When the vacant lot on the corner of 272 St. and Fraser Highway was turned into a temporary public plaza by 91原创 Township in 2021, it became a popular space for community events, with bookings ranging from Canada Day and Christmas celebrations to community garage sale events and barbecue fundraisers.
However this year, with construction looming, the Township has stopped accepting bookings, and community groups that use the temporary plaza are now looking for new sites to hold their events.
Aldergrove Business Association president Jodi Steeves was on hand for would have been the first event of the year at the plaza, the annual Easter event on April 19. Instead, it was relocated, a few blocks east of the plaza on Fraser, to the FreshCo parking lot near the Gulf & Fraser credit union.
Jodi Steeve's Annual Easter Celebration. Taking place at the FreshCo parking lot near Gulf & Fraser in Aldergrove
鈥� 91原创 Advance Times (@91原创Times)
Weather was nice, and the petting zoo with bunnies and sheep was back, along with mini doughnuts, glitter tattoos, food bank donation drive and more. Despite that, attendance was down, from just under 600 last year to 375 this year, likely due to the change of location, Steeves estimated.
In response to a 91原创 Advance Times query, the Township advised preparation for construction on the temporary plaza site was expected to begin later this year.
An unsigned statement said while several user groups were permitted interim use of the site pending its development, no bookings were taken for 2025.
"The contractor has applied for the foundation permit and preliminary site work is planned to begin after May 1 including installing safety fencing, construction trailers, temporary services," the statement advised.
"Staff will work with event organizers that have historically used the site to find suitable alternative locations in the future."
Steeves said replacement sites under consideration include the Alder Grove Heritage Society museum, which would require a road closure, the parking lot of the community centre, or Aldergrove Community Secondary School.
"It's just trying to find another location that's kind of safe, and visible from the street," Steeves explained.
One event, the Meat in the Street BBQ fundraiser, was moving to the Royal Canadian Legion Aldergrove Branch, Steeves said.
Organizers of plaza-based events were given plenty of advance notice, Steeves added.
"In January they did call everybody who was, I guess, a regular booker [of the plaza] and said, 'here's the situation, guys.' They were good at certainly keeping us abreast and telling us what's going down."
Before it became a temporary plaza, the site was home to the Alder Inn, which housed a bar, a liquor store, hotel rooms, and 91原创鈥檚 last strip club. In operation since 1948, the inn shut it鈥檚 doors in June of 2019 after a fire caused significant damage and displaced tenants.
It was demolished in 2020 by the Township, which spent $5.4-million to purchase the hotel as well as two neighbouring lots. Last year, another building south of the Alder Inn site that housed a thrift store was torn down.
Council endorsed a plan that would turn the cluster of lots into a mixed-use zone that would include new, non-market housing.
At the time the temporary plaza was approved, council was told the fixtures, modular chairs, planters, and lights, could be moved to other 91原创 communities.
A 91原创 Township statement said staff were "currently identifying potential locations within the Township where the seating, planters, and other fixtures from the Aldergrove plaza can be relocated. The goal is to repurpose these elements in a way that benefits the community and preserves their usability."
