
A Cache Creek councillor says the Historic Hat Creek Ranch just outside of town needs to stays open.
Wendy Coomber says the village has been assured by the province that the tourist site will not shut down, but says it’s unclear who will run the heritage site next season.
“Hat Creek is a destination for many people, and that means they also have to come through Cache Creek to get there,” she said. “And when they come through Cache Creek they use our gas stations and they eat at our restaurants, and they stop at the weekly Cache Creek market that’s held at our main intersections.”
Coomber says the ranch has been run by a local society for the past 16 years, but their request to keep running the site next year hasn’t gone as planned.
She says councillors had discussed the situation with Forest Minister Doug Donaldson.
“And that process was cancelled, so nobody’s quite sure what is happening with the future of Historic Hat Creek Ranch right now,” Coomber added. “But he did ensure that they were committed to keeping it open which we were happy to hear.”
Board members for the ranch say more than $200,000 worth of bookings for next year have been turned down while the province and local groups try to work out an agreement on who will manage the site. And that has an impact on the local economy.
“We’ve had a couple of really bad years, 2017, 2018, they were really quite terrible for the businesses of Cache Creek. And this year was really good,” said Coomber. “When there are no emergencies, Cache Creek does really well at doing what it does best, which is attracting tourists.”
The historic Hat Creek Ranch is more than 100 years old.
(Photo via Historic Hat Creek Society)