The efforts to preserve a portion of Naramata Beach has cleared the fundraising goal of $850,000.
The NaramataSlow community group has raised $860,748 as of Oct. 29, with every additional dollar making it more likely for the Regional District of the Okanagan Similkameen to acquire the parcel of land.
The regional district currently has a $1.7 million offer on the parcel, with the funds raised by the NaramataSlow fundraiser allowing them to reduce the amount of borrowing they would need to ask residents to allow.
The fundraiser started on Sept. 18, and reached $440,000 on Oct. 16.
The It Takes a Village to Save a Beach fundraiser is still open for donations until Oct. 31.
NaramataSlow also launched the Green Ribbon campaign two weeks ago and it has caught on, with doors all over the village donning the green ribbons, neighbours encouraging others to paint their street green, and bench wineries challenging each other to donate tasting fees.
READ MORE: It does take a village to save a beach
The lots haven’t been put on the market, and the Naramata Centre Society is dealing directly with the regional district first.
The offer is for the parcel that features the wharf and is the centre of the beachfront in Naramata.
“There’s a parcel right across of a road end, there’s three small lots there as well, that we don’t have the money for right now but wanted to put an option or first right of refusal on those,” Bill Newell, the regional district’s chief administrative officer, told the Western News earlier. “Then they proposed three small lots that could be a potential location for a community centre in the future. We’ve got lots of stuff floating in the air.”
Centre Beach is a slice of lakefront anchored in the heart of Naramata Village since the 1940s.
Once the Naramata Heritage Society decides on a price, and the raised funds are provided to the regional district, the regional district will go to the public with how much would still be needed in borrowing to make the purchase.
If the regional district does get the funding and assent from the public, the parcel would be maintained as a park for the public.
For more information on the NaramataSlow fundraiser, you can go to their website at naramataslow.com or search for It Takes a Village to Save a Beach on wayblaze.com.
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