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:
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.
Unfortunately, the museum seems not to have fared as well in terms of available floor space. In fact, we found the new museum to be a bit of a disappointment. A great many of the objects and artefacts displayed in the old museum apparently will not be included in the new museum unless it adopts a rotating display scheme. 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.
A definite advantage of the setup in the new building is that the museum is now open year round, all facilities having the same open hours as they are fully integrated, with no barriers among the Museum, Library, Visitor Centre and Gift Shop. As well, a single staff is on hand to welcome visitors and library patrons, greatly reducing operating costs.
Take a virtual tour of Trail Riverfront Centre.