EDITORIAL – Proof that the new arts theatre will be a great city amenity
(Image: LouisePitre.com)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
EDITH PIAF isn’t my favorite singer; indeed, I was never interested in her music. I have no Piaf recordings and I couldn’t name a single one of her songs.
But her music was brought to the Sagebrush Theatre this past weekend and it was remarkable. The concert featured Louise Pitre, an accomplished Canadian artist who has performed on Broadway in Paris, Montreal and Toronto in productions of Mama Mia!, Les Miserables and many others.
At the weekend concert, supported by the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, she focused on Piaf but added pieces from Little Shop of Horrors, Gypsy, An Affair to Remember and others.
She has a wonderful voice and personality, peppering introductions to each song with background to its origin and with personal anecdotes. It reminded me of what the Sagebrush, and theatres like it, are all about. They give us a chance to expand our horizons.
Recently, we enjoyed a Jeans ‘n’ Classics night featuring the music of The Who and Led Zeppelin. I was never a fan of either band; maybe I never wanted to put up with 10-20,000 screaming rock fans in a hockey arena. But, again with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra as accompaniment in the Sagebrush, the music of The Who and Led Zeppelin became not only bearable, but very enjoyable.
Read also: EDITORIAL – Mamma Mia! proves what a success a PAC could have been
The larger theatre in the new performing arts theatre will be almost double the size of the Sagebrush, a perfect size for the kind of entertainment most of us non-elite folks want to see. And it will do justice to the sound of the orchestra, theatre companies and other productions in a way the Sagebrush can’t.
The question of theatre size came up last week when Coun. Katie Neustaeter wrote a column about going to see a rock concert at Prospera Place in Kelowna. Her point was that Kamloops needs a new performing arts centre. It was pointed out that she chose a ridiculous comparison, since a 1,200-seat theatre is no place for a rock concert like the one she saw in Kelowna.
Hockey arenas are the venue of choice for currently popular rock bands because they hold many thousands of fans and make promoters buckets of money.
After the failure of the 2015 referendum on the performing arts centre, I wrote a lament suggesting that a theatre twice the size of the Sagebrush would experience full houses for exactly the kind of events and productions that play at the Sagebrush. And more residents would have opportunities to enjoy them.
So, while Neustaeter may have used a silly and irrelevant example in an effort to make her point, the fact remains Kamloops will be a better city with the new performing arts centre. And that, despite the fact the wrong process was used to finally approve it.
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The downtown “parking issue” that keeps getting raised is a recurring urban myth in Kamloops. I’ve lived here for 30 years and attended numerous large crowd events downtown over that time frame. This includes Music in the Park, Remembrance Day, Santa Claus Parade, Canada Day, Briar, concerts at the hockey rink and other big events funnelling people into the downtown core and I have never had a problem parking. I may have to walk several blocks to get to the event, but so be it. Not a problem. It would be ridiculous to ask for those large crowd events to be moved elsewhere for lack of parking.
What we do have is a parking problem for mobility challenged people who cannot walk more than a couple of blocks to attend an event. That is the issue that needs to be resolved.
This can be done with additional handicapped parking at or near the PAC, shuttle services, and I am sure there are other solutions for planners to deal with. I’m aware that the City has done parking “audits” during large crowd events downtown and there is parking inventory available.
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The PAC with two levels of underground parking kind of gives me the “willies” from a safety standpoint.
If we can extrapolate even a few years, will most of the vehicles being underneath a theatre full of people be electric vehicles with lithium batteries? Have you ever watched a fire that is consuming an electric vehicle with the cause being a battery pack in thermal runaway? Apparently, at least 10 times the volume of water is needed to cool the fire before there is any chance of extinguishing it.
I hope that KFR has a plan in place to address a fire involving a lithium battery pack located in one of the two levels of underground parking at the PAC. Toxic smoke could be the cause of death for a lot of people who are watching a performance. But, I suppose the chairmen of Build Kamloops already had that issue addressed a long time ago.
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And not only that, but the PAC will solve the doctor shortage, clean up the streets and end the trade war. Even the mere notion of the PAC has ended the Gaza conflict, something even Councillor Bepple, with her significant international influence, was unable to do. With this PAC built, there’s nothing Kamloops can’t accomplish.
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Let’s hope it will be full with great performances every day of the week. But there is no way I would go down to it if safe and convenient parking is not available.
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I appreciate the perspective on how a larger performing arts centre (PAC) could enrich our community’s cultural landscape, as highlighted by the experiences at the Sagebrush Theatre with performances like Louise Pitre’s and Jeans ‘n’ Classics. I agree that a venue with greater capacity and improved acoustics could enhance these events and make them accessible to more people. However, I remain concerned that the current discussion, including the column referenced, does not adequately address some critical practical considerations around the PAC’s proposed location.
For instance, parking is already a significant issue during events like hockey games, which compete for spaces with the existing theatre. A larger PAC in the same area could exacerbate this problem, especially as our population continues to grow. Have there been studies on how the new venue will accommodate this increased demand for parking, both now and in the future? Additionally, while the cultural benefits are clear, I’d like to see a more thorough cost-benefit analysis that weighs the PAC against other pressing infrastructure needs in our city—crime, roads, public transit, or affordable housing, for example. These are investments that could also serve the community’s long-term growth and accessibility.
I’m not opposed to the PAC itself—I see its potential value—but I worry that the chosen location and the planning process haven’t fully accounted for these broader implications. I’d welcome more detailed information on how these concerns are being addressed to ensure the PAC truly serves our community sustainably into the future.
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