Tourism Kamloops is excited to welcome Mitchell Forgie as our new Destination Development Manager.
Fair warning: Mitchell will be the first to tell you he is the punchline of a lot of jokes among his friends and family. The reason? He loves Kamloops, and he does not hide it.
He grew up in Edmonton, spent time in the UK, landed at TRU, and fully expected to head back to Europe. Then he met Edna, got married, and built a life here instead. Twenty-something years later he is still here, still talking about how much this city has changed, and still convinced the best is ahead.
"When you compare the downtown or Tranquille of today to twenty years ago, it's no contest," he says. "There are so many good restaurants now that some of my favourites I only get to a couple of times a year and there's half a dozen great new ones I haven't even tried yet."
That is a pretty good problem to have. And for Mitchell, it points to something bigger: Kamloops has spent the last two decades quietly assembling the pieces. The trail networks at Pineview and the Bike Ranch are world-class. Downtown and Tranquille are full of great food and drink. Peterson Creek is one of the best urban parks in the province, with a waterfall fifteen minutes from the centre of downtown. The work now is connecting all of it.
"When someone takes a picture of Kamloops in 2050," he says, "I want them to think: small Portland, combined with cool Kelowna and Revelstoke, and European vibrancy with better weather."
Mitchell comes to Tourism Kamloops with a background that spans carpentry, project management, accounting, and running his own hospitality businesses, including Red Beard Café and the speakeasy underneath it, Nigel's Cocktails, open just twelve hours a week and somehow one of the most unique bar experiences in the BC Interior. He has done every job with his own income on the line, which shapes how he thinks: careful with pennies, serious about follow-through.
When he is not working, he is usually somewhere uncomfortable and off the map. Biking to camp to ski in Wells Grey, stringing together trails, slot canyons, or sitting at the bar at Brownstone on a regular Tuesday. His other standing recommendations: Maaza on Victoria Street for Indian food, and Barnacle Records just because Kamloops has kept it alive this long and that says something.
His message to local industry partners comes borrowed from his friend Sara, co-owner of the Noble Pig: "If we obsess over our piece of the pie instead of growing the pie, people will stop going out and stop coming here. We all need to be contributing to the improvement of the scene as a whole, not just our piece of it."
We are glad to have him on the team. Connect with Mitchell at