The CEO of Tourism Kamloops says the summer recreational pilot project at Riverside Park that gets underway tomorrow will help with post-COVID recovery.

Bev DeSantis says to start there will be two businesses – Kamloops Water Sports and Sea Legs Water Bikes – where people can rent things like kayaks and canoes, along with three food vendors in the park.

“You know the magic happens when we bring tourists and community together and coming out of COVID, what a great way to bring community down to our parks, be outside, and enjoy a healthy lifestyle, and be able to come down here and enjoy our parks without a huge investment,” she said.

“That is thanks to supporting the small businesses and the tourism businesses that make our city such a great and wonderful place.”

In addition to the water sports, there will also be the option for people to rent games like spikeball, bocce ball, and even chess.

“Retweet, repost, get the good word out to everyone to come and support us here,” DeSantis added. “We need your help to ensure that both our visitors and our communities are enjoying their parks and that this pilot project is a success and that potentially this will be something that may become permanent in our park.”

Kamloops City Councillor Bill Sarai called the launch of the pilot project – being run out of the old concession building at Riverside Park – a “great event” for the City.

“Big gratitude of how fast and well you’ve pulled this off when it came before council maybe four weeks ago,” he said. “I’m like, ‘wow, they’re going to transform that area that quick!’ I don’t know if we really want to tear this building down now that I look at it.”

The old concession building is slated for demolition later this year as part of flood mitigation work at the park.

Sarai was one of seven councillors who voted in favour of this pilot project last month. He says he hopes it leads to more people using public spaces like Riverside Park more often.

“I’m a little bit nervous and excited at the same time just seeing people again outside with smiles on and enthusiasm and the sun is out,” he added. “I hope this is the road to recovery that we’ve all been waiting for, and that the small steps we’re taking to open up this park where one day in the next couple of weeks its full of people.”

DeSantis added she is proud of how quickly everything came together after council gave the green light.

“About four weeks ago, we stood up in front of council and provided a project that we really wanted to pilot here. And as always my team stepped up,” she said. “We turned this building around. We got vendors, we got food trucks. We worked so closely with so many people to make this happen.”

The Concession at Riverside Park will be open everyday from 12:00 p.m. to 8 p.m., until September 7.

Here at the soft launch for ‘The Concession’ – @TourismKamloops summer pilot project at Riverside Park.

It gets underway tomorrow through to Sept. 7. #Kamloops pic.twitter.com/ssAEfMtLCO

— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) June 24, 2021