Bemidji Parks & Rec. May Move To Tourist Information Center

Through a special work session, the City of Bemidji laid out its top priorities and challenges over the next three years. The conversation focused on everything from staffing to programming. But change could be in the future for one of the city’s park tenants as the City of Bemidji looks at the possibility of moving the Parks and Recreation Department to the Tourist Information Center and move the Chamber of Commerce.

The Tourist Information Center is the welcome center for anyone who visits Bemidji’s iconic statues. Currently the Chamber of Commerce leases the space from the City of Bemidji and manages the Tourist Information Center and its staff on the cities behalf. Chamber president Lori Paris retiring at the end of the year, which means even more change could be in store.

Some questions were raised about the possible move and how the daily children’s programing would work with Tourist Information Center.

One thing is certain, that the tourist information portion of the building will remain that same. Changes and renovations to the rest of the building could begin as early as this fall however the question of who will oversee the Tourist Information Center remains unclear.

With a time of transition for Bemidji’s Chamber of Commerce, only time will tell what other changes may be on the horizon.

No timeline has been put in place as to when a decision needs to be made about the possible relocation of the chamber.

The Bemidji Chamber of Commerce has been actively recruiting for its next chamber president.