“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

“Closed indefinitely.”

That’s what the sign says greeting visitors to what was once one of the most popular tourist parks in all of Western Canada – maybe the whole damn country for that matter – and it was located on the very edge of downtown Cranbrook and boasted what may have been the largest outdoor swimming pool in Canada thanks to the generosity and initiative of the Cranbrook Gyro Club.

Those were the days.

In place of the former Cranbrook RV Tourist Park, what do we have today? A forbidding sign warning everyone in dark black letters that the park has been closed “indefinitely.” No explanation is given and no indication of when the site will become public again. What’s that supposed to mean?

To add insult to injury, the former campground has been fenced off on the south side blocking the view of Joseph Creek winding placidly through the grassy, green meadow and former camping site below.

What’s going on here? You’d think the city was trying to hide this formerly happy place. Sad to say, maybe it is.

First some history. According to local historian Jim Cameron, what was formerly known as the “Cranbrook Municipal Auto Camp” came into existence in July 1925 and was an immediate hit with 30 to 50 vehicles arriving every night and tourists coming from all over North America including movie star legend Joan Crawford, who arrived in 1950 with her dog “Poochie” and called it “truly an ideal spot.” Much of the popularity of the auto camp came from the generosity of the Cranbrook Gyro Club, which in 1930 donated $5,000 to the city to build an outdoor swimming pool next door to the tourist camp for city residents and campers alike. And best of all, the Gyro Club insisted admission to this wonderful community facility was to be free.

This amazing act of unsolicited generosity put Cranbrook and its hugely popular swimming pool and auto camp on the tourist map for 39 years until the pool was closed in 1969.

But the site remained popular with campers for a further 52 years until the city closed what became known as the Cranbrook RV Park in 2021 and erected the unsightly, view-blocking fence in what appeared to be an attempt to hide the park and make Cranbrook residents forget about its celebrated RV park forever. Not to mention the revenue it poured into city coffers for 96 years.

Then on July 11, 2022 city council announced it would spend $30,000 on a study to subdivide Baker Park into four separate parcels where the busy RV park once existed. This would “allow the city to potentially consider future land use and infrastructure options.” And what kind of “infrastructure options” did the city have in mind? The city said nothing about that. Maybe they thought it should be a question for “Jeopardy.”

Joking aside, surely this is a critical issue for city taxpayers as well as visiting tourists and dozens of former Cranbrook residents who used to park their motor homes in the former RV park for the entire summer just to return to their beloved hometown. But nobody is saying anything. Not the city and its dozens of bureaucrats. Not the local media or what we have left of it. And I’m not aware of any taxpayers speaking up either. Personally, I’ve thought about it often as I live in the area and used to enjoy watching the many tourists and their children play in the park as well as the local kids.

A few people have said to me they fear more Cranbrook parkland is going to be swallowed up for real estate, condos, apartments and the like. But they have no proof even though it has happened before. Meanwhile the brick edifice at #40 –10th Ave. South remains suspiciously silent about the whole thing.

Don’t you think it’s about time one of the city’s apparatchiks spoke up? Or maybe a Chamber of Commerce member, a developer or a concerned citizen? Cranbrook’s future as a livable city is on the line.

Photos by Gerry Warner

Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who believes the more people know about their town the better the town becomes.

Article Share