The mayors of Castlegar and Embetsu, Japan will have a “casual” virtual meeting on March 23 to belatedly commemorate Castlegar’s 75th birthday as a municipality.
The two cities have been sister cities since 1989, but the pandemic has stopped student exchanges.
Castlegar mayor Kirk Duff calls it an “important relationship” that they want to keep going.
Although Duff was on council in the early days of the twinning, he says he was never on the committee that oversaw it or otherwise involved except when a group from Embetsu visited once.
Duff said Embetsu officials have inquired a couple of times about setting up a meeting with him after he won a byelection last year.
The mayor of Embetsu is Kōshi Sasakawa, who has held the position since 2012.
Communities in Bloom and the Embetsu exchange committee have proposed a Japanese garden for an area behind Castlegar city hall.
