The best things to do in Vernon, BC revolve around art, history and a festival calendar that runs all year. Walk 28 downtown heritage murals, tour the Caetani Centre’s 1890s heritage house, watch a horse-drawn play at Caravan Farm Theatre, and step back to 1867 at Historic O’Keefe Ranch. Vernon sits at the north end of the Okanagan Valley on the unceded homelands of the syilx/Okanagan people, about 40 km north of Kelowna International Airport, with Okanagan, Kalamalka and Swan lakes all within minutes of downtown.
Top 10 things to do in Vernon at a glance
- Walk the Downtown Vernon Murals: 28 large-scale heritage murals, free to explore.
- Vernon Public Art Gallery: about 20 exhibitions a year, admission by donation.
- Caetani Centre: heritage house tours and Sveva Caetani’s Recapitulation paintings.
- Historic O’Keefe Ranch: an 1867 cattle ranch with a mansion, church and general store, open May to October.
- Caravan Farm Theatre: professional outdoor theatre staged with horses, wagons and sleighs.
- Kalamalka Indigenous Garden: syilx-guided plant and medicine tours above Kalamalka Lake.
- Mackie Lake House: a 1910 lakeside mansion with summer lawn concerts.
- Vernon Winter Carnival: Western Canada’s largest winter carnival, every February.
- Creative Chaos: 200+ artisans on the first full weekend of June.
- Vernon Farmers’ Market: Mondays and Thursdays, April to October.
Galleries and Art Centres
Vernon Public Art Gallery
3228 31st Avenue, Vernon
The Vernon Public Art Gallery (VPAG) is the largest public gallery in the North Okanagan. It stages roughly 20 exhibitions a year by emerging, mid-career and established artists working in painting, sculpture, video and installation, and admission is by donation. The Gallery Shop sells original work and handmade gifts. For a night out, book VPAG’s 19+ Art After Dark evenings, which pair hands-on art activities with live music and drinks.
Caetani Centre
3401 Pleasant Valley Road, Vernon
Sveva Caetani was born in Rome in 1917 to a branch of Italian nobility, spent 25 years in seclusion in this Vernon house, and emerged as one of the North Okanagan’s most respected artists and teachers. She left the home and its 1.3 acres of gardens to Greater Vernon in 1994. Today the Caetani Centre runs guided and self-guided heritage tours, an international artist residency, and a gallery that rotates works from Recapitulation, her series of 47 large watercolour artworks inspired by Dante’s Inferno. The house tour includes 1920s couture, family heirlooms and home movies.
Vernon Community Arts Centre and the Arts Council of the North Okanagan
2704A Highway 6, Vernon
The Arts Council of the North Okanagan (ACNO) serves more than 30 member groups and runs the Vernon Community Arts Centre (VCAC), where adults and kids take classes in clay, glass, painting, drawing and fibre arts. Visiting in December? Shop the VCAC’s Artsolutely holiday artisan market, which runs from late November to December 24 with pottery, glass, jewellery and woodwork by more than 40 Okanagan artists.
Nadine’s Fine Art & Frames
3101 31st Avenue, Vernon
Nadine’s Fine Art & Frames is an intimate downtown gallery with more than three decades in Vernon’s art community. It shows realist, impressionist and abstract work by local artists, runs weekly watercolour, oil and acrylic classes for adults and children, and offers custom framing and fine art supplies.
Walk the Downtown Vernon Murals
Downtown Vernon holds 28 large-scale heritage murals painted between 1998 and 2013, which together form one of the largest displays of public art in Canada. Muralist Michelle Loughery led 27 of them through a youth employment and downtown revitalization project, and each scene draws on historic photographs from the Museum & Archives of Vernon. Look for the crew of the S.S. Penticton on 30th Avenue, the Sovereign Lake Nordic Club winter scene, and the 2013 mural on the Sutton Building at 2749 30th Street, which depicts the First World War internment camp that operated in Vernon.
Explore the Downtown Vernon Murals on your own with the Downtown Vernon Association’s online mural map, or join a free guided walking tour in summer. The route is flat and compact, and most murals sit within a few blocks of 30th Avenue.
Heritage Sites and Museums
Museum & Archives of Vernon
3009 32nd Avenue, Vernon
Opened in 1950, the Museum & Archives of Vernon (also known as the Greater Vernon Museum and Archives) traces North Okanagan history from Indigenous life through ranching, the railway and the fruit industry. Walk a recreated early-Vernon streetscape, compare a Secwépemc dugout canoe with the 1910 Minty Coach, and see work by artist-naturalist Allan Brooks. Researchers can use the archives and the John Shephard Reference Library’s 2,800 rare books. Browse more museums and heritage sites in Vernon.
