The building staged its grand opening on April 2, 2018 with Mayor Mike Martin officiating, a chilly day on which a couple of hundred locals came out to witness the event and partake of free hamburgers and refreshments. Later, a few months following the grand opening ceremony, a bronze plaque commemorating the Grand Opening was mounted to one side of the building's main entrance:
CITY OF TRAIL
TRAIL RIVERFRONT CENTRE
OFFICIALLY OPENED ON APRIL 2, 2018
BY MAYOR MIKE MARTIN
THIS FACILITY IS DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF TRAIL
IN RECOGNITION OF THE CITY'S COMMITMENT
TO LEARNING AND CULTURE FOR OUR COMMUNITY.
MAYOR MIKE MARTIN
AND CITY COUNCILLORS
|
ROBERT CACCHIONI | KEVIN JOLLY |
| CAROL DOBIE | LISA PASIN |
| ELEANOR GATTAFONI ROBINSON | SANDY SANTORI |
| CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER | DAVID PEREHUDOFF |
| CORPORATE ADMINISTRATOR | MICHELLE McISAAC |
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS | CHRIS McISAAC |
| DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION | TRISHA DAVISON |
| ARCHITECT | STANTEC ARCHITECTURE LTD. |
| PROJECT MANAGEMENT | WSP |
| CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | LEDCOR CONSTRUCTION
|
Mayor Mike Martin, a 40-year career employee of
Teck’s Trail operations, entered the mayoralty race in November of 2014 after retiring from Teck. Retiring as General Manager of Trail Operations, a position which doubtless provided much of the related experience required for running a city, Martin served for only one term, stepping down in 2018 to go into full retirement.
While serving only a single term as Trail's mayor, Martin was in place to see the completion of three major projects in the city, this building, the
Columbia River Skywalk, a really cool pedestrian suspension bridge, and the new
Trail Airport Terminal Building. In his leisure time he, with his wife, partakes of cross-country skiing and biking, both mountain and road, and is very much into boating.
A truly avant-garde design, the building looks as though the blueprints for the upper floor were rotated about 43° with no one noticing until construction was well underway, at which time the prevailing sympathy became, "Well, we can't afford to start over, so let's just go with what we've got."
The move to Riverfront Centre has provided the library with more floor space but forced patrons to walk (or ride) up a floor to access half of the library's offerings. The library and museum share both of the building's two storeys, with the visitor centre and the gift shop on the ground floor. The museum, while exhibiting fewer artefacts than the old museum, concentrates on Trail's history, with emphasis on wartime history and the city's sports history. Known as "
The City of Champions", Trail is not only the only city to produce two World Hockey Championship Teams, but has also produced a great many champions and near champions in many other disciplines.
Take a virtual tour of Trail Riverfront Centre.