Kimberley Conference and Athlete Training Centre

With the new 24,000-square-foot Kimberley Conference and Athlete Training Centre, is scheduled to open this September. The City is hoping to attract companies looking for a first-class space for trade shows, conferences and other events, with the added mountain lifestyle features offered in the surrounding area.

“Kimberley has world-class recreation facilities right here,” said Heather Hornoi, economic development officer for the City of Kimberley. “Most conferences have pre-and-post activities, and we’re known for our golf courses…. We want to take that reputation and expand it to a first-class business destination.”

The Conference Centre itself will be the largest of its kind in the Kootenay Region. The centre will accommodate a 350-person banquet-style seated dinner or a 500-person theatre-style seated event with four break-out rooms and advanced audiovisual capabilities. This facility will enable organizations and businesses to host major conferences and seminars, where individuals can come together to learn, exchange ideas and share knowledge.

While the conference centre will be housed on the bottom floor, a training centre for nordic, alpine, curling and sledge hockey athletes will take up the main floor, in addition to an aquatic centre. “The facilities complement each other,” says Hornoi.

Athletes could train while at the same time holding awards ceremonies, for example, while companies could use the facilities for team-building exercises. “Put your work team on sledges (small sleds with blades used by Paralympic hockey athletes) and see what team can get from one side to the other with support from their group,” says Hornoi. “It’s about building that camaraderie.”

The completion of this venue, and the people that it is sure to attract will have a positive impact on local businesses and accommodators like Kimberley Accommodations who represent Timberstone and Sullivan Stone Luxury Condos.