Historic O’Keefe Ranch
9380 Highway 97 North, Vernon
Cornelius O’Keefe drove cattle north from Oregon and settled at the head of Okanagan Lake in 1867, and his family ran the ranch for 110 years. The site housed the valley’s first post office from 1872. At Historic O’Keefe Ranch, tour the 1887 O’Keefe Mansion, St. Anne’s Church (1889), the Greenhow Museum, the blacksmith shop and a general store still stocked with early-1900s goods, then meet the farm animals. The ranch opens seasonally from May to October.
Mackie Lake House
7804 Kidston Road, Coldstream
Built in 1910 on five landscaped acres above Kalamalka Lake, Mackie Lake House is a rare, intact Edwardian country mansion. Its last owner, Paddy Mackie, was an artist, musician and naturalist who bequeathed the house to the Mackie Lake House Foundation in 1999. Book a guided tour between June and September to see a collection that includes a teapot linked to Jane Austen, or bring a lawn chair to Music at Mackie, the foundation’s summer concert series on the lakeside lawn.
Indigenous Culture and syilx Experiences
Vernon sits within the unceded homelands of the syilx/Okanagan people, and the Okanagan Indian Band has lived at the head of Okanagan Lake since time immemorial. These experiences are led by syilx and Secwépemc knowledge keepers.
Kalamalka Indigenous Garden (k’nmaĺkaʔ sənqâĺtən)
Okanagan College, Vernon campus
Created in 2017 by the Okanagan Indian Band, Okanagan College and the Food Action Society of the North Okanagan, this garden grows traditional syilx food and medicine plants, including saskatoon berry, arrowleaf balsamroot and bitterroot. A syilx guide leads tours that weave stories and nsyilxcn words into plant teachings, with views over Kalamalka Lake. The garden’s name honours k’nmaĺkaʔ, a syilx hereditary chief responsible for a village site at the north end of the lake.
Ancestral Heartbeat Tours
Guide Laura leads land-based Syilx and Secwépemc experiences: paddle tours on Mabel Lake or the Shuswap River with traditional drumming and song, and plant and medicine hikes at Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park and the Enderby Cliffs. Afterward, stop at Canoe Beach on Okanagan Lake, where interpretive signage explains its long use as a syilx site for trade, ceremony and gathering food.
Live Theatre and Performance
Caravan Farm Theatre
4886 Salmon River Road, Armstrong
Caravan Farm Theatre has staged professional outdoor theatre on an 80-acre farm north of Vernon since 1978, on the unceded territories of the Secwépemc and syilx Nations. Horses, wagons and sleighs serve as stage machinery. The winter sleigh ride show, a tradition since 1989, carries audiences scene to scene by horse-drawn sleigh, and the summer show plays under the open sky. Every performance runs outdoors, so dress for the weather.
Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre
3800 33rd Street, Vernon
Opened in 2001 beside Swan Lake Creek, this 750-seat proscenium theatre presents a curated season of more than 25 touring dance, theatre and music shows from October to May, alongside local productions and concerts.
Festivals and Markets
Vernon Winter Carnival (February)
Founded in 1961, the Vernon Winter Carnival is Western Canada’s largest winter carnival. The 10-day festival packs more than 100 events into early February, including a downtown parade, Balloon Glow nights, snow sculpture competitions and the Polar Bear Swim. The 2027 carnival runs February 5–14.
Creative Chaos (June)
Creative Chaos, Western Canada’s largest summer craft show, fills Kal Tire Place North and South (3445 43rd Avenue) on the first full weekend of June with more than 200 artisans, local performers, food trucks, and wine and spirit tastings. Admission is free. The 2027 festival runs June 4–6.
Vernon Farmers’ Market (April to October)
Running since 1979, the Vernon Farmers’ Market is one of the oldest in the Okanagan. It sets up in the Kal Tire Place parking lot (3445 43rd Avenue) every Monday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., April through October, with local produce, baking, and handmade pottery, jewellery and crafts, then moves indoors for winter.
Polson Night Market (summer Fridays)
Every Friday evening from late May to mid-September, Polson Park hosts a night market of locally grown and handmade goods from 4 to 8 p.m.
Sundog Festival of Arts and Culture (September to October)
Produced by the Arts Council of the North Okanagan, the Sundog Festival runs for about three weeks each fall alongside BC Culture Days, with performances, workshops and hands-on events for all ages across Greater Vernon.
