With five days left to vote in a nationwide competition that preserves Canadian heritage sites, the Historic O'Keefe Ranch held an event to help rally the public around its 139-year-old mansion. 

The O'Keefe mansion is one of 12 finalists for the 2025 Next Great Save competition, which empowers communities to protect, adapt, renew and improve historic places with a $50,000 grand prize, $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third place. 

The competition began on March 31 and is based on public votes. So far, the O'Keefe mansion is in first place with a sizable lead; it has nearly 16,900 votes and as of Saturday afternoon is about 7,200 votes ahead of second place, the Tam Jung Temple in Victoria. 

The public can vote once a day at and voting closes on Thursday, April 17, with the winners and runners-up to be announced that same day. 

O'Keefe Ranch held a well-attended event on Saturday, April 12, encouraging people to don Canadian red, wave Canadian flags and show their support for the mansion, which was built starting in 1886. 

People gathered around the mansion and sung O Canada as a horse-drawn carriage came down from the church carrying a special guest, Kathleen O'Keefe, the granddaughter of the ranch's founder, Cornelius O'Keefe. Kathleen was born and raised at the mansion and lived there until 1977, when the ranch was sold to the Devonian Foundation. 

"I love to see those Canadian flags waving because this place is 100 per cent Canadian," Kathleen told the crowd. "As we stand here today and bring the groups together and look forward to hopefully another hundred years here at O'Keefe, this is really the story of my family, but it's also the story of Canadian families coming west."

Kathleen encouraged everyone to cast their votes for the mansion. 

Anne Collinson, the ranch's longest-serving volunteer, was given a round of applause as she stood next to Kathleen on the mansion's veranda. 

Local entertainer Rob Dinwoodie was the emcee of the event. He's been involved with the ranch for many years. 

"The mansion is a very key component of the ranch," Dinwoodie said. "If you've not walked through the mansion, it's actually an awesome piece of heritage right here. And so when we vote to save the mansion, we're actually voting to save a very key and foundational part of O'Keefe Ranch."

David Williams, MLA for Salmon Arm-Shuswap, was at the event to show his support for the mansion. He joined the O'Keefe Ranch board a few weeks ago. 

Williams called the ranch "totally unique" and a tourism driver for the area. 

"A place like this of historical significance needs community support. It needs people to come out and enjoy the place and learn a little bit about past history," Williams said. "We may not agree with past history but it should be preserved, because we learn a lot more from history than we do by burying it."