VIDEO: Devastating winter cold snap takes a bite out of fruit stand offerings

If you hope to sink your teeth into a juicy local peach at your favourite fruit stand this year, you are in for a disappointment.

The devastating January cold snap wiped out the peach crop completely.

"We'll be sourcing from outside of Canada and bringing some fruit up from states this year," explained Jennay Oliver at Paynter's Market in West Kelowna.

Peaches have been brought in from the U.S.

It's a first for Paynters.

"Normally our store is 100 percent BC grown and BC Made, and this year is going to look a little bit different," said Oliver.

They polled their customers and 75% responded that they should bring in fruit from abroad.

"The next day we had peaches in from Georgia."

Cherries were also hard hit by the bitter cold, but 25% of a typical crop is expected to make it to market, and it's already on display at Paynters.

"They're tasting so good right now," said Oliver, "They're the first cherries of the season."

But finding them is not going to be as easy as it usually is.

"The grower that we have down in Osoyoos has a very good crop, so we have a great supply of cherries coming in over the next couple of weeks," Oliver said.

Apples, pears and plums are also doing fine this year, so there is still plenty to keep the shelves full.

"And we will still be doing u-pick on those apples and pears."

Oliver said there will be lots of work to do replanting damaged trees in the orchard, but there are still plenty of reasons to visit.

"We're moving forward we grow more than a hundred different crops and varieties here at Paynters and we are just leaning into those other crops," she said.

"We planted four times the amount of watermelon, twice the amount of canteloupe and we've got lots of things growing out the back and we'll have a huge harvest anyway."

Margaret and Edwin Paynter planted their first fruit on the land in 1919, and the fruit stand first opened in 1951.