Centennial Park Festival Plaza

In 2015, City Council approved the Downtown Action Plan, which listed 10 “Big Moves” to guide future development of central Fort St. John. We are excited to be moving ahead with Big Move #3 in the action plan – the development of a public plaza. The old visitor centre site, on the corner of 96 Avenue and 100 Street, has been selected to develop this gathering space. 

This project will construct a flexible and adaptable structure where the community can go to enjoy arts and culture, public events, and community events while having surety around weather and amenities. 

Through a series of community engagement sessions, the vision for Festival Plaza was conceived. Over the past two years, the design of Festival Plaza has been refined to meet the needs of many different user groups and to align with available capital and grant funding sources. In Spring 2020, a public tender was released and in June 2020 a general contractor entered into a formal contract with the City of Fort St. John to complete the construction of Festival Plaza by the end of 2020. Learn more about the project.

This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. 

Funding Sources:

• $1.9 million - Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program grant
• $1.4 million - Peace River Agreement signing bonus
• $140,000 - Peace River Regional District Area C project contribution
• $50,000 - Northern Development Initiative Trust grant

Jennifer Decker, Manager of Economic Development