers to come to Summerland has been a challenge this year with COVID-19 restrictions.

The District of Summerland opened a temporary campsite for seasonal workers with safety precautions on July 8, only to find just a few workers showing up. 

“We’ve seen on our first evening, we’ve had five campers arrive,” said Anthony Haddad, District of Summerland chief administrative officer. “We’ll see how things go as people arrive over the next couple of weeks.”

The discussion on where to host these workers started back in June, when Summerland was granted $70,000 from the provincial government. 

The district is also working with the BC Fruit Growers Association, farms and agricultural workers during this time to keep communication open. 

Glen Lucas, the general manager for the BC Fruit Growers Association said even with the small numbers, “it's been a positive experience and it has come together very quickly.”

“We’re really pleased that it's a partnership between community and agriculture.”

As the harvest moves forward, and workers move on from their work tree planting, the association expects that workers will move into cherry picking. 

Both Lucas and Haddad are hopeful that more individuals will show up, including locals filling in gaps. But more help is definitely needed.

“We’ve had a few inquiries from people and we think it’ll get well utilized,” Lucas said. “We are appealing through the media for people to be aware.”

The campground setup is mainly to help support the smaller farms, as larger orchards generally have their own separate housing for temporary workers. 

The sites are funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and are operating within a separated area of Peach Orchard Municipal Campground, which also offers public campsites.

All facilities for the temporary campsites are separate from the public campsites to keep with proper distancing. 

“Once the campground use is completed at the end of July, the campground will go back to its typical operation,” Haddad said.

The association hopes to establish more campsites in other towns next year. 

"I think that will carry forward for future years, hopefully beyond COVID-19."