Renovations at Kal Tire Place have forced a popular annual event to move out of Vernon.

The Interior Logging Association鈥檚 60th annual conference and trade show has moved to Kamloops this year, after spending six years in Vernon.

鈥淎ctually, traditionally the Conference used to alternate between Vernon and Kamloops,鈥� said Nancy Hesketh, administrator of the May 3-5 event. 鈥淭he last time we were in Kamloops was 2011. The venue we had used there had sold and was unavailable. So we kept the show in Vernon from 2012 to 2017.鈥�

But problems arose as construction started on the in Vernon.

鈥� at Kal Tire Place, they had just started renovating; and quite frankly we had a lot of issues,鈥� said Hesketh. 鈥淗ence, we went looking last summer in Kamloops to find another venue to accommodate our 60th anniversary.鈥�

This year, the conference takes place at the Colombo Lodge (Italian Centre) while the free public displays are are at the Powwow Grounds from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. both May 4 and 5.

鈥淔rom a dealer and delegate point of view, everyone is ecstatic about the move back to Kamloops as this year鈥檚 conference is looking to be one of our biggest in years,鈥� said Hesketh.

And the potential of the event coming back to Vernon isn鈥檛 out of the question.

鈥淲e will revisit the option of returning to Vernon after the renovations at Kal Tire Place.鈥