St. Andrews on the Square (Photo via City of Kamloops)

The City has begun its process to begin the eventual reopening of St. Andrews on the Square in downtown Kamloops sometime in 2025.

However, those hoping to book a wedding or community event at the popular downtown site may want to hang off for a bit.

St. Andrews Presbyterian at the corner of 2nd and Seymour has been sitting idle since a fire May 2nd, 2024 did significant damage to the Church.

“The building sustained significant fire damage on the southwest corner,” noted Kamloops Museum Supervisor Julia Cyr as part of a recent presentation to city councillors.  “The building’s interior sustained water damage throughout, including the main hallway and ceremony area, kitchen, office, storage room, and basement.”

While the damage was substantial, Kamloops Fire Rescue crews were able to knock down the fire quickly enough to save the wood-built, 137 year old from catastrophic structural damage, while also allowing for many o the artifacts, stained glass, pews, and period lighting to be saved as well.

Fire at St. Andrew’s Church in downtown Kamloops/via Jon Keen

After moving through the insurance process, Cyr says the City wants to involve those who had been the stewards of the historical landmark until nearly 3 years ago.

“The design for the building’s interior will honour the volunteer efforts of the Kamloops Heritage Society and volunteers who saved the church in 1995, leading to its restoration and operation until January 1, 2022,” noted Cyr in her report to council’s Livability and Sustainability Select Committee.    “The society made the difficult decision to relinquish the buildings operations and management to the City due to significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Restoration work is expected to get underway early in the new year.

However, the City remains hesitant to specify when the Church and the adjacent Gaglardi Square — known together as St. Andrew’s on the Square — might be fully open to the public, with Cyr telling the council committee they’ve set a window ranging anywhere from the spring to fall.

“You never know when you’re in construction, or anything that’s happening, that can possibly go sideways,” noted Cyr in a subsequent conversation with Radio NL.  “It’s just those expectations.  I don’t want folks in our community to expect, ‘hey, it’s opening in spring,’ and then be disappointed that it didn’t quite make it in time.”

She admits the City’s apprehension toward setting a more firm re-opening isn’t likely to sit well with couples hoping to secure a booking for their wedding.

“Spring is the goal.  That’s the aim,” conceded Cyr when asked specifically about the impact of bookings for St. Andrews.  “If it ends up being, summer or fall…you know, we’ll just take that in stride.  It’s a tough situation to be in, especially for those folks who had booked weddings. Our hearts go out to them.”

In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the City scrambled to try to accommodate those who had bookings at St. Andrews, eventually shifting some of the weddings a block west along Seymour to the Old Court House.

Cyr says while there’s hesitation right now on time frames, she does say they do intend to keep information flowing as much as possible.

“As we start to go through the process and the steps [into] 2025… We know how time is passing, and how close we’re getting,” noted Cyr.  “I think that’s the time where we’ll put out – and we’re doing that now too – the communication to the public.  We’re doing that through social media.”

St. Andrews on the Square is one of the most popular destinations in Kamloops for weddings, with Cyr noting that as the spring of 2025 approaches, there are couples who booked two years ago who are waiting for their time slot to become available.

The Church is the oldest building the City of Kamloops operates, but dates its history — much like Kamloops — to the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the area in 1885.

Local Presbyterians who stayed on in Kamloops eventually decided on the need for a Church.

But with bricks or cement virtually non-existent at the time, engineers decided to go with local wood, which was harvested from — what would later become — Riverside Park a couple of hundred metres away.

Construction of the Church began on September 25th, 1887.

The first services were held inside three months later on Christmas Day, December 25th, 1887.

After changing congregations and ownership over the years, the City of Kamloops eventually purchased St. Andrews Church in 1991 and began work to restore and preserve its history in 1997.