Things to Do in Vernon by Season
Winter (December to March): Catch the Vernon Winter Carnival in February and Caravan Farm Theatre’s sleigh ride show over the holidays, see a show at the Performing Arts Centre, and pair gallery time with skiing at SilverStar.
Spring (April to May): The farmers’ market moves back outdoors, the Caetani Centre and galleries open new exhibitions, and O’Keefe Ranch opens for the season in May.
Summer (June to August): Walk the murals on a guided tour, shop Creative Chaos and the Polson Night Market, picnic at Music at Mackie, book a Kalamalka Indigenous Garden tour, and see Caravan Farm Theatre’s summer show.
Fall (September to November): The Sundog Festival and Culture Days fill the calendar, VPAG hosts Art After Dark, and O’Keefe Ranch stays open through October.
Plan Your Visit
Getting here: Fly into Kelowna International Airport (YLW), a drive of roughly 40 km and 30–35 minutes north to Vernon via Highway 97. Check DriveBC for road conditions and the BC Wildfire Service for summer advisories.
Getting around: Downtown runs on a walkable grid, and the Vernon Public Art Gallery, the Museum & Archives of Vernon, Nadine’s and most of the murals sit within a few blocks of each other. You need a car for O’Keefe Ranch, Caravan Farm Theatre, Mackie Lake House and the Kalamalka Indigenous Garden. BC Transit covers Vernon and Coldstream; check the City of Vernon’s parking page for current lot and meter rates.
One-day art and heritage itinerary: Start at the Vernon Public Art Gallery, walk the downtown murals, eat lunch on 30th Avenue, then visit the Museum & Archives of Vernon. Book an afternoon Caetani Centre tour (check tour days in advance) and finish with a Performing Arts Centre show or, on a summer Friday, the Polson Night Market.
Two-day itinerary: Add a morning at O’Keefe Ranch, a Kalamalka Indigenous Garden tour, an afternoon at Mackie Lake House, and an evening at Caravan Farm Theatre. For longer trips, follow Art-BC’s Vernon 3-Day Romantic Getaway or the 3-Day Immersive Vernon Experience.
Vernon, BC FAQ
What is Vernon, BC famous for?
Vernon is known for its three lakes (Okanagan, Kalamalka and Swan), its 28 downtown heritage murals, the Vernon Winter Carnival (held since 1961), Historic O’Keefe Ranch, and nearby SilverStar Mountain Resort.
Is Vernon, BC worth visiting?
Yes. Vernon combines lake and mountain scenery with a compact, walkable downtown of galleries and murals, heritage sites dating to 1867, syilx cultural experiences, and festivals in every season.
What are the best things to do in Vernon for adults?
Book a 19+ Art After Dark night at the Vernon Public Art Gallery, a Music at Mackie lawn concert, a Caetani Centre heritage tour, or a Caravan Farm Theatre production. Creative Chaos also offers wine and spirit tastings.
What are some hidden gems in Vernon?
The Caetani Centre, the Kalamalka Indigenous Garden at Okanagan College, Mackie Lake House in Coldstream, and the syilx interpretive signage at Canoe Beach rarely top general lists but reward culture-focused visitors.
What can you do in Vernon in winter?
Attend the Vernon Winter Carnival in February, ride to Caravan Farm Theatre’s sleigh ride show, see a Performing Arts Centre show, visit indoor galleries and the museum, and ski at SilverStar.
What is happening in Vernon this weekend?
Check the Vernon events calendar on Art-BC for current exhibitions, festivals and workshops, and the Tourism Vernon listing for its community calendar.
What are free things to do in Vernon?
Walk the downtown murals, visit the Vernon Public Art Gallery (admission by donation), browse the farmers’ market or Polson Night Market, attend Creative Chaos (free admission), and read the interpretive signs at Canoe Beach.
What are things to do in Vernon with kids?
Meet the farm animals at O’Keefe Ranch, see the dioramas at the Canadian Wildlife Museum, book a Vernon Community Arts Centre spring break art camp (ages 6–12), and visit the Winter Carnival’s Family Fun Park.
Where can I see public art in Vernon?
Downtown Vernon has 28 heritage murals painted between 1998 and 2013, concentrated around 30th Avenue. Use the Downtown Vernon Association’s online map or join a summer guided walking tour.
Is Caravan Farm Theatre in Vernon?
Caravan Farm Theatre sits on an 80-acre farm at 4886 Salmon River Road near Armstrong, north of Vernon. Plan extra driving time, especially for winter shows.
