The Civic Centre is certainly designed for all the above mentioned functions, however in actual fact it is under utilized. When it was originally built the hype was it would hold conventions from all over the world, etc; etc; etc; however none of this happened.

It has the basketball courts that were poorly designed, and rarely used. I would guess that a large portion of the events are actually space in the offices rented to other City departments, and some downtown business to hold meetings.

There used to be more conventions in the old civic centre, and more dances etc; however these have all gone by the board. One reason is the high cost of renting and catering in this building.

We could probably get more use out of this building if the City advertised it more, who knows.

In any event it serves useful purpose.

I agree with ou Palopu. I have often wondered what percentage of this one, and other City owned properties, are under-utilized, compared to the costs to build them and run them. Does the City have this information available for us taxpayers?

Nostalgia: is tlhe skill of dusting off the past and shinning it up to seem better than it was. That seems to happen a lot on this site. The old Civic Centre was under utilized I would guess it did not have as much conferences than the current builing but It probaly did have more dances. Very few places anywhere have a lot of dancing like they used to ( or am I being nostalgic?)

Feel free to look at night. So many bulbs burnt out on the lighting over the road, and so many other lights burnt out. Our clocktower looks like the one from” Back to the Future”. This is what the people visiting our city see.

‘the hype was it would hold conventions from all over the world, etc; etc; etc; however none of this happened.’

You should come to the Bioenergy Conference this June … about 15 to 20 flags there on the podium, and so far growing every year.

Gus. They were talking about conventions for Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, etc; etc;.
In actual fact they have less conventions their now, than with the old one. Some have gone to the CN Centre, and some have just **gone**

You know how the hype goes when they want to build a new building. Just look at their expectations for attendance, and performances for the new Performing Arts Centre.

If they were talking about international conventions for those types of professionals they had people who did not know the first thing about conventions.

Those are conventions of thousands of people. They would not have the facilities here with what they built. You saw what it costs for the two convention facilities in Vancouver that could compete at that level. Then, of course the hotels would have to go with it.

Anyone who said anything close to that (and I doubt they were stupid enough to do that) and anyone who believed them were totally naïve.

Most of the conventions they have had here are BC based chapters of some larger organization.

Forest expo is about as large a “trade show/conference” this town has seen. That seems to have fizzled or stayed in Alberta. I believe that “expo” alternated between Alberta and BC (PG).

The Civic Centre, however, is linked in with other convention facilities in BC. I know that a few years ago that PG was the only one of the medium sized cities that was = Vancouver, Victoria, PG, and it may also have included Kelowna. Not sure. anymore.

The various Cultural Dinner & Dance Parties fell by the wayside, when these groups could not prepare their own ethnic food in the new Civic Centre.
German Oktoberfest, Italian and Portuguese Wine Festival, Greek Independence Day, all these festival were once well attended because of the great food prepared by their own volunteers. Not only did the public have the opportunity to try various foods, but they also learned about culture, music and great wine and spirits served at those events.
We had some great times, celebrating with friends, miss those parties.

PGLadybug has it right. There was a lot of use in the old centre, which would have continued in the new if it had not been for City Administation taking over the catering, and raising the cost of the facility.

Even to-day the City advertises this building as Northern BC premier meeting and conference venue.

**This ultra modern two story complex with 40,000 sq ft of flexible, usable space can easily host any event from a large scale convention to a small meeting**

Not going to go through the old archives to substantiate the hype around this building when is was first proposed, however if you want an indication of the hype just check out the Northern Sports Centre, the Wood Innovation Building, and of course the ever in your face Performing Arts Centre.

I remember going to Stampede Wrestling as a kid at the old Civic Centre. The thing I remember the most, other than how exciting the wrestling was for a kid, was that the place was a complete dump.

There are certain things that a city just plain needs in order to be considered a modern community. A facility like the Civic Centre is one of them and I think it’s a great thing for PG.

What is the alternative, to rent out the upstairs at Mr. Jakes? Speaking of which, did Mr. Jakes even re-open? I could go for some broaster chicken, LOL.

NMG….no, I don’t believe Jakes has re-opened. Or will.

Wasn’t the old civic centre an American world war 2 building moved from the exhibition grounds area to downtown ?

Honestly not sure about that middle finger.

Too bad about Jakes, used to love that place. I still remember my grandpa used to take us all there for steak dinner as a treat.

If anyone has their potato salad recipe, please sent it east!

The old Civic Centre served its purpose at the time. At least it was fully utilized, and as I recall had boxing, and other sports in the basement.

Conventions could do their own catering, etc;

Nothing wrong with the new Civic Centre, other than it seems to get little use, and costs in excess of $200,000.00 per year to keep it operating.

When they count events, their numbers include all the meetings held in this building by the City, such as the one to-day celebrating the 20th anniversary. So there is some creative accounting taking place, that leads one to believe that this facility is being used on a regular basis, however we all know that is not the case.

Wasn’t that Lowry’s seasoning salt sprinkled on the potato salad ? Maybe I put it on there. (old age).

I gotta find something on the history of the old civic centre. This is bugging me.

I think it may have been paprika on top, but there was something else in it that gave it a slightly sweet flavour, unlike any potato salad I’ve ever had before. IMHO, it’s the best I’ve ever had.

Someone from that family should hit up the Dragon’s Den and try to get a deal to distribute just the potato salad. That and Mark’s Mustard out of Quesnel. Yummy!