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Okanagan museum grooves back to the ’60s

Retro Carnival Cocktail Party turns back time
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Queen Silver Star II royalty during the Vernon Winter Carnival parade back in 1962 - Queen Diane Davidson Beaumont and Princesses Karen Reimer and Sonja Soichuk. (Greater Vernon Museum and Archives photo 15868)

There’s an old joke – if you remember the 1960s, you probably weren’t there!

Whether or not you actually remember the ’60s, the Vernon Museum is giving you providing an opportunity to experience a 1960s Cocktail Party, complete with retro cocktails, such as Manhattans and Gimlets, and classic ’60s appetizers – deviled eggs and Jello salad, anyone?

The Winter Carnival Event will feature music from the entire decade – the Beattles, to Motown, to Psychedelia. Local sponsor, Record City, will be spinning a few vintage vinyl records from the era.

“We’ll be representing the whole decade in music, from the British Invasion to the Woodstock era,” said Lisa Ramsey of the museum.

There will be a display of some of the iconic clothing worn over the course of the decade, an era that has influenced fashion ever since.

To encourage party-goers to get in the mood, anyone who comes in costume will get a complimentary cocktail.

“As well as the music, we’ll have ’60s trivia – and a contest for best costume,” explains Ramsey. “Winners have a chance of winning prizes from Kalavida SUP shop and The Rail Trail Café – and we may have some surprise genuine 60s items as prizes, too!”

Museum curator, Cuyler Page, will be bringing out some of his own collection of ’60s memorabilia, including original posters from concerts of bands such as The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead.

Page also has a video of the first Easter Be In, filmed in Vancouver’s Stanley Park in 1967, only the second such event after the first in San Francisco two months earlier.

“Interestingly, the same clothing my wife and wore to the Be In, we were also wearing in a photo used by the Canadian Government in a brochure called Canada Guide for Citizenship,” explains Page. “Not to date myself,” he laughs

Whether you remember the ’60s, wish you could have been there, or want to experience an authentic ’60s cocktail party, all are invited to the Remember the ’60s? Cocktail Party at the Vernon Museum, Thursday, Feb. 13, 7 p.m. onward.

Tickets are $10 and available through the Vernon Winter Carnival Office until Sunday Feb. 9 or at the door, if available, from 6 p.m. on at the Vernon Museum, 3009 32nd Ave. Call 250-550-3140 for more information.

READ MORE: Okanagan students make ice sculptures in downtown Vernon

READ MORE: Carnival crowns 60th Queen Silver Star


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Jennifer Smith

About the Author: Jennifer Smith

Vernon has always been my home, and I've been working at The Morning Star since 2004.
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