Owen Sound is opening a temporary visitor information centre in the downtown core this summer.
The new “pop-up” visitor centre will be located at 173 8th Street East, across from City Hall and the Owen Sound Farmers' Market. The centre will open on Thursday.
“I think it's great that we're trying it downtown,” says Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy. “With the Covid rules, we're hoping that this works. Then it could potentially be an example of how pop-up shops could work in the future.”
According to a statement from the city, it will be utilized as a resource for visitors, residents and tourism focused businesses as Grey Bruce — and other parts of Ontario — moves into Stage 3 of the province's re-opening plan.
The downtown visitor centre will offer similar services as the traditional location at the west inner harbour. Some of these services include bike rentals, souvenir sales and tourism support.
Entry at the temporary visitor information centre will be restricted to a maximum of four people at one time.
Owen Sound's Manager of Community Development and Marketing Brent Fisher says the decision to not re-open the normal visitor centre location this summer is tied to traffic concerns with the closure of the 10th Street Bridge, as 1st Avenue West is not currently accessible off of 10th Street.
Also, the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre — which shares the visitors' centre building with the city — has opted not to open this summer and is using the time to undertake program enhancements and minor capital projects.
Fisher says given these concerns, they felt it would be best to help local businesses by offering the service from a downtown location.
The visitor centre located at 1st Avenue West welcomes more than 6,000 people from May to October annually. In 2021, the city plans to return to the regular location.