Kelowna council is looking to the future after approving the city’s first-ever events strategy.
“Kelowna’s new event strategy is a community-based 10-year plan to support the development and growth of a flourishing event industry,” said Chris Babcock, event development supervisor.
Staff consulted the public and stakeholders in putting the strategy together, and found the feedback was positive.
91 per cent of respondees said they enjoy attending events. 95 per cent also agreed that events build a sense of community, and 88 per cent agreed that events improve quality of life.
The research also found nearly 70 per cent of respondents said a lack of awareness is a barrier to attending events, and only 30 per cent agreed there is a good variety of events in Kelowna. When asked what type of events people would like to attend, live music and family-oriented themes ranked the highest.
“Organizer feedback was similarly positive and complimentary of many aspects of event hosting in Kelowna,” added Babcock.
He also hinted at a one-day family-oriented event currently in the planning stages, that is set for later this summer. In commending the report, Councillor Luke Stack said he believes residents look forward to special events and do attend them regularly.
“I was actually quite pleased to see the family and children focus, and the community focus, and you whet my appetite for this event,” said Stack. So I’m gonna look forward to hearing what that is.”
More details about the one-day event will be revealed in the coming weeks.
“Now that the foundations of the event strategy are in place, the next steps are to foster a community-based action plan aligning with our vision of an eventful city,” said Babcock.
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