The Valemount revitalization project is on schedule, and according to the Village of Valemount, should be finished by early September.

Chief Administrative Officer Doug Fleming said that they are well advanced on the water main replacement and should be starting the downtown revitalization soon.

Fleming acknowledged that the businesses on Fifth Ave. have had to put up with an inconvenience, but that they are responding well.

“We’re really looking forward to getting through this underground process. When we start putting in forms for sidewalks and lanterns and decorations it will really look (better),” he said.

According to Economic Development Officer Silvio Gislimberti they have almost replaced all the water lines on Fifth Ave. between Cedar and Gullwood St. and are just finishing the new water line on Cedar St. as well.

“They are doing a good job, we are still in our time frame,” said Gislimberti. “They are putting in all the pipes for the storm water, and that will be happening probably in the next two weeks. Then finally when that’s done we will have two weeks of road work, putting in the asphalt, paving and stuff.”

“And finally we get the nice part of the landscaping that means all the sidewalks, tree wells, places for trees, places for benches.”

The project was due to be finished in 12 weeks, by the end of August, but Gislimberti said they would likely be done in the first couple of weeks of September, which isn’t bad.

He said that the important thing is that the project will create a pedestrian-friendly downtown. “Up to this point it has had a pretty industrial type of feel to the town.”

Benches, bike racks, new sidewalks and decorations are all part of the plan that residents hope will bring in more tourists to the area.

“It’s a good thing, it does affect my business, but next year it will be better,” said Bert Brooks, owner of Shop Easy Foods on Fifth Ave. adding that the torn road from store front to store front has had a major impact on her business. “Absolutely, it’s huge.”

But not everyone is so optimistic that the town renovation will help out local business. 

Terry Denis, owner of Country Wide Sale & Service said he’s sure it will look good once it’s done, but there is no more economy in town and the industry has left. “I don’t see what was wrong with it to start with. As far as I’m concerned it was a waste of $2.2 million. But that’s just my opinion,” he said.

“I guess we’ll have a beautiful downtown if we’re a ghost town,” he added.

Denis said the town is hoping to be like Jasper and Banff, but they don’t have anything to attract people, business or industry. He said making the downtown nice won’t bring people in, and that the town needs to get out there and do some promoting and get someone to come here and spend money.

Denis, who has lived in Valemount since 1969, said the two biggest employers are CN and Best Western, and the latter still only employs 50 or 60 people. He suggested putting a federal penitentiary in town, which would employ 300-400 people, and says there would never be any problems and that they are always looking for locations to put them. He said he’s talked to lots of people who have lived near prisons (like in Kamloops) and there’s never any trouble.

“We’ve got to have something here to employ people and attract people. They are talking like we want to be a tourist town. Well like I said before, you’re not going to be a tourist town until you get something to draw the people here. The scenery, guess what, ain’t gonna do it all.”