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Cranbrook, BC (November 9, 2020) - The City of Cranbrook’s Director of Recreation and Culture Chris New, has resigned from his position effective November 27, 2020.

New started with the City of Cranbrook in August 2008, as the Events and Marketing Manager – a newly created position of the former Leisure Services department before moving up to director of the department in 2012.  Prior to that Chris spent 24 years with the College of the Rockies.

One of Chris’s biggest challenges when he started was trying to draw big ticket events into Western Financial Place, having to develop a relationship with the network of event and concert promoters and prove Cranbrook could be a viable market.

“Growing up in Cranbrook, as a kid it was pretty exciting to get a small show like Red Rider or Trooper in town,” says New. “To be part of the development of Cranbrook as a viable small market to promoters, and an event centre for the region, attracting shows such as Bob Dylan, ZZ Top, Tragically Hip, Alice Cooper, George Thorogood and so many others, is exciting to be a part of.”

One of Chris’s favourite projects to be involved with was the redevelopment of Idlewild Park.

“It was rewarding to be there from the start with the development of the master plan, through to the complete facelift that the park has undergone. It was a great process through external partnerships, community input, Council support, city teamwork and the final construction and implementation to deliver such a jewel to our community,” New says.

“Chris has worked very hard for this organization during his time here, overseeing a large staff with a variety of wide-reaching responsibilities and managing many prominent projects around the community,” says Mayor Lee Pratt. “And with the COVID-19 pandemic, it added significant challenges to how our facilities and operations run. Chris was instrumental to the City’s restart planning to allow us to safely reopen our spaces and facilities for our residents. I thank him greatly for that.”

Mayor Pratt, Council and the staff of the City of Cranbrook thank Chris for his important contributions to the City during his tenure and wish him the very best in all his future plans.

The City will begin the recruitment process for a new Recreation & Culture director in the coming weeks.