Four Years in the Making

2021

Tragedy and Community Response

On July 12, 2021, a tragic tower crane collapse in downtown Kelowna resulted in the loss of five young men—sons, fathers, husbands, friends, and neighbours. This disaster profoundly affected the community. In the following days, a vigil was held on Bernard Street to bring people together in grief and remembrance, while supporting the affected families. A temporary memorial was established at the site, providing a space for reflection until its removal the following March.

2022

Honouring and Planning a Permanent Memorial

The temporary memorial display on Bernard Street was respectfully removed in early spring. On the first anniversary, a public vigil was held—it was during this ceremony that the North Okanagan Labour Council announced plans to build a permanent memorial. A dedicated project team was assembled and began the search for a permanent memorial site.

2023

A Vision Takes Shape

By January 2023, the City of Kelowna offered a place of meaning and beauty to house the memorial: Knowles Heritage Park. An Expression of Interest (EOI) panel was assembled to guide the design process, and Ecora Engineering was selected to bring the vision to life. On the second anniversary of the crane collapse, the final design for the RISE Memorial Gardens was publicly unveiled, and a United Way fundraiser was launched to support the park’s construction.

2024

Building Support and Securing Funding

The Rise Memorial Foundation was officially incorporated in February of 2024. Fundraising continued into the spring, highlighted by a community benefit concert featuring Aaron Pritchett at the Revelry in May. By July, nearly $150,000 had been raised. At the same time, the City of Kelowna announced its commitment to contingency funding to help close the funding gap. Additional support was secured through the BC Government’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture and from a vast number of community members and businesses to see RISE Memorial Gardens completed.

2025

From Loss to Legacy

Ground was broken on the gardens in early spring, and on July 12, 2025, the RISE Memorial Gardens were completed and officially unveiled, along with this website—built to honour the lives lost, celebrate the community that came together in their memory, and preserve the story behind the garden for generations to come.

A Park with History

Knowles Heritage Park includes the Knowles house, which was built in 1907 by James Knowles—an early civic leader in Kelowna—who was instrumental in the design and construction of Kelowna’s City Park.

Throughout the 20th century, the house changed hands, once owned by Kelowna's City Engineer Harold Blakeborough. He updated the historic building, adding electricity, indoor plumbing, and a furnace. In 2000, the Kelowna South-Central Association of Neighbourhoods (KSAN) recognized the value of the Knowles House as a surviving example of Kelowna's first wave of urban development and partnered with the City of Kelowna to restore the house, adding it to the Kelowna Heritage Register.

The site officially became known as Knowles Heritage Park in 2005, thanks to the immense effort of countless volunteers. This tradition of community involvement is continued with the addition of the RISE Memorial Gardens on the Knowles Heritage Park site in 2025. Knowles Heritage Park serves as a beautiful testament to Kelowna's layered history and sense of community, from early settler life, heritage preservation, urban green space, to the powerful symbol of the cohesion of the Kelowna community.

Community

The gardens, being centrally located in Kelowna is the truest version of community space. Its universal and accessible design means it's usable by all members.
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The gardens, being centrally located in Kelowna is the truest version of community space. Its universal and accessible design means it's usable by all members. The design, construction, and maintenance of both the gardens and website were done by and continue to be carried out by local community members. Without the outpouring of support from the entire community in Kelowna and across British Columbia and beyond, there would be no RISE Memorial.

Remember

From the center of the memorial, the top of the Brooklyn Towers can be seen, oriented such that once the visitor reads the main plaque and looks up, the towers are in the background.
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From the center of the memorial, the top of the Brooklyn Towers can be seen, oriented such that once the visitor reads the main plaque and looks up, the towers are in the background. Within the memorial, a separate garden existsfor each of the five men and the corresponding plaque gives an opportunity for the public to connect with the deeper history of what inspired the memorial and invites the park visitor to remember the men and the broader RISE story of the community coming together to build something positive out of tragedy.

Peace

The open, soft-lightning, and low-profile seating areas allow for a quieter setting to rest and pause.
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The open, soft-lightning, and low-profile seating areas allow for a quieter setting to rest and pause. The selection of flowers around the five trees were specifically curated to offer an aesthetically pleasing and calming presence. There are many understated design elements of the gardens that promote harmony and spirituality. By aligning with the Golden Ratio (Fibonacci), the space invites balance, clarity, and harmony.

Space

The memorial space is the first of its kind in Kelowna.
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The memorial space is the first of its kind in Kelowna. Nowhere else in the city is there a place that is reserved for the memories of fallen workers and reflection on the importance of worker safety. Although we hope for history to never repeat itself, the site will be there to support the fast mobilization of community support if a workplace tragedy were to ever happen again.

Grieve

The entire journey of creating the memorial gardens has offered the families and community a healing pathway to process grief.
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The entire journey of creating the memorial gardens has offered the families and community a healing pathway to process grief. For newcomers to the space, the idea and legacy of what the memorial stands for ensure visitors know that they are not alone in the heartache and pain they may be harbouring in the moment. The RISE memorial project is evidence that, behind even our worst days, there is a promise of a better tomorrow.

Let Us Know

Does something in the park or at the garden need our attention? We appreciate you let us know so that we can attend to it.

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