Tourism Kamloops is working on the final details as it prepares to reopen Riverside Park to commercial businesses.

City councillors settled on a two-year exemption to the Parks and Public Lands Bylaw to allow businesses like food trucks or equipment rental vendors to set up shop in the park during the summer months.

“We were just happy to have the support from the city initially, and obviously they went to council on sort of our behalf,” Tourism Kamloops’ Director of Destination Development and Trade Relations, Lisa Strachan, said.

“Getting a two years is always a little bit nicer for longevity and bringing partners in and having that opportunity to succeed because one year can be sometimes not enough, so yeah, we’re thrilled about that.”

Strachan says the hope is to build off a pilot in 2021, that saw limited success due to wildfire smoke and the pandemic.

Sean Smith, the city’s Business Operations and Events Supervisor, also told council that the 2021 pilot was “not a true reflection of its potential or the public’s reception” given the challenges it faced.

“We do have some partners who are interested in the opportunity to provide some on river activities like kayaks and canoes. We do hope that that happens and potentially with some other partners, maybe have some freezies or coffee,” Strachan added.

“I think what we really want to do is just activate the space. We want it to be something that locals can enjoy as well as visitors, so that Riverside Park is a place where everybody wants to go.”

It is not clear when the equipment rental vendors will begin operations. Strachan says Tourism Kamloops and the City will release more details about their plans, once it is finalized.

It is expected to be run out of the new washroom/lifeguard building as the former food concession building in the park has since been demolished.

“We are always open to conversations. I mean our goal is to just have more things for people to do while they are here,” Strachan said, noting the end goal would be to see if Tourism Kamloops can make Riverside Park a hub of activity through the year and not just the summer months.

“If there are other operations who are thinking, ‘hey this might be a good opportunity for me,’ I’m more than happy to have that conversation. We can’t obviously have everybody, we don’t have the space but if there is enough interest, maybe there is potential for growth.”