Baillie House to continue as visitor information centre in 2022

The City of Merritt has entered into an agreement with the Nicola Valley Heritage Society to continue providing visitor centre services at the Baillie House in 2022. The vote was unanimous.

The budget provided to the society is $52,133.20, the exact same figure as in 2020 and 2021.

In 2021, 21,822 visitors stopped by the visitor centre at the Baillie House, an almost 4,000 visitor jump from 2020, which was hampered by COVID-19 restrictions. Back in 2019, the visitor centre welcomed over 30,000 guests.

Despite the new one-year agreement, City Council has directed staff to explore options for the visitor information centre.

“We didn’t have the capacity to explore those options and bring back a report to council in 2021,” said Planning Manager Don McArthur.

Staff will investigate the options this year, while the Baillie House continues to offer the important service to travelers.