For decades, a distinctive castle overlooking Highway 97 in Peachland has served as a reminder of one of the Okanagan’s most colourful characters.
Eddy Haymour died Wednesday at the age of 96, leaving behind a remarkable story of ambition, controversy and a dream that never quite came to fruition.
For many locals, his name is synonymous with both the castle and Rattlesnake Island.
“Rattlesnake island and a bit of trouble, a lot of trouble,” said Okanagan resident Don Scramstad.
It was the island that captured Haymour’s imagination and ultimately became the focus of a decades-long dispute with the provincial government.
A Lebanese immigrant, Haymour purchased Rattlesnake Island in 1971 with plans to transform the five-acre property into a Middle Eastern-themed amusement park.
His ambitious vision caught the attention of filmmaker Greg Crompton, who produced the 2019 documentary “Eddy’s Kingdom.”
“As a filmmaker, when we were you know kicking around ideas, this one just seemed like such a compelling story to tell,” Crompton said. “So I was quite motivated personally but also as a filmmaker, I want to tell interesting stories. This is a very interesting story.”
But Haymour’s pursuit of his dream took an extraordinary turn.
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His dispute with the province escalated dramatically in 1974, when he and his relatives took hostages at the Canadian embassy in Beirut.
For Crompton, it was Haymour’s unusual way of thinking that made him such a fascinating subject.
“He did all these like wild things but his rationale for it for me was maybe the most interesting part of him… was this character study of saying, “What? So, so you were wronged by the government but then you were going to get some grenades and chuck it into the legislature and and cause mayhem,” Crompton said. “Like it just, his thought process for me was maybe the most compelling.”
At the Peachland Museum, Haymour remains a prominent figure in the community’s history.
“He was zealously committed to his dream. That would be what I would say succinctly. It didn’t matter what obstacle was in his way; he pursued it to the end,” said Jeff Green, the museum’s assistant curator.
Although Haymour eventually won his legal battle with the province, his dream of developing the island never materialized.
He did, however, build his distinctive castle in Peachland, and beside it, a statue of himself pointing across the lake toward the island he had big dreams for.
“He was a visionary. He was impassioned about what he was doing,” said Tracy Janes, a customer service agent at the museum. “Just everything about the man was larger than life.”
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