“It put us on the map,”: PG Mayor says CN Centre helped push the city forward

From Elton John to the Prince George Cougars, the CN Centre has seen no shortage of acts come through the northern capital.

Today (Monday), marks the 25th anniversary of the facility since it first opened to the public in 1995.

Mayor Lyn Hall told MyPGNow.com getting the arena built was vital in putting the city on equal footing with cities like Kamloops and Kelowna.

“When you take a look at other communities in the province who are about the same size as us they already had those amenities and it was important for us to have those amenities. Council and administration at the time knew it was a big decision but at the end of the day, it has certainly paid off.”

He added it was important to keep the momentum rolling after watching UNBC open up in 1990.

“It was really the next step. It was the next in Prince George becoming a big city, it was the next step for us to acquire a WHL team and was an addition to the university where we saw it come along and then we had CN Centre.”

“In some respects, it has put us on the map in various areas whether it’s on the hockey side or events perspective so people need to celebrate what that means to our community or I would like them to celebrate what it means to us over the last 25 years there are some huge success stories there.”

Hall can’t wait to see more memories created within the CN Centre once large gatherings are given the green light again following the pandemic.

“It’s gonna happen again, this isn’t the end of it, this will happen again. Once the pandemic ends you are going to see events come back to the CN Centre and is still a focal point within our community and that’s what’s key for me.”