Anticipation Builds for All Native tourney launch this weekend

We will be seeing significantly more traffic and a fair bit of buzz around Prince Rupert this week as the athletes and their fans for the 64th Annual All Native Basketball Tournament begin to arrive in town.

With hotels filling up and restaurants and beverage establishments finding an enthusiastic clientele,  all of it makes for a much anticipated reunion that is a big boost for the city's Commercial sector coming out of January.

The Biggest one week celebration of the year, is one  that puts Prince Rupert in the sports and cultural spotlight gets underway with play on Saturday, an official opening hosted by the Gitxsan on Sunday night and a week Long elimination schedule that leads to Championship Saturday on the 17th.

Along with the Basketball action and gathering of the fans from near and far, the Auditorium is also host to an ANBT marketplace with vendors on site through the tournament to showcase their work for those taking in the games or just dropping by to see what all the excitement is about.

Another highlight of Tournament week ahead will the addition of four new members for the ANBT Hall of Fame

The City's Recreation Department celebrated the return on Friday with some notes for both visitor sand residents alike, highlighting some of the items of note related to the Civic Centre facility this coming week.

To make sure that the Civic Centre complex is ready to greet the thousands of visitors to the facility, the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre is hosting a training session for staff, closing the facility tomorrow from5-7 to go through their plans. 

As noted in the Recreation Department update from Friday, Bus Service to the Civic Centre will be impacted during Tournament week, BC Transit expands on those notes through their website.

The Civic Centre bus stop being temporarily relocated to in front of Mission Health on McBride, a location some may remember as the old Spero's market spot.

Also sharing in their enthusiasm for the days ahead is the Prince Rupert Port Authority which has offered an opportunity to win 4 sets of 2 tickets to the Opening Ceremonies  for Sunday nights showcase event.

The deadline to participate is before Noon today.

The All Native Basketball Tournament organizers have also been busy working on the last minute details for this week's event.

As we noted last week, the Tournament Brackets have been released, charting the path for the participants on the way to Championship Saturday.

Organizers have also had some notes for those participating in Vendor program this year, as well as a reminder for season ticket holders.

Updates through the week can be found from the ANBT Social Media stream.

Visitors and residents of the area can also call organizers at 250-627-8997 or stop in at the ANBT offices at 328 Third Avenue West should they have questions on the tournament ahead.

As the tournament moves through to the finale next Saturday you can find more notes on the event through our archive page here.

Real Estate Tracker: Week ending February 4, 2024

There is one new entry to the list of ten for this week, a west side property that moves into the middle of the pack for listings in Prince Rupert.

The shift brings an increase to the total value of our ten listings at the top end of the pricing this week.

The distribution of our property listings remains at five on each side of the the McBride Street divide. 

The real estate review below is purely a snapshot for information purposes and reflective of our weekly check on Sunday evening. 

Properties can ebb and flow from the listings through the week,  for further background on the properties recorded, see our links pages for access to the individual real estate listings, to consult them on a daily basis.

The Archive for our weekly review can be found here.  

Our list of the top ten priced homes for the week ending  February 4, 2024 can be explored below:

Real Estate Listings for the West Side of Prince Rupert
for the week ending February 4

Real Estate Listings for the East Side of Prince Rupert
for the week ending February 4

The lowest mark for the review of the week is at $659,000  while our top end is marked  at the price point of   $1,089,000

Total value of the listings for our ten this week is noted at $8,309,899

Below find our findings as of the Week ending February 4, 2024

103 Bill Road                                 $1,089,000 --    Remax

160 Van Arsdol Street                    $999,999 --       Remax

318 Alberta Place                           $910,000 --       Remax

1827 Graham Avenue                     $899,000 --       Remax  

1881 Graham Avenue                     $860,000 --       Remax

1800 Second Avenue West             $775,000 --        Realty Executives

1320 Overlook Street                      $729,000 --       Remax

176 Raven Crescent                         $719,000 --      Realty Executives

1063 Ambrose Avenue                    $699,000 --       Remax  

1812 Atlin Avenue                           $659,000 --       Remax 

                        

For more items related to Real Estate see our archive pages here.  

For background on Housing issues in the Prince Rupert area see our archive pages here.  

Blog Watching: Week ending February 4, 2024

The City's Vision plan calling for 24,000 residents in Prince Rupert by 2030 may be a tad ambitious of a population forecast.  

