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Rutland Centennial Hall is soon to look spiffier than ever thanks to a Canada 150 Grant from the federal government.
MP Ron Cannan for Kelowna–Lake Country made the announcement at the hall on Tuesday afternoon, saying that the grant would cover $273,586 for renovations to the aging hall.
MP Ron Cannan announcing the funding to renovate Rutland Centennial Hall. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
The Canada 150 Grant will be a 50 per cent matching grant, so another $273,000 will come from the Rutland Park Society. Specifically, the money will go towards modernizing the kitchen and bar area, adding new audio visual equipment, renovating the stage area—partly for acoustics—and refinishing the hardwood floors.
Rutland Park Society President Todd Sanderson says that the overall goal is to improve the safety and long-term sustainability of the hall. “This place used to be home to weekend after weekend of weddings and different celebrations. With its age and its acoustics and everything else, it doesn’t really meet up with what people want today. These renovations will allow us to bring it up to a level that hopefully will allow us to sustain it.”
The current stage and hardwood at Rutland Centennial Hall will be renovated thanks to this new grant. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
In conjunction with the City investing in the neighbouring Rutland Centennial Park, Sanderson hopes the renovated hall will help the area become a focal point for Rutland and work as a catalyst for further development in the area.
“I know there’s a bit of a buzz,” said Sanderson, speaking to the community spirit with all the recent investment in Rutland. “There’s a bit of a buzz not only with residents, but also the development community as well as to, okay, what could happen in Rutland?” He compared it to when the Rotary Centre for the Arts was coming into the downtown for the cultural district, saying that then, no one really knew how it was going to impact the area.
President Todd Sanderson proudly standing in front of Rutland Centennial Hall. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)
The funding doesn’t stop there, however, as Cannan also announced two other big Canada 150 Grants for Kelowna. The Friends of the South Slopes Society is getting $20,000 to upgrade bridge structures in the Myra-Bellevue and Okanagan Mountain Provincial Parks. In addition, $30,000 is going towards the Okanagan Trail Riders Association for about 33 km of trails as well as five new campsites and a bridge in the key area of the Bear Creek OHV Recreation Site.
The Canada 150 Grants are in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017 and are meant to fund renovations, expansions, and rehabilitations to community and cultural infrastructure.
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