Kimberley’s Cominco Gardens back in bloom

The City of Kimberley celebrated the grand re-opening of Cominco Gardens on July 15

Kimberley’s Cominco Gardens back in bloom Published 12:41 pm Thursday, July 16, 2026 Kimberley’s Cominco Gardens is finally back in bloom. The City of Kimberley celebrated the grand re-opening of the community’s beloved Cominco Gardens on July 15, with a concert and speeches from local dignitaries. The newly refurbished park, located at 290 Rossland Blvd., has been completely transformed with a new rose garden and a sprawling green lawn for residents and visitors to relax and enjoy some shade on a hot summer day.

The garden has become more accessible, with a new pathway connecting the nearby seniors home and the hospital; as well as new washrooms and special parking spaces. The ceremony opened with performances from musical trio Tim, Randy and Shinobu, and the Kimberley Pipe Band. Councillor Sandra Roberts and the City’s Senior Manager of Operations Nik Morissette gave speeches on the significance of the garden and the importance of preserving greenspace.

Japanese band Tsumugu Project was a special guest at the ceremony, travelling from overseas to perform at the event. The re-opening of the gardens coincided with the Matsuri Japanese Music Festival, and Tsumugu performed traditional Japanese classical music. Councillor Roberts was raised in Kimberley and she has fond memories of visiting the gardens as a child.

She recalled that former gardener Ted Duivenvoorden always kept the garden in pristine condition. “It was always a treat for my mother, after supper, to bring us over here to see these gardens,” she said in her speech. “[Ted], he had the most beautiful gardens.

The dahlias were about eight to 10 inches big. Every piece of the plot was beautiful,” she added. The Cominco Garden turns 100 years old next year.

At one time, the Teck/Cominco mine provided $400,000 per year to help maintain it. Roberts said the property was sold to the City when the mine closed, and the City did not have the money to continue maintaining the gardens when it was struggling with larger projects like fixing underground infrastructure. “A few volunteers and a lot of people with a lot of heart worked really hard to do what they could to keep the garden up, but it just couldn’t work.

As the garden depreciated, so did our tourism and attractions,” Roberts explained. After the pandemic, the provincial government launched a Destination Development Fund and the City was able to use this funding to get $1 million to restore the gardens. Horticulturalist Matt Smith said $5,000 worth of flowers were planted on the site and there’s still room to expand and add more foliage in the coming years.

The rose garden has a protective gate around it to keep the deer out. More than 100 people came out to celebrate the re-opening of the garden. Among them was Faith Matthews, a long-time volunteer gardener who oversaw development at the site in the 90s.

Matthews said the garden truly was a local treasure. There was a dedicated group of volunteers who worked around the clock to maintain the flowers. She was one of the hundreds of donors who bought flowers to put in the garden, a gesture she dedicated to her grandparents.

“They all came at 7 o’clock and by 5 o’clock the whole place was planted. We had over 100 beds. It was fabulous,” Matthews recalled.

Matthews oversaw the development of the garden’s first walkway, which the local fire crew and the Elks helped install. Noreen and Steve Shaw opened a tea house on the property, that tourists and local residents flocked to for birthdays and anniversaries. Matthews said she was disappointed when the garden fell into disrepair and is overjoyed to see it alive and blooming again.

“Now that the government has given them some money, it’s a really peaceful place. The world is in such trouble, to come up here and sit and take a breath, it’s really beneficial to all of us. I hope they can keep it up.”

“Gardening changes,” Matthews added. “We had an old fashioned garden. This is a bright energetic garden.

I’m glad they’ve done it.”