A friend of mine in Nelson recently asked me what Castlegar has going for it. He’d heard that Castlegar was growing quite a bit and was the centre of quite a bit of economic activity.
“What things stand out in your city?” he asked.
I mentioned we had a thriving pulp mill, a couple of decent lumber mills, the main campus of Selkirk College, the key office for Columbia Basin Trust, a regional airport, the West Kootenay fire centre, and a newly constructed Fortis centralized headquarters.
As well, we have the renowned Doukhobor Discovery Centre, a yearly sculpturewalk program acclaimed across the country, and a summer art-walk activity featured in many of our businesses.
A couple of days later, I was looking out on the Castlegar pools at the Millennium site and keeping track of my grandchildren in the central pool. I was wiping the sweat from my brow when a couple I’d known from my Rotary days came out of the water and stopped to chat. Among other things, they were quite grateful to have a place in Castlegar to swim a bit and to cool off.
“As far as we’re concerned, the pools are the best things the City of Castlegar has ever developed,” they exclaimed.
I couldn’t disagree with them, although I knew from my days on Council that the original idea had been “a lazy river” rather than a set of pools. Watching the heavy use of the area on that hot day, I noticed that the two large pools and the immense beaches of sand surrounding them were the focus. Kids splashed water and dug in the sand, adults helped their children to get wet and to float, and a number of teens tossed plastic balls around.
Umbrellas, makeshift tents, and screening devices dotted the banks of the area higher up. Those who could caught the shade beneath the scattered trees at the top of the bank where benches were strategically placed. And everyone was enjoying themselves, including the walkers who strode by on their way to get exercise and enjoy the trail itself.
The only negative was the lack of use of the first pool to the north, a small pool meant for tiny tots. Nobody was paddling around there or even wading. When I looked closely, I noticed a few geese floating about, looking as if they owned that splash of water. I asked my grandkids why they didn’t swim in that pool, and they told me the water was too cold.
The three pools have been set up with drainage or spillways from pool to pool. By the time the water trickles into the second pool, it has warmed up quite a lot. It warms up a bit more as it enters the third pool. Any excess water finds its way through some rocks at the southeast end of the last pool and enters the nearby Columbia River. The concept of the water tumbling from one pool to the next and out into the river channel probably came from the original idea of a “lazy river” winding its way from higher up and eventually flowing into the main river. It’s a clever idea that has attracted attention from planners in other communities in B. C. The entire project is a first-class asset for Castlegar.
Other features of the Millennium Park include soccer fields, bicycle park, beach volleyball area, dog park, memorial benches, mechanical exercise spot, interpretive signage, flower beds, extensive parking, and a covered picnic spot with its commercial kitchen.
The entire area has grown into a facility worth visiting and showing off, a further feather in the cap for Castlegar.
