Nice to see that the Smoke Eaters have gathered themselves after a very serious slump. One hopes they will carry a little momentum on their road trip and bring back needed points. The way the interior division is means there is very little wiggle room in the battle for a very necessary playoff spot.
Meanwhile, out in the valley, the Nitehawks face a big test tonight in the only local game this weekend. Fernie, apparently back to its ways from last decade, when they were almost annually the Nitehawks biggest obstacle to ultimate playoff success, will provide an accurate picture for the staff in Beaver Valley concerning the Nitehawks chances of a championship run.
It is probably a perfect time for such a test, what with just six weeks remaining before rosters must be set in stone. Whatever the weather, I am going to make the effort to see for myself how competitive the Nitehawks are right now.
• Here is hoping the new council finally takes another look at the, “revitalization,” project downtown. There is ample evidence that what has been done so far has:
Worsened parking downtown; Made access to the Memorial Center more difficult, decreasing its desirability as a venue for many events.
And made driving out of town easier and into town harder for those of us who would like to support local businesses.
Hard to think citizens of a municipality which extends past the Trail airport consider the Memorial Center as away from the town center, but that is the takeaway, along with confirmation of the access issues, from dropping plans for an indoor market there. The center is what we have for public events, barring the theatrical ones housed at Charles Bailey, and taking that off the list severely decrease opportunities for gathering people into the downtown neighbourhood where they might be inclined to linger in support the dwindling, stuggling group of local stores and restaurants.
What’s done likely cannot be easily undone, but council should seriously reconsider adding any more such changes to the core area in light of an aging, less pedestrian-mobile, population. The town has waited too long for change for that change to be less instead of more positive for the people who operate businesses here, including sports teams.
Someday, too, I hope to be able to correlate the design features generated by the revitalization project with any of my 70 years of images of what Trail is and has been. So far, no such luck.