The sun may not have been beaming down like the middle of July, but it was still a hot Saturday in Keremeos for the return of the annual Similkameen Sizzle. 

The hot pepper festival, one of a kind in Canada, brought hundreds down to Memorial Park on Sept. 21, to enjoy some live music, pick up some new salsas and hot sauces and just have a good time. 

This year saw double the number of vendors from 2023, and the Similkameen Country Development Association ended up with a waitlist. 

There were even twice as many submissions into the hot sauce competition. 

The crowds followed, packing the park all day, in part thanks to the aggressive push the organizers made to get the festival's name out beyond the Similkameen by blasting it on social media, newspapers, and the radio. 

"It's established in the valley, and we want to showcase what it has to offer," said Vanessa Schwoegler-Abbott, festival coordinator. "We want people to come back, to put it as a destination, not just Keremeos, the whole Similkameen."

One of the things that brought people to the festival, either to participate or to watch, was the hot pepper eating contest. 

More than a dozen participants from around the province chowed down on six rounds of hot peppers. It wasn't just about downing it one gulp either, they had to make sure to chew the peppers before swallowing. 

The Keremeos Community Garden even got in on the action, providing the jalapeno peppers to start off the Sear Factor. 

Shore Farms, M & R Hot Stuff and Stoke the Fire, all of whom had set up at the festival, provided the hotter peppers. 

And boy, did they get hotter. 

Going from a mere 4,000 to 8,500 Scoville units on the jalapeno, they cleared one million Scoville with a ghost pepper, and that wasn't even the hottest one they had to eat. 

Six competitors managed to hang on to the very end, where the organizers had to go back and get one extra round of peppers. 

The final round was also timed, as they chowed down on a blistering Yellow Maruga Scorpion pepper. 

Jonathan Ferrier from Okanagan Falls took the top spot, and he looked remarkably unruffled at the end, outside of some sweating and a touch of redness in his eyes. 

"I do eat hot food, but typically I shy away from the real hot and go more for flavour so things jalapenos and habaneros," said Ferrier. "I've known about this since I moved to the Okanagan but it's my first time being here, so I had no idea what to expect."

Ferrier said that he plans to come back, and next, he wants to bring some friends and his mom, who got him into eating hot food in the first place. 

Chaz Friesen from Kelowna and Nattekam Sedue from Oliver earned the second and third-place prizes respectively.