That as this week brought a report from the Provincial Agency Data BC which released its British Columbia community population projections  for 2046, with the city not likely to reach the 18,000 mark over the next 22 years.

Our notes on the report by far made for the most read story of the week, though there were strong results for the rest of our list of five as well.

The City's Business sector was of some note for readers, with the owner of a Prince Rupert clothing store announcing its upcoming closure.

Our look at the January meeting for the Board of Education also was a well received piece, as was our follow up look on concerns over the mothballed Westview School property.

The CityWest Fibre outage issues on Haida Gwaii took on a bit of a twist, with the organization that represents Area A Crab Fishermen offering up a challenge on CityWest's narrative of the fibre cut issues.

The last of the list of five was our look at the land clearing work taking place adjacent to the area near the Drax Pellet Terminal on the waterfront. 

The most read item of the week however is about the numbers, and the diversion of opinion on just how many people will be calling Prince Rupert home in the years to come..

BC Data Report on population growth notes of coming surge in residents for British Columbia by 2046,; but few of them apparently heading the way of Prince Rupert    -- The latest review of population  trends for British Columbia shows large growth for the province with 2.5 million new residents anticipated by 2046, though for Prince Rupert the BC Stats findings make for reduced numbers form the ambitious forecast of the 2030 Vision plan of a few years ago  (posted February 1, 2024) 

That article was followed by: 

Prince Rupert Clothing Store sets March 2nd for final day of operations  --  Prince Rupert's commercial sector will see yet another closure, with Heloise Tupas the owner of Aria Apparels announcing her plans to wind down operations of her Rupert Square store in March.    (posted January 31, 2024)

January School Board session hears of PRMS successes , concerns over trespassing at Westview School property -- The January gathering for the Board of Education explored a range of topics to the school year to date, with the bulk of the near one hour meeting notable by a presentation on events at PRMS, along with a discussion on the status of the Westview School. We followed up on the Westview notes with a story last week exploring some history for the property.   (posted January  30, 2024) 

Area A Crab Association challenges CityWest accusations on Hecate Strait fibre cable issues, notes of inaccurate and inflammatory  statements  --  A CityWest statement from late January did not sit well with the Area A Crab Association, that organization released their own statement takin on the CityWest accusation of unsanctioned fishing and traced some of the history between the two parties.  (posted January 29, 2024) 

   

Waterfront clearing activity related to preparation for remediation work -- Some land clearing on the waterfront on the city's west side generated some interest over the last few weeks, to find out what the work was about we contact the Prince Rupert Port Authority for some Cole's Notes on their project. (posted February 2 , 2024) 

You can find our weekly Blog watching feature posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, making for a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace. 

 

You can also review the full listings of the week just past, from our Blog Archive index page found on the right hand side of the page. 

For updates on new items posted daily to the blog, we direct you to our CharlesMHays Twitter feed, where we post notification of new stories as we post them. 

Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here 

 To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

Rampage Host Smithers in CIHL Regular Season Finale Saturday night at the Jim

The 2024 CIHL Regular Season comes to close this weekend and for the Prince Rupert Rampage Saturday night brings their final regular season home game from the schedule before they turn their attention to the Playoffs to come.

The Smithers Steelheads are the visitors for the wrap to the regular play, the Bulkley Valley team coming into town buoyed by their convincing victory over the Rhinos last weekend in Smithers.

While First Place is out of reach for both teams from the weekend, the results of their Saturday match up could still play a role in where they place in the standings and how that will impact on their playoffs ahead.

For the Rampage, a win could move them into second place in the CIHL West, though that will also depend on how the Hazelton Wolverines fare this weekend. 

Hazelton has two games on tap in Terrace and Kitimat, so they likely have the advantage in holding their place.

Those two games will also offer a chance for the Wolverines Tanner Wort to add to his impressive totals in the scoring race for 2023-24. 

Heading into this weekend Wort has 18 goals and 22 assists for 40 points, that puts him  12 points ahead of his next nearest rival for the scoring crown, his Wolverine team mate Ethan Browne.

Judd Repole from the Rampage is currently one point behind Browne, with 27 points, one ahed of the River Kings Carter Shannon. 

