The City of Prince George will consider a celebration for the CN Centre’s 30th Anniversary.
At tonight’s (Monday) meeting, Prince George City Council voted on a trio of motions brought forward by Councillor Kyle Sampson, supported by Councillor Brian Skakun.
“It’s one of our probably most prominent civic facilities in the community,” said Sampson, who appeared at the meeting via Zoom.
“Everybody’s got a memory tied to it at some point, whether it’s concerts, or hockey, or graduations, or expos or whatever else it may have been, it feels like everybody has been there at some point, millions of people have gone through the door.”
Sampson’s notice of motion also included a motion stating the event would be funded through the Council Contingency Fund.
The Council Contingency Fund was set at $50,000 for 2025, and hasn’t been used yet this year.
“We’re not proposing a million dollar event, it’s definitely something modest but meaningful, something that people can get involved with,” Sampson said.
“We didn’t want to prescribe an exact cost, because we’re hoping that staff will take this away and come back to Council to make a final funding decision.”
Director of Civic Facilities and Events Andy Beesley said the building is in excellent shape.
“At 30-years-old, there are some of the building structural issues that need to be addressed, as with any building of a similar age, primarily the building envelope,”
“We will be coming to Council in the near future with a fairly comprehensive envelope upgrade, similar to the Aquatic Centre, not similar cost, but similar to that project where the idea would be to take a very good building, and to make sure that in 25 years from now those people down the road are going to say ‘wow, that’s great that the building’s continued to be well maintained.”
A trio of events have already been announced surrounding the anniversary of the arena:
- Brent Butt, Thursday, September 25th
- Welcome Back Cadillac Ranch featuring Fresh Horses, Friday, September 26th
- Trooper, Saturday, September 27th
Beesley added the Cougars home opener would be happening around that time as well, and the team is on board with participating.
Council voted unanimously to have administration return a report by June 23rd to deliver the event.
They also voted to have Administration explore partnerships or potential funding opportunities in support of the celebration.
Other items discussed tonight included the annual operating agreement between the City and BC Transit, as well as the results of the Alternative Approval Process for three projects.
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