In many homes, the basement is the spot that attracts young people of all ages who want to play games, kick back, hang out with friends or spend some quiet moments.
Now, the same holds true at the Banff Canmore Community Foundation (BCCF) office on Banff Avenue. On Thursday (Dec. 4), BCCF officially opened The Basement, an accessible youth hub boasting a wheelchair platform lift that allows anyone to use the facility.
Valley community members, kids and BCCF officials gathered to celebrate the $150,000 conversion of a dark, rather dank basement into a nearly 1,200 square foot bright, safe, fun space – with an official Stoney blessing by Charles Powderface.
Support for the project included BCCF, the Calgary Foundation ($50,000), Town of Banff, Parks Canada (donation of building and asbestos abatement), the Rick Hansen Foundation and the DC Anderson Family Foundation.
The Basement, along with being a new hub for youth, is also outgoing BCCF executive director Lorraine Widmer-Carson’s final passion project, as its creation occurred at the same time she retired from the position.
The new facility, said Bill Fisher is on Treaty 7 land, hence the Powderface blessing, “and we thank them so much for their participation and their long history of stewardship of this area.”
Bearspaw councillor Colin Simeon, whose traditional name is White Feather, was also on hand for the grand opening, saying The Basement is very important for youth. “It’s very important that we start at a young age, teaching them how to become young men and by the looks of it, it looks like its going to be a very fun place to hang out. I’m very proud that it’s going to be based on all the communities around Banff and Canmore, with some people from Morley too.”
The Foundation, said Fisher promised to do something with the basement, and created a committee “of fearless folks who created this idea” and worked with Widmer-Carson to figure out how to make this space come alive.”
Over the years, The Basement space has featured a dark room, shelves from a life as a former library, a shop where skis and bikes were tuned, and storage space.
Town of Banff’s Colin Harris said, “we had this idea for students, particularly in Grade 7, to have a space for them to go after school. Research shows that students at that age, if they’re involved in activities after school, have more confidence and grades go up. I think our vision is to have this space open in after school hours and in the past couple of weeks had 15 to 20 students here on a regular basis.
“In the new year, we hope to grow that and we’re thankful to the Foundation and Lorraine, who listened to the community and the vision some of us had. We also have some money from the Pauw Foundation, so in the new year we’re going to take kids rock climbing, swimming, to the skate park and we’ll bring Alberta Health Services in to do sessions with them, and special guests.”
Fisher pointed out that The Basement is not just for youth, but for the entire Bow Valley.
“This was really Lorraine’s vision and she pushed and prodded us as a board to make this happen and without her leadership we wouldn’t have this space and wouldn’t have moved from a dream.”
For her part, Widmer-Carson said The Basement is in keeping with the Foundation’s mandate “of building a culture of smart and caring. We can be smarter, we can be kinder, and we can be more caring.
“In 2015, this was my office and it was dark and dingey, and we were working on the main floor office. So a huge thanks to Parks Canada for this space. Parks agreed with us that this building could use a facelift and we were so lucky to mount a campaign to build offices on the main floor.”
Widmer-Carson pointed out that in order to help all, The Basement is a drug- and alcohol-free space. “This is not a space about booze or drugs, it’s about honesty and face to face at a real level.
“I’m so excited there’s going to be trips planned out of here, and games and fun and camaraderie in this space. In this town and in this valley, space is such a valuable commodity and we just don’t have enough.
“You’ll have the potential to meet someone who’s in a wheelchair; you’ll have the potential to meet a young person on a journey and passing through for a short time, but a meaningful time. You’ll meet athletes, you’ll meet artists, you’ll meet people that are marginal, but maybe you can help them a little to come into the mainstream and feel better.
“As we build a smarter, caring community, we can do better. And this is a place where we can imagine that.”
Contractor Steve Ashton said The Basement was a labour of love for he and his wife, who followed Widmer-Carson’s vision. “I just did the dirty work. I’m proud that we were able to use local contractors and we rallied the troops together and we were able achieve this under budget. I think that was a big win.”
“These renovations are not easy to achieve because there’s a lot of things that come up that are challenging like replacing all the sewer. But we got through it, and on time and I’m proud to be part of it.
“It was quite scary down here before and now it’s a space that meets code, it’s safe and it’s accessible and it’s here for generations to come.”
