Town Centre arts hub set to open Saturday

Coquitlam’s newest community centre is set to open its doors this weekend.

The Town Centre Park Community Centre is set to offer free family activities, arts and crafts, as well as tours of the facility on Saturday and Sunday.

Located on the west side of Lafarge Lake by the Evergreen Cultural Centre, the 11,250 square foot centre includes a lounge, café, patio as well as multi-purpose spaces. With a capacity for around 250 people, the centre is earmarked for summer camps and recreation activities with a focus on arts, culture and nature, according to a release from the city.

While best known for ice cream and chimney cakes, Vancouver business Praguery is slated to sell sweet and savoury foods at a small concession that includes a liquor licensed area.

The centre should “relieve pressures on nearby civic facilities, in particular Pinetree Community Centre and Glen Pine Pavilion,” the city stated. “It will support programming in the popular Town Centre Park in a much more cost-effective way than building a whole new community centre elsewhere in the City Centre neighbourhood.”

In 2023, Coquitlam council unanimously supported an approximately $5-million revamp for what was seen as an under-utilized building that primarily functioned as a meeting spot for city staff.

Annual operating costs are projected to cost approximately $850,000.

Council was also enthusiastic when it came to changing the name of the Innovation Centre.

Built in 1996, the old Innovation Centre “never really did innovate,” noted Coun. Dennis Marsden at the time.