The Visitor's Center Conundrum
To plant a flag or to cut and run.
A very brief history of the PG Visitor’s Center
In doing some research for this week’s newsletter, it occurred to me that we could absolutely do a whole separate newsletter on the history of PG’s Visitor Info Center (VIC), and how it has bounced around various locations over the years.
A fun fact I encountered? I am pretty sure this is the longest stint in their shared existence that Mr. PG has not stood guard over the VIC.
Anyways. Where were we?
THIS week’s newsletter IS about modern times, so I just want to touch on the most recent location change in 2012 where it was moved from the intersection of Hwy 16/97.
Let’s go back to the Spring of 2012 - “Call Me Maybe” by Carlie Rae Jepsen was being seared into our minds and then-CEO of Tourism PG Aidan Kelly was explaining to City Council that the state of the Visitor’s Center, located at the intersection of Highway 16 and 97, was “an embarrassment.”
It would require a minimum of $27,000 to get it serviceable for the Tourism season and likely hundreds of thousands to replace it with something more modern, and attractive - a prospect the City was not able to explore due to Visitor traffic being down and overall City budget cuts (perhaps due to its insatiable appetite to sprawling that we talked about a couple weeks ago - who’s to say?!)
At the time, Tourism PG ran 2 locations - the aforementioned highway location (where the Treasure Cove is now) and the current 1st Ave. location in the train station (though far less developed than it is now). This move meant the full focus could go to the 1st Ave. location and a renewed vigour in digital content.
Another day, another survey
Alright - so fast forward to just a couple months ago, Tourism PG released a survey seeking feedback on the future location of the Visitor Information Center (VIC) which seemed to signal a likelihood that the VIC is no longer interested in their cohabitation with the train station along 1st Ave.
For the sake of not getting too self-referencing in this newsletter, the Millennium Park encampment I wrote about last week was about 100m from the front door of the VIC and while the encampment is now removed, the 1st Ave. corridor remains an area where a lot of shelters and supports are both active and proposed - very good things for supporting those in our community, but not necessarily the hub you want to draw in Visitor’s from all corners to experience.
Beyond all of that, I’ll just say what we’re all thinking - 1st Ave is just kind of blah. You all know I’m a pretty big fan of Prince George, and consider myself someone who tries to find beauty in all the different corners - I don’t know if there’s a lot of that beauty to find down this particular industrial artery, lined with railyards, and stark concrete boxes.
Downtown vs The Pine Center Mall
So I think it’s fair to say that the current location is not optimal and for the sake of not wasting any more of your time with my yammering, let’s assume the VIC is moving.
One of the other proposed location is in the rotunda of the Civic Center, near the PG Public Library and Two Rivers Art Gallery. It’s central to downtown, it’s surrounded by hundreds of hotel rooms and some of my favourite Prince George restaurants.
It’s also super convenient for conference-goers at the Civic Center to potential pop in and grab some trail guides, or just get a bit more information on how to best experience PG during their night or two.
The Pine Center, in contrast, is a good 7 minute drive and a (not very nice) 45 minute walk from downtown. It is surrounded by chain restaurants, and is, in my humble opinion, a very box-store experience of Prince George and sanitizes a lot of the charm I am always hoping visitors may experience. And listen, I like the mall, and I think its overall charm and experience has improved steadily over the years - I’m just not convinced that it’s THE bastion we want visitors to flock to.
So the decision is simple then, right? Not so fast.
A sympathetic take on the Pine Center Mall
Let’s be clear - I’m not exactly burying the lede here. I’m a fan of downtown, I want it to succeed, and I want it to be a vibrant place I can spend my evenings and weekends.
But I get why the Pine Center Mall is on the table and even outside all of the “safety concerns” that downtown poses, if you’re actually looking at getting in front of a core percentage of visitors to Prince George, the mall isn’t a bad decision.
My whole family is from Terrace. Growing up, when we came to Prince George, the first stop was Costco and the second stop was… you guessed it, the mall. It is certainly a visitor hub and I can imagine a world where a family visiting from Kitimat is doing their rounds at Claire’s and Lululemon, and pops in to the VIC to grab a trail guide and makes a decision to head out to the Ancient Forest rather than back to the hotel - having a much better, more interesting experience overall.
Parking? Good. Accessibility? Good. Central location to all corridors? Yeah.
I get it. I’m not even mad it’s on the table. I think it would be irresponsible if they weren’t considering all options.
The problem is that, if you’re a business owner downtown, and you’re watching this decision - this could be a much more of a telling symbol of times to come. If the VIC was to pull the plug on downtown Prince George, you would not be crazy to read that as emblematic of large institutions losing faith in our downtown core.
Why downtown is still the right choice
I think we’ve arrived, after way too much blathering, to my point. Downtown PG is not a lost cause - in fact, it’s a more vibrant place to visit than it has ever been. When I moved to PG in 2009 as a University student, it wasn’t even an option we considered (outside of pachos at Kelly O’s, of course).
Downtown Prince George feels like it’s on a tipping point right now. We’ve felt the catastrophic loss of The Makerie, there’s certainly a lot more “For Lease” signs than I’d like to see, and just anecdotally, I know other business owners are looking around at each other to see who is looking at the door to run. If the right sequence of events happens, there will be a cascade effect and it will be really painful for downtown.
On the flip side, one of Prince George’s most public beacons planting its flag in the ground of downtown and saying out loud, “this is the spot where visitors should come” would be a warm flame in an otherwise chilling ground. With that flag will, eventually, come a nice influx of visitors walking between hotels, conference goers experiencing local restaurants, and a more educated visitor to experience PG.
My final fun fact? If the VIC does choose downtown, it will be about 100m from one of its original locations which was in the now Brownridge insurance building. It really is a full circle!
Thanks for reading! As always, I appreciate the time and I’m coming to really enjoy the exercise of writing this thing. If you know someone who might be interested in a random man’s musings on PG, feel free to give this a share! It would mean a lot.
My main concern with moving the visitor centre downtown and specifically to the civic centre is that it’s not inviting to RVs (which seem like a not insignificant amount of Alaska highway traffic). You need easy parking and it needs to be easy to find. I don’t necessarily think visitors are seeking out a visitors centre. Off a major highway does probably make sense for it, though it does lack charm.