Council isn’t quite ready to comply with a request by Rimbey Historical Society to provide a letter of support endorsing the Smithson International Truck Museum as the town’s official community visitor information centre.
The museum currently serves as a visitor information centre, sharing the responsibility with the Beatty House in the summer.
At its June 9 meeting, Mayor Rick Pankiw noted the Beatty House and the truck museum are both used as visitor information centres during the summer.
“We need to meet with both sides before we make a decision,” he said.
Cheryl Jones, curator and park administrator for Rimbey Historical Society and Pas Ka Poo Historical Park addressed council about the issue in a letter.
She said members of the historical society attended Travel Alberta’s annual spring training and showcase conference in Edmonton earlier this year.
“This is a great opportunity to share with other visitor information centres across the province how great the town of Rimbey is and all we have to offer.”
At the conference, historical society members learned about the tourism highway signage program offered by Travel Alberta.
“This program encourages community visitor information centres to become accredited,” Jones said.
Benefits of becoming accredited include receiving new tourism trailblazer highway signs, being featured on official Alberta road map, in the Alberta travel planner, lodging and camping guides and being mentioned on the Travel Alberta website. All benefits are free.
The issue has been tabled until council’s July meeting.