The City of Vernon's Spirit Square, a new community gathering place on the grounds of City Hall, is to be built with the help of a $250,000 grant from the B.C. Spirit Squares program. "Vernon's Spirit Square will be an accessible, beautiful community space to celebrate important events in the city" says Okanagan-Vernon MLA Tom Christensen. "This square will honour our collective history with artwork celebrating local First Nations, orchard and ranching pioneers in a relaxing setting for all community members to enjoy." Vernon's Spirit Square project will include a revitalized area for relaxation, ceremonies and entertainment on the grounds of City Hall. Some of the features of the new Spirit Square will be a large performance area, removable seating, increased wheelchair accessibility, new landscaping, lighting enhancements and power upgrades for audio.
"We're excited about the development of this new meeting space and the transformation it will bring to the downtown area of our city," says Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert. "As we continue to attract national and international events, I know that Vernon will be proud to showcase the tremendous creativity and resourcefulness of its people within the new Spirit Square."
The $20 million B.C. Spirit Squares program is helping to create or improve outdoor public meeting/celebration spaces based on 50/50 cost sharing with local governments, to a maximum provincial contribution of $500,000. B.C. Spirit Squares is one of four programs announced by Premier Gordon Campbell at the 2006 Union of BC Municipalities convention, aimed at making B.C. communities greener and healthier places to live, with reduced greenhouse gases, improved air quality and increased energy conservation. The other programs are LocalMotion, Towns for Tomorrow, and the Green City Awards. For more information about B.C. Spirit Squares, and for links to these other programs, please visit http://www.spiritsquares.gov.bc.ca. To learn more about BC150 please visit http://www.bc150.ca and http://www.tomchristensenmla.bc.ca
- News Release Document - 22Kb PDF
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