The Barometer
The Toronto of Northwest BC
“Oh, isn’t that just like Terrace!” a co-worker from Smithers once said to me.
“What?” I asked.
“Well, you just referred to ‘THE Farmers Market,’ as if you’re the only town around here that has one.”
Point taken. I also call it THE Fall Fair, forcing Smithereens to specify theirs as the Bulkley Valley Fall Fair.
It’s like Toronto calling its “Ex” the Canadian National Exhibition, so Vancouver has to call its “Ex” the Pacific National Exhibition.
Torontonians admit to their self-importance by half-jokingly calling themselves the Centre of the Universe. In Terrace’s case, though, it’s true, because all roads lead to us.
It’s not our fault that we’re the chosen destination. From Rupert, you can only drive east (to Terrace); from Kitimat, only north (to Terrace), and it’s a faster drive here from New Aiyansh and Kincolith in the Nass Valley than to anywhere else, bringing those from “outlying areas” to our “metropolis.” And residents of Smithers often drive here, whether for big-box shopping, M & M Meats, or the downtown “Fashion District.”
And if you’ve come from QCI to the northwest mainland, you’re likely sick of salty water and coastal winds and want to enjoy a sunny calm day at the lake. Lakelse Lake was here when we got here—that is also not our fault.
Of course citizens of Stewart are free to go where they please—as soon as the road opens, that is. They can pop up north to Hyder if they wish: it is very, very close by. I guess they could even walk there. Who can blame them when they choose to motor south and west to Terrace, rather than drive to, say, the Hazeltons. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Hazeltons—New, Old, or South.
Hazeltonians have a few options: they may drive east to good old Smithers, north to Alaska (long trip), or west to Terrace, the Toronto of Northwest BC, for the same reasons Smithereens flock here in droves. There is plenty of room for all at The Mall on Lakelse, the Other Malls on Lakelse, or The Mini Mall on Lazelle.
The Mini Mall is becoming a pretty busy place, what with bikes and books and Caligones, cakes and flowers and financial services; cabbages and kings are likely soon to follow. These individual proprietors are not a part of some sort of conspiracy to gang up on every other downtown in the northwest. Really. They act alone, which is why they are known as Independent Retail.
Terrace has always been sunnier than the coast and milder than the interior, which makes us very attractive to people who like the Outdoors, as well as to people who prefer the Indoors.
We have some real estate developers from here and elsewhere who recognize this about our place, and are building condos and townhouses and apartments for Seniors and Boomers. Not that Boomers are getting old; it’s just that many of them no longer feel a compulsion to shovel snow and rake leaves, or hire someone to do that while they travel around in any direction they please from Terrace.
They can take their gigantic RVs north, or their cars to a ferry or a plane south. Heck, they can go from here to Europe if they like. It may be easier and faster to go to Fiji to the west than to the Bahamas in the east, if only because the latter involves a stop in the City of Toronto. And who wants to go there?
I am not taking any blame whatsoever for living in the TO of NWBC; I am merely taking credit for deciding to come here to live.
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