Trail’s new Riverfront Centre continues to impress. It received a Facility Excellence Award at the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association ( BCRPA) Provincial Symposium in Whistler this month.
It’s had a big impact so far welcoming over 78,000 visitors in just over a year’s time.
“It certainly gets lots of usershi,” said the City’s Director of Parks and Rec Trisha Davison. “I just think to be able to celebrate the museum and archive service and the history of the community in conjunction with a learning centre through the library service, I think it’s just a tremendous asset.”
She accepted the award in Whistler on behalf of the City and feels it wasn’t what you’d typically see submitted to the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association.
“Most people would assume that that reflects things like general parks, or arenas, or pools,” she explained. “But to have a facility that’s specific to services like the Trail and District Public Library, the Museum and Archives and the Visitors Information Centre would be somewhat unique in that environment.”
She says often those services are connected to more traditions recreation buildings. In this case, the Riverfront Centre has been able to make big impact as a stand alone and Davison feels that likely helped it stand out in the nomination process.
Another of its benefits has been contributing to the downtown’s revitalization.
“The beautification that that facility has created along the Esplanade, all of the efforts that Communities in Bloom does to do the beautiful gardens along the Esplanade in front of the building itself. It has a little walkway bridge that will connect it to the park and the outdoors. There’s so many little nooks and crannies in the downtown core,” added Davison.
The facility was intentionally built to tell the history of the community in a modern yet reminiscent way and its aesthetic is reflective of the City’s industrial mining and smelting roots.
The Columbia River Skywalk pedestrian bridge in Trail won last year’s BCRPA 2018 Parks Excellence Award.