Downtown Dawson is the heart of town and a special place! Both visitors and residents love Dawson’s historic look and feel, boardwalks, both the buildings that have been carefully restored and the buildings that are derelict and sitting vacant.
In the summer its boardwalks and buildings bustle with visitors, stores are busy, there is boat traffic on the river, and kids on bikes zip past at all hours. The days are long, hot and dusty, and there is a festival, parade or party nearly every weekend. In the winter, the pace slows, snow crunches underfoot, and residents learn to recognize each other by their parkas. Movies, dances, plays, art shows, and dog sled races keep people entertained.
People recognize Downtown Dawson as the centre for business and tourism and enjoy the resulting hustle and bustle. At the same time, people like that the area can feel quiet, peaceful, and close to nature. Many residents value the locally owned and operated businesses and feel that reserving the heritage resources is vital to drawing tourists to the town.
Downtown Dawson is home to most of the community’s restaurants and stores, the newly developed riverfront park, the Yukon University Dawson Campus Tr’odëk Hätr’unohtän Zho, the Yukon School of Visual Art, the Dänojà Zho Cultural Center, Robert Service School, the Palace Grand Theatre, most community services and government offices, the recreation center, many of the community’s famous heritage buildings, and the visitor information centre.
On February 25, 2014, council adopted the
Downtown Revitalization Plan. The purpose of this plan is to strengthen the vitality of the core commercial district of Dawson City. The plan sets out realistic and implementable steps that will encourage and guide future development and infrastructure investments in the Downtown Core.