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September is shaping up to be very busy for the West Coast Railway Heritage Park, and throughout the month we will host many special guests from all over the continent.
Things started off with a great event on Sept. 2, as we were visited by Federal Minister the Honourable James Moore. The Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages brought exciting news as he announced an investment of $2 million to the new CN Roundhouse and Conference Centre project.
The funds come from the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, and are the result of much hard work by our MP John Weston, with strong support from Squamish mayor and council to the application for these funds by the West Coast Railway Association.
The good news means that construction can resume immediately on the project, with a new completion horizon of late 2009 or early 2010.
Sept. 15 to 20 will be a busy time, as the West Coast Heritage Park hosts its first multi-day conference. The Association of Railway Museums (ARM) comes to Squamish for five days as 115 delegates from all over North America will come to the community and hold their annual meeting.
This is the first time that a five-day conference of this size has based itself in Squamish, and shows the increasing ability of the community, its hotel accommodations, and the Heritage Park to draw sizable groups and host them for a period of time.
During the event, you can expect to see shuttle buses moving the delegates around the community, extra visitors in the shops and restaurants, as well as several special rail moves.
Different trains will operate at the Heritage Park each day, and then the conference travels to Whistler with the Whistler Mountaineer on Friday and makes a day trip to Vancouver with the Royal Hudson train on Saturday, Sept. 19.
From all of this, Squamish can expect a positive economic impact of more than $100,000 during the five-day period of the conference.
The West Coast Railway Heritage Park remains open to everyone on its regular daily basis, with all exhibits and attractions in operation. September is usually a very beautiful month in our area, and it is a great time to visit the Heritage Park.
