Wednesday - May 21, 2025 - Last summer for Agassiz pool?

🌧 High 15C

Good morning!

I’m back from vacation with a warning: Do not go to Progreso, a smallish Mexican town many hours west from Cancun and largely off the main tourist track. There are no massive resorts and you will not like its beach, local restaurants, and proximity to Mayan ruins. If you’re on a tight budget, the cost of flights and accommodation this time of year is especially problematic. Don’t look them up! Just trust me and stay away. You’re welcome.

– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

News

Why BC burns in the summer

Last week, a massive wildfire in southern Manitoba destroyed dozens of structures in and killed two residents.

Despite the only recent disappearance of snow across the Canadian prairies, large May fires aren’t an anomaly east of the Rockies. Recent years have seen major May fires in Alberta and Northern BC.

But despite being warmer, BC’s mountainous interior and coast usually don’t have to worry about large fires until the second half of June.

• Tyler wrote about Canada’s counter-intuitive wildfire seasons in 2023. Today, we’re sharing that story again. 

• You can find BC’s current wildfire danger rating here.

Related

Need to Know

🔊 Langley parents want better facilities and more classroom resources, they told the local school district in a recent survey [Langley School District]

🚚 A large truck equipment company has relocated to a new facility in Abbotsford [Abbotsford News]

🎶 A new record store is opening in Chilliwack’s main mall [Fraser Valley Today]

👉 Mission’s school district is using AI to update policies [Mission Record]

🎸 Country music star Aaron Goodvin will perform at the Chilliwack Fair [Chilliwack Fair/Facebook]

☎ BC is getting another area code this week [CTV]

🎓 Four seniors who graduated from Langley Secondary in 1955 met with today’s students [Langley Advance Times]

🚔 Charges have been laid against a man accused of crashing a semi truck into a cop car and driving the vehicle into the Fraser [Langley Advance Times]

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The Agenda

Agassiz outdoor pool opens—maybe for last time

Agassiz's Ferny Coombe has opened for what may be its final season.

The small outdoor pool in Agassiz has been running since 1978, but the 50-year-old facility was declared to be at the end of its expected lifespan a decade ago. Even in 2015, district staff expected any major mechanical failure would be difficult, if not impossible, to fix. The pool's website's diving board is "permanently out of commission due to structural damage," according to the District of Kent's website.

But the small pool may not need to hang on much longer.

The pool’s replacement—the massive new Lets’emot Regional Recreational Aquatic Centre—is under construction and expected to open mid-2026. District staff said last year that they hoped to avoid extending the outdoor pool’s season to 2026 if possible.

(You can read our story about the future aquatic centre here.)

If the new leisure centre is completed on schedule, the Ferny Coombe pool may not need to open again next year, marking the end of its decades of service to Agassiz and surrounding communities.

—Grace Giesbrecht, Local Journalism Initiative

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🗓 Things to do

Thresherman’s sale: The Atchelitz Thresherman's Society hosts a garage sale on Saturday from 8am to 3pm. The garage sale will take place next to Chilliwack's Heritage Park.

Run for Water: Abbotsford's Run for Water kicks off on Sunday, May 24 with a community celebration in Mill Lake Park on Saturday, May 24 from 5 to 9pm. Watch a free outdoor movie, peruse exhibitor booths, and enjoy a poster decorating station. Details online.

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Catch up

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