Downtown Prince George held its annual general meeting on May 10, which included the election of its 2017-18 board of directors.
There will be many familiar faces on this year’s board.
“We pretty much had all of our board members remain on board and then the executive team did the same,” says Colleen Van Mook, executive director of Downtown PG. “We always go to that process with each annual general meeting but it’s quite exciting for me, as executive director, to have that continuity there with the board.”
Board members serve 2 years terms. These are staggered so that some spots are up for election each AGM.
President Eoin Foley, who owns Nancy Os and Betulla Burning, is one of the members returning.
“Downtown is the economic and cultural center of the community so I’m really proud to see it growing and thriving, a new businesses opening up on a weekly or monthly basis. It’s been really exciting the last year or two, looking forward to next year.”
Other returning members of the board executive include vice president Kirk Gable, Treasurer Derek Dougherty and Secretary Janelle Smith.
“It’s great to see the commitment from the board,” says Van Mook. “I think it really means that they like the direction that we’re going and they’re wanting to remain a part of the association. To me it allows us to continue to build on what we did in the last year-and-a-half.”
Downtown PG’s Facade Improvement Grant program provided over $100,000 to support 17 downtown projects last year alone. These included painting, signage improvements and streetscape transformations.
Van Mook says the Downtown Summerfest and Winter Carnival were also popular events.
“We really enjoy trying to put on these events, to invite people to come downtown. We’re really enthused about all the new businesses – we’ve got several new restaurants that are really encouraging people to come down and enjoy the evening atmosphere of the downtown scene. We’re really looking forward to building on that and making more people aware of what’s downtown and how exciting and unique it can be to come downtown and shop and eat and explore.”
Twenty-one new businesses have opened in the downtown area in the past year.
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