Chesher had a vision for the PTCC
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from “Penticton Now, Then and Way Back When,” published in 2007 by local historian Doug Cox. The book featured stories, interviews and photos highlighting local notables in the city’s history, including this piece penned by Harry Chesher, who was hired by former mayor Ivan Messmer as the general manager of the Peach Bowl in 1981. Chesher passed away July 6 at the age of 79.
Icame from Campbell River where I had been the manager of the Chamber of Commerce. The Peach Bowl in 1981 had one ballroom and four meeting rooms. When it had opened in 1965, it was Canada's first convention centre not attached to a hotel. The cost of the building when it was started in 1961-62 was $600,000. The federal government paid one third, the province one third, and the city one third.
For $200,000 the City of Penticton had a convention centre. The idea of the centre was to expand the tourist season. The city could now host conventions in the spring and fall. The idea worked and made Penticton a sevenmonth-season tourist town.
In 1981 I suggested we could make it a yearround operation, all we needed was an operating plan, a little money, and an aggressive salesman, and that was me!
I was questioned on going to Ottawa. There are almost a thousand associations headquartered in Ottawa, and those associations all have annual conventions, and the decision makers are based in Ottawa. City council bought into the idea and we were successful.
Unfortunately the city wanted instant results. I was told, "Go to Ottawa and bring back a convention." It doesn't work that way, conventions are sometimes booked four years in advance. After three years of making visits to Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver, where the decision makers are, it started to pay off. We started getting large provincial and national conventions and even an international convention.
We needed a little more space. I suggested doubling the size of the centre, and the roof almost blew off City Hall! In 1988 we opened a doubled-sized convention centre. This meant we were able to do larger conventions, but also have flexibility in our average-sized, 1,200-guest conventions.
The convention centre generates $30 million in convention money, which is spent in our town. The accommodation industry, plus the food and beverage, transportation, and retail industries get a good chunk of that $30 million. The taxpayer benefits because workers in the industries spend locally and pay taxes. There is a trickle-down effect.
Tourism is also a clean industry. If you build a factory one has to build schools and a support infrastructure. When people spend money in a hotel you don't have to build schools for them.
When I came in 1981 there were 2,200 rooms in Penticton according to the Chamber of Commerce. After the Church of God convention in September the season was over. I went to every hotel/motel and introduced myself and asked to look at their rooms. I would only sleep in about a thousand of them, and I'm not sure I would even let my ex-wife sleep in the other thousand!
I made a list of things wrong in the units, everything from chipped glasses to stained rugs, dirty pillow cases, rings around the toilet bowl, and drippy faucets. These things weren't just in one motel, 50 per cent of them had major problems!
I was asked to speak to the Motel Association. I told them they were in the greatest industry in the world. All they had to do was make people happy and they will come back, but tick them off and you will never see them again!
The greatest thing to ever happen to the accommodation industry in Penticton was the building of a first class hotel called the Delta Lakeside! That building raised the bar and made other hotels improve also. Some of the auto-court type of units got out of the business, which was the best thing that happened. Some of the marginal motels renovated, raised the rent, and made a better living. Everybody was happy.