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Red Deer’s Downtown Community Alliance starts discussing how to invigorate the city’s core

The group hopes to have a framework by mid 2024
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The Downtown Community Alliance has started discussions on how to enliven Red Deer’s core. In this photo, Ross Street Patio is all decked out for holiday patio parties. (Photo by LANA MICHELIN/Advocate staff).

The newly formed Downtown Neighbourhood Alliance has started discussions on how to enliven the city’s core.

The first visioning exercise, held on Dec. 13, sparked various ideas that could bring more vibrancy and community to downtown Red Deer. This included suggestions about having a distinct arts and culture district — including, possibly, a future performing arts centre.

Another idea was to look into the viability of creating an ice surface to draw people downtown.

Project manager, Bobby-Jo Stannard, the City of Red Deer representative on the alliance, said starting this group for people working and living downtown directly relates to the Downtown Activation Playbook, which supported having a downtown community association.

Only, unlike other neighbourhood associations in the city, the downtown essentially belongs to all Red Deerians and not just the ones living and working there, she added.

A working group was, therefore, started to explore how the alliance can get information out, and provide a voice for all the other citizens with an interest in improving the heart of the city.

At the first visioning session, participants were asked “what if…?” questions about downtown. These include: What if we had a distinct and united arts community in Downtown Red Deer? What if we could experience a sense of community where all people can gather and interact? What if we created a downtown that felt like home, not just a place to live? What if we could make a continually thriving downtown?

Rob Lewis executive-director of Youth HQ, said the idea was to work backwards from a desired outcome in order to determine what steps would be needed to get there.

Maybe this will entail “recapturing empty spaces and using them for food gardens,” Lewis added — or planning for a future downtown arts and culture centre. Or it could mean creating a skating rink with benches to bring people and families together, or some other kind of initiative.

The alliance’s working groups will meet monthly, while the while alliance will come together every two months to share these ideas.

As nobody expects this to be a quick process, no timeline was set for creating an action plan, but Stannard hopes to have a framework in place by next spring or summer.