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New Visitor Centre offers many amenities

Tourism Golden launched its offical opening before the start of May long weekend
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The new Visitor Centre hosted its grand opening on Friday afternoon on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Although the building has been open to welcome visitors since August, the official opening ceremonies took place right before the influx of visitors are expected to arrive in town.

The centre features a large outdoor area for parking, washrooms, picnic tables, potable water, and even a cafe for hungry and thirsty travellers. Inside hosts an array of brochures and pamphlets, maps, and interactive digital displays, a little something for everyone.

At the kiosk, visitors can speak to Tourism Golden, who will greet visitors to the area and provide them with one-on-one conversations about what there is to do in the area.

On Friday afternoon, president of Tourism Golden Rav Soomal kicked off the opening ceremonies, followed by words from Town of Golden Mayor Ron Oszust, and notes from Destination B.C.

The Rotary Club of Golden was on site, firing up the barbecue and serving up hot burgers and hot dogs by donation. The Double Black Cafe swung open its doors and spent the day serving up hot and cold coffees. Krista and the Crybabies provided music after the speeches, and there was vibrant face painting on site for kids and families.

“We’re very excited to be officially launching the visitor information services here,” Soomal said. “It has obviously turned out to be a beautiful building, we’re in a great location, we’re very excited to be a part of this project.”

The Visitor Centre first opened its doors in August, and after only one minute of being open, had its first visitor. Since then, the numbers have continued to rise steadily. The centre officially opened just before the May long weekend, just in time for tourism season to begin.

Before its new location on the Trans-Canada Highway, the Visitor Centre was located at the roundabout on Upper Donald Road, which is coincidentally right beside the original location of the provincial visitor’s centre that originally serviced visitors to Golden. The location has moved around town, to the old train station, and it once stood in an old red caboose in Kumsheen Park. Now, the small but mighty location will catch as many visitors as possible heading east, west, or south through Golden.

“We sure had trouble keeping it in one place, under the same ownership, and under the same business model. Certainly, change is something the tourism world must expect, and it happens on a somewhat regular basis,” Oszust said. “Having a working and successful visitor’s centre has been a want of our community for a time, for a very good reason. Tourism is one of the anchor points in our community.”

The working partnerships are what brought this project to life, allowing the visitor centre to move from its previous location up on the hill, to the highway in nine months.

“To go from up there to down here and have the open sign swinging in the breeze is pretty amazing,” he added.

Before the Visitor Centre was constructed where it is today, the area was used long ago as a weigh scale for transport trucks, and was used primarily as parking for trucks in recent years.

“Together we have transformed an abandoned weigh scale site… into a very attractive and locally focused visitor centre for the greater Golden area,” Oszust said. “It is only through partnerships like these that we can see the evolution in service to meet the new needs of a visitor. It is only through partnerships like these that we can transform a dusty pullout into a beautiful attraction, and continue to make this community, our community, one of the best in the province to visit.”