A group of stakeholders have set their sights on turning Cranbrook into the ultimate tourism destination and their collective vision, which includes input from the community, has finally been put to paper.
Cranbrook Tourism, Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce, City of Cranbrook and Ktunaxa First Nation, in partnership with contractor Cadence Strategies, have created the Cranbrook Tourism Master Plan. The 208-page document identifies several foundational areas that the community can build upon to boost the local tourism industry.
Suzanne Denbak, CEO of Cadence Strategies, presented the finalized plan to Cranbrook council on Feb. 6. Cranbrook is unique within the tourism market, she explained, because it has bountiful opportunities for outdoor recreation and sizeable urban facilities.
“Unlike many communities in British Columbia, you have built facilities with the capacity to host festivals, sporting events, concerts, sport tournaments and you have a heritage downtown with plans to revitalize it,” she told council. “You have space and room to grow visitation.”
Concepts listed in the plan include the addition of a welcome centre; enhancement of visitor signage at city entry points; support for more Ktunaxa cultural initiatives; the creation of a better-connected network of trails for hiking and biking; the transformation of Cranbrook’s downtown into an arts and culture hub with visually appealing storefronts; and strategic investment in facilities, parks and venues.
At the heart of these ideas lies the sentiment that Cranbrook can market itself as an all-ages all-abilities mountain town and promote activities that are inclusive and easily accessible to a wide demographic of people.
“Cranbrook is a softer adventure than some of the other communities in the Kootenays,” said executive director of Cranbrook Tourism Kristy Jahn-Smith. “More arts and culture are centered here … the trails are more family friendly and they’re not taking you straight up. It’s a gentler experience but it’s a quality experience all the same.”
Cranbrook business development officer Darren Brewer said that stakeholders are putting heads together to conceptualize tourist sites that are friendly to a wide variety of ages and mobility levels.
“How do we get someone with a disability, someone who is six years old and someone who is 90 years old to the same tourism asset?” he queried.
Formative steps for the plan were put into motion in 2021 by Cranbrook Tourism.
Local citizens and tourists were consulted during the plan’s development phase through 10 workshops and nearly 500 visitor and resident surveys.
Last summer, surveys were completed by tourists at the airport and sites like Jim Smith Lake and Fort Steele Heritage Town.
Additional resident surveys revealed wide support for a tourism master plan, providing it was executed in a thoughtful and conscientious way.
“There’s a lot of pride amongst residents about the place they live in,” said Jahn-Smith. “In some communities there can be an aversion to tourism, but I’d say here there’s an openness, there’s a recognition that it does impact the local economy. There’s interest in seeing it grow.”
As per community request, the master plan emphasizes the need for tourism industry growth to be undertaken “respectfully” and “sustainably,” particularly in regards to the environment and Indigenous culture.
READ MORE: https://www.cranbrooktownsman.com/news/city-launches-online-survey-to-aid-tourism-master-plan/
A cornerstone of the plan is the creation of an official welcome centre and plaza running along Van Horne St., from Prestige Rocky Mountain Resort to the King St intersection. According to Jahn-Smith, the space could include a café, a visitor centre, an electric vehicle charging station and a network of walking trails.
Trail improvements are also in the cards elsewhere in the community, with plans to enhance the Rotary Way Path in Cranbrook so hikers and cyclists can better access the North Star Rails to Trails route to Kimberley and the Chief Isadore Trail to Wardner. North star and chief isadore are straightforward and uncomplicated routes, said Jahn-Smith, but getting to them via rotary way can be a challenge.
“[Rotary way] starts and stops and breaks up and crosses roads. The signage is inconsistent,” she explained. “… You might get lost and it’s not as nice as it could be.”
The plan underlines a need for more tourist signage in both English and Ktunaxa. Jahn-Smith said this would make wayfinding within the community easier and draw more visitors into the downtown core.
“The history centre, if you were just traveling down the highway, you don’t have any indication that it’s coming until it’s right there and then you might have missed the turn,” she explained.
“[Once] you see the downtown archway, you’ve kind of already passed it. You’re traveling down the highway and it’s gone. Is that really leading people to our downtown? … Maybe the sign that’s there, which is pretty subdued, needs to be replaced by something more welcoming?”
A portion of this project —the creation of Ktunaxa greeting signs at the airport — has already been finished.
“They have a welcome as you arrive and then they have a goodbye as you leave,” explained Ktunaxa business development officer Janice Alpine.
“One of my Ktunaxa relatives, he landed and he had to take a picture of that. Our people are really happy that things like that are happening.”
Ktunaxa First Nation council members and Elders were consulted extensively on the plan and contributed their own ideas.
One such idea, involves the creation of a cultural centre with dedicated space for Ktunaxa storytellers and gatherings, a workspace for artists, and possibly an art gallery and a retail store to sell Ktunaxa products. The space would be placed next to the visitor’s centre.
Another project would oversee the creation of a covered walking path in Cranbrook, that would showcase Ktunaxa history, art and artifacts. It would be an immersive sensory experience with sound and scents.
Alpine said scents reminiscent of Ktunaxa lifestyle, like wood smoke and the aroma of buckskin, would transport viewers into their world.
Although the ideas within the tourism plan have been developed, the finer details need to be combed through. Jahn-Smith said stakeholders are currently looking for federal and provincial sources of funding. Cranbrook council will be holding a committee of the whole meeting in April to discuss implementation and budgetary planning.
Alpine says a long-term vision for the project involves using regional business networks to inspire similar cultural projects in other municipalities.
“If we create this model, it can take a life of its own, have a ripple effect and expand into the entire region,” she said.
The master plan will be made available to the public through choosecranbrook.ca.
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