Who We Are
“This is a dream,” says Kelly Belanger as he shows off The Old Courthouse Inn that he purchased. “I wake up every day and can’t believe this is my business and new home.”
Kelly had been living in Cold Lake, Alberta. Came to Powell River at the end of July 2012 for a visit. “I picked up The Georgia Straight and saw an ad in there that said The Old Courthouse Inn was for sale.”
Kelly has always loved antiques and heritage homes. “Ever since I was a little boy I always wanted to own a Tudor style house.” It has also been a dream of Kelly’s to own a B & B one day .
Kelly came for coffee at The Old Courthouse Inn and Lilia Cardoso Gould gave him a tour. The rest is history.
After finishing coffee with Lilia, Kelly went to see realtor Jason Zroback about purchasing the inn. He got his financing in place. “In less than one week my offer was accepted and everything was in order,“ Kelly says “It was mine.” He packed up his house in Cold Lake, put it on the market and took possession of The Old Courthouse Inn on September 1. Meanwhile Lilia and her family have embarked on a new adventure after purchasing a farm in the Paradise Valley. “This place is such an amazing local iconic building,” says Kelly. “Everyone used to come here to get their wedding licenses, drivers’ licenses, and sign legal papers. Lots of people have stories about spending the night in jail,” he laughs.
Despite the fact that The Old Courthouse Inn was once the provincial courthouse, there are some locals who’ve lived here a long time who have never set foot inside the place. So that everyone can see the historic building, Kelly will be offering tours for locals and tourists alike during Sundays in November.
Kelly lives in the Innkeepers suite, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, apartment. The Old Courthouse Inn has eight guest rooms and is furnished with antiques and collectables, but the beds are modern and super comfy. “I’ve had dozens repeat guests so far because of the beds!” says Kelly. And maybe because of the super hospitality guests can expect. Although tourists enjoy this heritage hotel, locals do too.
Local born and bred Powell Riverites, Tracey Price Carto and Kendra Thompson , are working at The Old Courthouse Inn as The Keepers of the Inn, helping out with all aspects of running the inn; recycling, composting, cleaning, etc. Already, Kelly has plans to use the huge upper parking lot behind the old Courthouse. He’d like to turn it into a garden and use the produce in the restaurant, with a gazebo for functions surrounded by trees, shrubs and flowers, inviting guests to relax and enjoy their stay in a place full of heritage — a reminder of a time when life’s pace was slower and less hectic.
We look forward to meeting you.
Kelly Belanger and his amazing staff
Our Green Ways
Sustainable practices are becoming more and more common. As a small hotel we do our best to do our part. We recycle, compost and constantly look for ways to conserve water and energy daily use.
Some of the ways that we conserve energy is by turning lights off, use energy saving bulbs, unplugging appliances when not in use, heating rooms individually.
To conserve water; we have low flow shower heads and toilets and for the older models of toilets, we use water filled bottles to displace water. This method saves us about 10 gallons of water each day for each toilet.
Planting some drought tolerant plants helps with using less water and all our used coffee packs and compost go straight into the garden soil.
There are soap/shampoo/conditioner dispensers in each the hotel showers which helps with less waste and less plastic.
We encourage guests to conserve water by using our Towel and Linen Reuse Program. We provide the guests with the option to reuse their towels and linens during their stay rather than having them changed daily. By taking advantage of these programs you help reduce the number of loads of laundry a hotel generates daily, which contributes to both water and energy savings.
Recycling: We have recycling bins in each room which is offered to our guests for their use and housekeeping staff separates the recyclables. Our waste hauling is lowered in cost drastically by recycling and composting.
We shop locally as much as we can and use eco friendly cleaning products by the help of “Ecossentials” www.ecossentials.ca in our community of Powell River. A great little eco-friendly store with a variety of bulk products.
Edie Rae's Cafe
We strive to be zero waste - ceramic creamers, glass sugar dispensers n salt n pepper shakers, syrup n jams in ceramic holders - no excess packaging. We have a composting freezer from the great people at letstalktrash.ca and we recycle whenever possible.