The Village of Sun Peaks is making a move to be known for more than its world class skiing, biking, and hiking.

Work has been going on this summer to convert the hockey rink into a 3,700 seat concert venue.

Tourism Sun Peaks Executive Director, Naomi Kerchinsky, says they wanted to get more out of what was an underutilized facility.

“When I came on as Executive Director, we went around to the community and, you know, said, what’s good, what’s bad, what’s working, what’s not. And something that kept coming up is that we have this underutilized asset that’s sitting there in the summer season. So we’re we looked at, how can we be revamp this space? And the linchpin in this all was the hockey board,” she said. “So we needed to do a rink conversion. And so we got new hockey boards. The hockey boards will come out, and then we’re turning this venue into what we see as, you know, Western Canada’s greatest intimate venue for the spring, summer and fall months.”

“So they already had the stage built up up in there. When you take out the rinks, it just converts the whole space,” Kerchinsky added. “When you walk in there, you have this beautiful covered ceiling above you, but then you have open walls. So we do have curtains, so we can close the rink in for concerts, but we also can leave some open so you can look out to the mountain.”

“It’s going to be world class. You know, we’re pulling in production that will roll in with, like, curtains, drapery rigging, production. So it’s just going to convert that space where you won’t, like, you know, when you go to a concert at an arena, you don’t necessarily think, oh, this was the hockey rink, right? So us removing the boards just opens that space up immensely.”

A bigger country show will really showcase what the space has to offer on Sept. 20 when Sun Peaks will play host to Canadian country music superstars Brett Kissel and Jess Moskaluke.

Organizers say this exclusive event promises an unforgettable evening of award winning, live performances in the heart of the picturesque Sun Peaks Resort.

Tickets for the September 20 show are available here.

Kerchinsky adds that on Sept. 8, as part of the Create festival, Sun Peaks will be hosting more of a boutique concert.

“So we’re actually black boxing it and making a smaller venue inside of the venue for Jill Barber,” she said. “So the venue itself has potential to convert into different kind of spaces.”