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- Thursday - June 19, 2025 - Hemlock Valley looks to resort association
Thursday - June 19, 2025 - Hemlock Valley looks to resort association
Grace Kennedy
June 19, 2025
☀ High 21C
Good morning!
If you’ve been with The Current since the beginning, you may have noticed my stories tend to have a bit of a theme. On April 28, 2021, I published my first story for The Current: a Q&A with UFV student Reagan Thompson about her research into death anxiety. Two days later, my second story went live: a look at the coronavirus-cousin affecting Chinook salmon. Fast forward four years, and I’ve published stories on UFV research into how kids think of ownership and the effects of avian influenza on the poultry industry. Clearly science journalism has been my secret goal all along.
I had to dive into my email archive to find those early stories, and FVC really has changed since those beginning months. Each day we had one main story, which fit entirely into the newsletter. We had two, maybe three Need to Know links, as well as one or two single-paragraph Agenda stories. (One such Agenda item was about Metro Vancouver hiring some goats to get rid of blackberries in Aldergrove Regional Park.) The earliest editions also had a quaint little Around Town space for events, and a section on the latest COVID numbers.
If you want to relive the simplicity of The Current’s early years, let me know. The newsletters are not available online, but I might be able to forward you a copy of one of our earliest editions.
– Grace
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News
The Fraser Valley’s Pride summer
The Fraser Valley will welcome four different Pride Festivals this summer, as well as a variety of smaller LGBTQ+ focused events. 📷 Jose Maria Sava/Unsplash
The Fraser Valley has not always been an inclusive place.
Long considered BC’s Bible Belt, Abbotsford only held its first pride parade in May of 2013—the same year a Langley teacher was suspended for a homophobic prank on a student. The Chilliwack School Board was long divided between socially conservative and socially progressive trustees, with former trustee Barry Neufeld’s anti-SOGI crusade sparking lawsuits, protests, and questions as to whether LGBTQ+ students were supported by their elected officials.
Those issues still exist in the Fraser Valley today. But there is also a growing and vibrant LGBTQ+ community in the valley. The Chilliwack, Langley, and Fraser Valley Pride societies hold festivals each year; businesses and schools have painted rainbow crosswalks to show their inclusivity. Ongoing events celebrate and support the queer community, and Chilliwack’s high schools are celebrating its LGBTQ+ students with a Pride Picnic each year.
“There has definitely been a huge shift in the past five years, just in the way that even the city itself portrays its acceptance of people of all diverse backgrounds and identities,” Teri Westerby, now a Chilliwack school board trustee, told The Current in 2021.
This summer, the Fraser Valley’s pride societies and allied organizations are hosting a number of queer-focused events. Although June is officially Pride Month, many of the Fraser Valley’s biggest festivals take place in July, with local activities stretching into August as well.
Related
Need to Know
🐔 BC’s poultry farmers will no longer need to keep their birds inside, but it’s unclear if the industry’s Poultry in Motion trailer will still be able to visit events this summer [Country Life in BC]
🐶 Langley animal control is investigating an attack that left a small dog with a punctured lung last week [Langley Advance Times]
🚔 Two Maple Ridge men were arrested after a theft at the Mission landfill earlier this month [Mission Record]
💰 Abbotsford’s Cat Daddy is looking to raise $15,000 to acquire a thrift store and cat adoption centre in the city [Abbotsford News]
🌳 The City of Chilliwack has decided it will not sell the land used by the unofficial Cumberland Park [Chilliwack Progress]
🚂 A pedestrian was killed by a train in Mission Tuesday [Mission Record] / The Fraser Valley has seen more than a hundred train-related deaths since the 1980s, an investigation by The Current showed [FVC]
⚰ An man serving a life sentence for killing an Ontario artist died of natural causes at Pacific Institution in Abbotsford Saturday [Abbotsford News]
🚤 Mission RCMP are looking for a boat stolen from a dock on the Fraser River last week [Mission Record]
🔎 Police are asking the public for more information about a man who went missing near Cultus Lake six years ago [Chilliwack Progress]
📸 CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Christine Dahl for being the first person to identify this week’s Current Cam as the Langley Speedway in Campbell Valley Regional Park.
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The Agenda
Sasquatch Mountain Resort is one of the groups looking to establish a resort association for the Hemlock Valley area. 📷 Sasquatch Mountain/Facebook
Hemlock Valley considering association for better resort promotion
Sasquatch Mountain Resort and Hemlock Valley residents are beginning the process of creating a new tourism-focused organization to manage the unincorporated area in the mountains west of Harrison Lake.
Hemlock Valley is an unincorporated area governed by the Fraser Valley Regional District. The nearby Sts’ailes First Nation manages its own reserve in the area. Homeowners are part of the local homeowners association, and the resort manages its own affairs. However, the residents and resort are now beginning efforts to create a resort association which would help promote and develop the Sasquatch Mountain area.
According to a press release, the Hemlock Valley Resort Association would create new trails with interpretive signage in the area, as well as new public parks and beautification projects. It would also collect some tax revenue that had gone towards Tourism Harrison to assist in promoting the region to visitors. The resort association would be managed by a governing board.
Engagement is starting this summer with two online webinars scheduled for July 14 and Aug. 11 for people to learn more about the prospective tourism organization, including draft bylaws, proposed fee schedules, and board structure. (A website for the proposed association will be launched on July 11, where residents will be able to register for the webinars.) An in-person open house will be held on Aug. 23.
The association would need the support of half of Hemlock Valley residents to become a reality. It would also need approval from the province, as well as support from the Fraser Valley Regional District. (The FVRD would need to vote on the creation of a resort promotion area, and approve the association’s bylaws.)
The organization wouldn’t be the only one in the province. Resort associations also manage areas in Whistler, Sun Peaks, Red Mountain, and Silver Star. If successful, the association would begin work next year.
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🗓 Things to do
Indigenous celebration: Wilma's Transition House hosts its fourth annual Indigenous Peoples Day event on Saturday. The family-friendly event takes place from 11am to 3pm at Sardis Park. Details online.
Beadathon: The Ruby Creek Art Gallery hosts a First Nations Beadathon in honour of National Indigenous People's Day on Saturday between 10am and 4pm. Watch beaders create, shop in the beading marketplace, and grab a bite from the bannock truck. Details online.
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