This area below the Tourism Kamloops building and just northeast of Aberdeen Mall is the proposed location for a new interpretive park to highlight local industry.

(MIKE MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - What is currently an ugly and undeveloped plot of land just below Hillside Court in Aberdeen could become the next public park in Kamloops if a group of community members makes their dream a reality.

The Rotary Club of Kamloops West has received support in principle from the city's parks and recreation committee to develop an interpretive park below the Tourism Kamloops building.

Hugh Borrett with Rotary says they want to take an area that is currently an eyesore and create an interpretive park where people could take a walking tour down to a flat area at the bottom of the property where exhibits highlighting the various industries that helped shape the Kamloops region could be set up.

"Such as mining, such as transportation, the lumber industry, the cattle industry, things of that nature," Borrett says. "We would approach them and try to capture their imagination as to what they could to to tell their story. Then they would pretty much have a free hand to do their portrayal."

The park would be similar to the Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park on the Adams River where visitors move through the park and signage tells the history of the area.

A price tag for the proposed park hasn't been nailed down yet and Borrett says it depend on which industries come on board as he hopes they would help with the cost.

"I think we're going to have to raise the money to accomplish this," he says. "Rotary doesn't have pots of money sitting around waiting to be used. We'll probably ask the different industries to provide resources to tell their story."

Barrett hopes to see the park approved by city council and developed some time in the next couple of years.

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