Extensive upgrades at the Nazko Community Hall are now complete.
The renovations totaled almost a quarter of a million dollars and the funding came from the First Peoples’ Cultural Council Heritage Infrastructure program.
Chief Leah Stump says the changes started in the spring.
“We got our fire place outside, an outdoor fire place with some benches. The floor got redone, we got a new heating system, we had the bathrooms being renovated and we got an industrial kitchen put in.”
Stump says they also have new lighting and increased power potential.
She says changes were also made outside the building.
“We also got the logs rechinked and sanded so it looks like a brand new log building. It is very beautiful, we got it stained a nice light brown color.”
Stump says the hall means a lot to the community.
“This revitalization of the hall is so important to the community of Nazko because we use it for everything, and it has been in our community for over 50 years. It was built by my dad and other community members that lived in Nazko at the time so it holds a lot of stories, it holds a lot of tales. We’re just so happy and proud to keep that going.”
The Nazko Community Hall, built back in 1972, will also be getting a new name.
“It has come to our attention from our elders that we need to honour our hall because it has been in our community for so long that we need to honour it with a traditional name. So we have a callout to all of our members to submit a name, hopefully in our Carrier language.”
Stump says they are planning a grand opening for October 10th.
“We’ll be inviting a lot of our partners and supporters in the project to come out and we can provide them with a tour and provide them with a meal, and just showcase the pride that we have for our community hall.”
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