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I wonder if the Ogopogo's lonesome Florence Fazan Permission to use this music has been granted by the copyright owner for educational and archival use only. Canadian Copyright Law must be respected by users of this site. Use of this material is restricted to those activities permitted by law. Users may not make sound recordings, multiple copies, distribute or sell this material without permission from the copyright holder. |
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New York has its Lake Champlain monster and Scotland has its Nessie" (Loch Ness monster). Lake Okanagan has its own monster called Ogopopo. The name Ogopogo is not an Indian name for the monster, but a palindrone and song that was popular in the 1920s. Natives have seen the friendly inland sea monster for many years, even before recorded sightings, the first being in 1872 by Mrs. John Allison. Natives refer to Ogopogo as N'HA-A-ITK which means "Lake Demon". They believe that the creature was actually a demon-possessed man who murdered a local man known as Old Kan-He-K (hence the name Okanagan) There are varying reports as to what Ogopogo looks like. The most common description puts the monster at between 15 and 50 feet. Its head is said to resemble that of a horse or a goat with a beard. It is dark green in color with an undulating serpent body.In 2001, the Rotary Club of Penticton, Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce and Okanagan University College co-organized a valley-wide promotion which involved the creature. They offered $2 million to anyone who finds Ogopogo alive and definitely verifies the creature's existence. Florence Fazan (nee Lynch) came to Canada with her parents in her early teens from England. She married Alan Fazan in 1929 and homesteaded in the Joe Rich Valley east of Kelowna. During WWII, she lived in Kelowna while Alan served as a prisoner of war guard in Alberta from 1939-1945. In Oct. 1947, Alan was killed by a hit and run driver leaving Florence alone to raise their seven children. Although times were tough and money was scarce, there was always music in the house. Some of the children learned to play instruments. Her love of the Okanagan Valley and its legendary Ogopogo prompted her to write two songs in 1955; I wonder if the Ogopogo's Lonesome and Dreamy Okanagan Moon. She managaed to scrape up enough money to pay Aragon Records and the Rhythm Pals to make the recordings and had Empire Music publish the sheet music. There were promises of Canada-wide promotions, but little if any promoting was done. Consequently, in 1956 she borrowed enough money to buy 500 records and sold them herself from a booth during the annual regatta festivities. She was able to repay the loan but not much else. She received royalties of $40.78. Florence went on to write poems and five more songs, none of which were published as she became ill. She died March 4th, 1976.
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