Kamloops City Councillors have approved the addition of a marquee welcome sign, though it will not be ready in time for the Memorial Cup in May.

“We want to do this right and not quickly,” Civic Operations Director, Jen Fretz, said at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

Tourism Kamloops and Communities in Bloom will pay a total of $60,000 towards the project with the City using $90,000 from gaming reserves to cover the rest of the costs as a $70,000 tourism grant application was unsuccessful.

Councillor Katie Neustaeter says the sign will help the city of Kamloops be more prominent in search engines and on social media.

“I think that this is tremendously important,” she said. “Kamloops has had a branding problem for a very long time and things like this are a step in the right direction to us creating an actual identity as we figure out who we are and who we want to be while we are the third fastest growing community.”

“So a small investment like this that creates pride and identity in our community is worth the investment.”

The sign was one of 10 supplemental budget items approved at Tuesday’s meeting. City staff say 88 people who took to the budget survey said “no” to this project, while another 11 said “not now.” The other 38 people who responded said “yes” to the project.

“As someone with a background in marketing, that is typically what you’ll see when you send out a survey. People saying its useless, why demonstrate it? And yet, that is how you get eyes on our community,” Neustaeter added.

“That is how you draw tourists. That is how you make sure we show up in search engines. That is how you make sure we rise to the top of the list, we show up on Instagram. And whether we hate those platforms or not, they matter and they create influence and they draw people in.”

Councillor Kelly Hall also spoke in favour of the sign.

“Councillor Neustaeter talked about branding and marketing opportunities that come from something like this and its a very small ask,” he said. “I think its important to tell not only our community but the rest of B.C. and Western Canada that we’re open for tourism business.”

City staff say the sign will be installed by this fall, at a still to be determined site, likely Riverside Park, though a number of “robust conversations” will take place over the next little while, including on location.

“I think the location of this sign, from my understanding from the people who are bringing this forward, isn’t as important,” Fretz added, responding to a question from Councillor Dale Bass, who noted Riverside Park is already home to the “unique” Locking-In Hope sign. “I think the fact of having something that says Kamloops on it that allows people to take selfies of themselves and posting it or sharing with friends and family is the most important part of the ask.”

Unlike the sign in places like Toronto, Fretz noted the Kamloops marquee sign won’t be lit up to begin with, though in February she said it is something that could be looked at in the future.

“There will be some external spotlight lighting but having the letters themselves lit from inside is not something that’s in the request at this time from a cost perspective,” Fretz said Tuesday.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson raised some concerns over unknown maintenance costs for the sign in the event it is vandalized, though ultimately, committee members voted in favour of the sign.

City Council still has has yet to approve the 2023 budget and tax rates with the mayor and councillors set to vote on the financial bylaws in April.