That dash to the finish line in scoring should give something for the Rhino fans in the Jim to cheer about should the Rampage find their offence  on Saturday evening.

As they do each home game Head Coach Roger Atchison has made the call to the PRMHA with prospect Opal Bjorndal to take to the ice with Rampage on Saturday night. 

The Under 9 Division player counts Captain Kory Movold as one of her favourite players.

Puck Drop Saturday night is at 7PM.

The long time Rampage Sponsor Prince Rupert Port Authority is ready for that puck drop with some fundraising plans for the night.

The 2023-24 CIHL Schedule closes with a Sunday afternoon match up between the Nechako Northstars and the Quesnel Kangaroos in Quesnel.

The CIHL playoff schedule will be released next week, providing our guid to the matchups for the February battles for a berth in the Coy Cup.

Follow the latest notes from the Prince Rupert Rampage from their Social media stream here.

More notes on the CIHL season can be explored through our archive page.

City of Prince Rupert opens application period for Business Facade funding program

Storefronts along the 600 Block of Third West in Prince Rupert

With a Declaration that "Prince Rupert is Open for Business", the 2024 intake program for funding applications for the City of Prince Rupert Business Façade improvement program opened on Thursday.

In their information release from February 1st, Paul Venditelli, the Director of Economic Development and Transportation noted of the opportunity that the program provides to support local business towards improvements to their property.

“One of the most consistent messages we hear from residents is that they want to see more community pride in the downtown. We don’t own the buildings, but this program is a way for us to support building and business owners in making the changes the community wants to see. We also have a number of other initiatives that we offer to businesses to help ease the up front costs of improvements. "

Towards the 2024 program the City of Prince Rupert will provide a percentage to a maximum of 50% reimbursement grant up to a maximum of $5,000 per building/project to improve the facades of existing buildings. 

To qualify the buildings must be located in the Downtown or Cow Bay Development Permit Areas 

The program is a joint initiative for the City with partners at Northern Development Investment Trust, which is providing for the 20,000 dollars in funds that will be available.

“The Business Façade Improvement Program is an excellent way for local governments and local businesses to work together to not only enhance their downtown, but also build confidence and pride within the community,”  -- Joel McKay, CEO, Northern Development Initiative Trust.

More on the Business Façade funding and how to apply can be reviewed here.

Thursday's launch came with a slide show presentation of some of the other incentive programs for business owners in the community.

You can learn more about those in more detail here.

A look at the focus for the Economic Development Office can be explored through the PREDO Social Media Stream

Additional themes of note from City Hall can be reviewed here.

The City's façade program is not the only funding opportunity available, last month North Coast Regional District announced their own business program, it is funded through NDIT as well.

More notes on the City's Commercial sector can be reviewed here.

Romance the theme for Prince Rupert Library's Reading Challenge program for February

The line up at the Prince Rupert Library check out will likely be 'hot and heavy' this month, with the focus on Romance as part of the Library's 2023 Monthly Reading Challenge.

The project which has patrons submitting their best reads of the month began 2024 with January's challenge on Good Intentions.

With February 14th a day of some importance for romantics everywhere; the Library salutes of Romantic Adventures this month, with readers to share their entries with the Library by email.

Deliver your book loving valentine to Lou at lou@princerupertlibrary.ca

Follow the Prince Rupert Library's Social media stream for more notes on romance this month and other themes from the House of Books on Sixth Avenue West.

More community Notes can be reviewed here.

February brings back popular Dine Out Prince Rupert program

Prince Rupert and area residents and those visiting the North Coast are invited to take on some Epicurean Exploration later this month, that with the return of the Dine Out Prince Rupert program. 

A popular initiative that brought diners and restaurants together in past years, now makes for its 2024 return following a hiatus of a few years.

This month's program making for edition number four for the project to build awareness and customer traffic for those establishments that choose to participate.

This years program was first hinted at by way of Tourism Prince Rupert's preview of their year ahead, which provided for some early promotion for the initiative.

The dining experience for 2024 will take place from February 18th to March 3rd with restaurant goers encouraged to use the Dine Out Prince Rupert Passport for their travels.

You can follow the Dine Out Prince Rupert website here, check back to it often as they add to the list of restaurants participating in this years Dine Out Experience.

Follow the social media feed for updates through the program period.

More notes from the City's Commercial sector can be reviewed here.