Mark Laver has been the Castlegar and District Economic Development Manager for the past ten months. He spoke to Castlegar City Council recently with an update on how it’s been going.
He says one recent initiative centres on a certain hoppy beverage.
“Recently did a campaign to try and attract a micro brewery, so we sent out 50 postcards to microbreweries around BC and we’ve got a couple hits so far, so fingers crossed that we can pull that one off.”
He says they’ve also applied for funding to conduct a feasibility study on passenger train service from the East to West Kootenays, which would not only help locals get in and out during challenging winter conditions, but could bring in tourists as well.
Laver had good news about Castlegar’s business community. “A lot of empty spaces in terms of retail have been taken up by businesses starting out or moving from other locations, such as Rossland, and it’s creating a nice vibrant economy in all parts of the city.”
Laver says there’s barely a vacant commercial space for rent in the Uptown area. A few spaces are vacant downtown, however some new clothing stores have popped up recently.