Kelowna's Sapphire Nightclub torn down hours before dancing restrictions lifted

One of Kelowna's oldest nightclubs was torn down Wednesday, hours before COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, allowing British Columbians back on the dance floor. 

The province lifted most COVID-19 restrictions Wednesday at 11:59 p.m., with restaurants, bars and nightclubs able to operate at full capacity and dancing once again allowed. 

The timing was bittersweet for Eddy Racano, owner of Kelowna's Sapphire Nightclub, who said he was at a loss for words as he watched the storied club on Leon Avenue come down earlier Wednesday.

"A lot of emotions," he said as excavators tore into the building. "It's been 22 years in this place and it's coming down right now." 

The building was demolished to make way for a large new development that will include three residential towers. 

Racano said time hasn't been on the side of nightclub operators since the start of the pandemic. 

The club closed in March 2020 and reopened in October of last year. After Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced public health restrictions in B.C. in December, including a shutdown of bars and nightclubs, Racano felt it was no longer financially viable to hold onto the club, so he closed it for good. 

He said he didn't expect health restrictions to be lifted again so soon.

"I honestly didn't see her doing what she did [Tuesday] and announcing dance floors could open," he said. "I didn't see it happening that quick. We only handed in the keys a couple of weeks ago and here we are."

Racano said he used to come to the club as a customer before working there as a busboy in 1999. His years there have been filled with fond memories of "entertaining people and shaking hands and seeing them happy, dancing," he said. 

Among his highlights at Sapphire was a visit from rapper Nelly.

"I just sat back and I couldn't believe it," he said. "He was in the club."

Racano still runs Gotham Nightclub across the street from the former site of Sapphire and he's hopeful that the lifting of restrictions means that club will stick around. 

While looking forward to the future, he also wishes that the dance floor at Sapphire could've been filled one final time. 

"It would have been nice to say good-bye to Sapphire here," he said. "It would've been nice to have a... going-away or a last hurrah, for sure."