Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna in running for best public space award | iNFOnews.ca
Enjoying some outdoor time at the Stuart Park ice rink., Skating at Kelowna Stuart Park Ice Rink. Photographer: Adam Proskiw

Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna in running for best public space award

KELOWNA – Stuart Park in downtown Kelowna is well known to locals as a great place to visit and now the park is being featured on a wider stage as a finalist for a 'great public space' award.

With the addition of the former Kelowna Yacht Club site this summer, Stuart Park is now complete. It began to take shape in 1996 when the municipal council of the day purchased the old federal courthouse situated on the shore of Okanagan Lake.

A centrepiece of the downtown revitalization plan, Stuart Park has become a year-round activtiy centre with the opening of the winter ice rink in addition to events in the other three seasons.

The park is one of seven finalists from across Canada for the the Canadian Intistute of Planners award, including regional competition from Grizzly Plaza in Revelstoke and Pemberton’s Downtown Community Barn.

Jury selection of the grand prize winner will be announced Nov. 4 in conjunction with World Planning Day. The people’s choice award, based on the number of online votes each location received, will be announced the same day.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724

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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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