By Kellah Lavoie

Great places in P.A.

Jan 23, 2011 | 10:35 AM

Two Prince Albert locations are in the running to be one of the “Great Places in Canada.”

It comes from a website put on by the Canadian Institute of Planners – they are trying to find what places local people think are great.

Gary Noble, development planner and member of the group who organized the project, said the website already has more than 400 nominees – among those are Little Red River Park and Kinsmen Park in Prince Albert.

He said all it takes is a couple of paragraphs and some photos of the location to make it a contender.

There are three categories to nominate in – public spaces, neighbourhoods and streets.

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Both local nominees are in the public spaces category – it is the one with the most competition.

In the description of Little Red River Park it says, “It's such a quaint little park with loads of activities for everyone and it's only a few minutes from the city of Prince Albert!”

The description of Kinsmen Park is more in depth, but still very upbeat.

“Kinsmen Park's physical features (amenities and landscaping), extensive history, and growing list of community events are what make Kinsmen Park a great place… this great sense of place and community atmosphere provides all residents of Prince Albert refuge from their busy lives… Kinsmen

Park makes you appreciate the beauty of the Prince Albert region and the character of its people.”

It is the first year for the competition. He said they got the idea from the American Planning Association who does something very similar. The difference is the Canadian version is expanded.

He said they wanted to make sure to put an emphasis on winter locations and everything from urban to rural. He said they hope to get Northern Canada involved.

It is still early in the competition.

Noble said during a one hour teleconference last week, they noticed the 22 more nominations.

While they are already surprised by the numbers they have gotten, nominations stay open until March 25.

In April a CIP jury will meet to review the nominations, and in May they will announce the three Great Places in Canada in each category.

Each winning location will get an article in Go magazine and a formal presentation.

There is opportunity to help. The website allows people to vote on their favourite places. Noble said the vote will be taken into consideration when they pick the winners.

He also said as an added bonus to those who nominate, there will be a draw for Via Rail vouchers.

If Prince Albert doesn’t take a top spot this year, it’s not the end.

Nobel said they plan to take it a yearly affair.

“We’re learning from what we’ve done this time and making refinements next time around.”

Click to see the nomination for Little Red River Park, Kinsmen Park or the website.

klavoie@panow.com