Ponds, parks and a library: an afternoon in Clearbrook

Clearbrook, a neighborhood and commercial area in west Abbotsford, is not trying to be a tourist destination.

In previous installments of this tourist-in-your-town series—where I, a newcomer to the Fraser Valley, take readers along with me to explore different neighborhoods with your recommendations—I had no trouble knowing where to go. The place I’m visiting has always told me exactly where I’m supposed to get out of the car and start walking. The streets get tighter. Parking gets harder to find. The shopfronts, whether charmingly worn or brand new and brightly coloured, tug at my eyes and ask me inside.

Clearbrook doesn’t do that. It isn’t designed to make you stop and look and linger. Its commercial centre stretches along the busy South Fraser Way. But just because it doesn’t demand your attention doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve it.

I pulled off the freeway and into Abbotsford on a Monday morning. A storm, some of the first precipitation in weeks during a brutally dry summer, was promised for that afternoon. My first stop was Fishtrap Creek Park. I wanted to see it before it started to rain.

Fishtrap Creek Park is a few minutes off the freeway. Originally designed to store water during heavy storms, the pond is now part of a popular community greenspace. Paved trails loop around a marshy lagoon of still, dark water peppered with lily pads. Several picnic shelters look out over the wetland, and one structure rests on stilts rising up out of the water.

I cross a little wooden bridge and turn back to walk along the other side of the pond. Blackberry bushes heavy with ripening fruit and sharp thorns reach into the path. Willow trees sway above me. The loop I chose to walk is shorter, but more adventurous walkers and runners can connect from these trails onto the Discovery Trail, which leads to Clearbrook Park and, eventually, the Downes Bowl trail system.

As the rain starts to fall, I hustle back towards my car. I drive to Clearbrook Plaza for a highly recommended stop at Sipp Chai—but the shop, tucked behind the KFC location on the South Fraser Way is, heartbreakingly, closed.

Instead, I stop in for lunch at New Saigon, a little Vietnamese restaurant on the other side of the plaza, and order a bowl of pho with meatballs and medium beef. The special, springy meatballs in Vietnamese cuisine (or bò viên) are one of my favourite foods. (I loved this article about the history of their production in BC.) It’s delicious.

After lunch, I wind my way through the parking lot and across South Fraser Way on foot, toward the MCC Thrift Shop. It’s a big space, with better prices than the nearby Value Village and a full room of Christmas decor in the middle of summer.

Clearbrook’s layers of history are apparent in the shops and restaurants that line its biggest streets. Indian restaurants and sweet shops line the road. An Asian grocery store sits next to one. The area is also home to the MCC, a Mennonite Brethren Church, a bible school, and the Mennonite Heritage Museum.

The neighborhood has welcomed newcomers for generations—from Mennonites emigrating from Europe in the 1950s and 60s to Asian immigrants in the 1980s and beyond.

I drive up the street from the centre of Clearbrook to the library. I had planned to visit The Reach Gallery and Museum, which is free to enter, but neglected to check their hours on their website. It was closed when I arrived.

Instead, I venture into the nearby Clearbrook Library from the parking lot in front of The Reach. (The library’s other parking lot has been taken over by the police department during renovations and isn’t available to the public.)

The library itself has high ceilings and big, arching windows. It’s the busiest library in the Fraser Valley Regional Library system. (Insider members can see how each library stacks up in a coming edition of the newsletter.) There’s a reading nook that looks out onto a pond and fountain. After checking out Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (I can return it at the library branch near my house), I walk through the small, tidily wooded area surrounding the fountain and learn that it’s the International Friendship Garden. At its heart is a sculpture of a great golden tree, a monument to migrant farm workers who died in 2007 when the poorly maintained vehicle they were being transported in crashed.

Green glass leaves at the top of the monument blend into the canopy of leaves above and glitter in the sun. It’s a calming place to sit for a while, with a book or a friend or a cup of coffee from nearby, with parking lots and construction fencing out of sight behind the greenery.

With my little red car and a trip back to Langley waiting for me, I slip out of the park’s gate. Clearbrook was fun to visit, but I missed some interesting parts of the neighborhood—and, in doing so, learned an important lesson: look up the hours of museums and coffee shops before you leave, especially if you’re visiting on a weekday. But in my case, it just means I have a few good reasons to return.