The Esso

One of the things I find endearing about small towns is how long the collective memory lasts. There's a crumbling corner in our town referred to as "the Esso." Years ago it was an Esso gas station but the gas station closed, though an auto service shop continued for some years in an adjacent building, eventually dwindling to hobby status for the owner and closing entirely more years ago than I can recall. The buildings have since housed a succession of failed businesses including a video rental place, convenience store, pizza joint, bakery and warehouse space for an African import business. But although it hasn't been an Esso in more than 20 years, maybe closer to 30, people around here still call this The Esso.

I think of it as a decoy that keeps the tourists from moving in wholesale. It's ugly as anything, and it graces the intersection of Main Street and the highway through town. I suspect a lot of people miss giving our town a second glance as a result of driving by this empty lot.

Houselet

This tiny ramshackle house is right in the middle of the "core commercial district." It's for sale. Anyone want to move here and start an intimate little year-round locavore restaurant? There's a dearth of eating-out opportunities from October to April.

Kind of pretty

I think it's kind of pretty what happens to the butt end of vehicles that drive along the highway after a heavy snowfall. Apparently you can be fined by police for not keeping your license plate clear, but honestly, you'd be stopping every five minutes to do so. No one worries about it, and we only have one police officer here.

Main Street Cat

Hot drinks

Hot drinks trump Italian sodas and ice cream these days at the café. London Fogs, chai lattés, hot chocolates and cappuccinos are popular. Any excuse to get out and bump into people for a bit of socializing.

Laundromat

Backyard chickens

Both villages allow backyard flocks of chickens. One village restricts roosters. Chickens are great processors of food waste. The main challenge is keeping the bears and coyotes from getting them. These ladies look well-fenced but last spring their coop was broken open by a hungry young black bear. They took to the trees for the night and returned the next day.

Butting out

Outside the community hall, two tins hold sand (and snow). With no smoking in public buildings, even the Bingo players have to step outside to quench their tobacco cravings. These are the cigarette butt receptacles.

Outdoor skating

Tight fit

It's a tight squeeze at the community fitness centre. This photo shows about a third of the space. There's also a very small gymnasium attached. It might not seem like much but it's an amazing community asset. On a cold dreary school holiday in November there's a steady stream of teens, families and adults amicably rotating through.

Sign of the new times

A teenager strolls outside the school at break, talking on a cellphone.

Mail

One of two walls of mailboxes where New Denverites pick up their mail. 

Cell tower

The villages held out for three long years, with petitions, meetings, referendums and advocacy. But finally this fall the cell tower has been turned on. So far life as we know it hasn't ended, but you never can tell, an insidious shift in local culture may be taking shape...

Leaving town

The last of the tourists and seasonal residents are pulling out as the leaves change and the snow creeps closer.

Zen world fusion under the trees

A new constellation of local musicians have been jamming a new kind of music and this weekend they put on a performance at the Kohan Garden. It was the place to be. Small people, tall people, old people, young people, shorts & tank top people, long skirt people, local people, former local people, visitors from afar. Almost as much a social event as a musical one, but the music was great too.

V0G 1S0

We have only one postbox. This is it. No matter where you are in the area, this is where you mail your letters. It stands in front of the post office, postal code V0G 1S0, where most people drop in each day to pick up their mail.

Community Bulletin Board

Just a stone's throw from the post office, in the geographic and social centre of the village, the community message board gets the word out in an old-fashioned way.

Donation Store

It's a thrift store without prices. If you see something you like, you take it home, with a cash donation expected/encouraged, but the amount totally up to you. Often people "borrow" items from the donation store for a few days -- puzzles, dishes, skates, board games, costume clothing -- making a nominal donation, so it also functions like a library for "stuff."

V0G 2B0

Canada's postal codes are in the form A1A 1A1 with the first letter denoting province or territory, extending east to west. Out here in BC our codes begin with V. People who live in cities typically have a range of numbers in their postal code. The Ontario street where I grew up was N2H 4N4. However in rural parts of the country the postal codes all end in zero, and often the remaining digits are zeros and ones, leading to codes that can be said like words. Our code here is V0G 1S0, pronounced in our household as "vojisso." We pick up our mail at the post office in New Denver. If you live in a Silverton, you'll pick up your mail here, where your postal code will be V0G 2B0, or "vojtobow," which I remember as "vegetable." Mailboxes are the place to post about late-breaking community events, like a Giant Garage Sale on Saturday.

Shoes

I guess that in other communities this is the sort of impulse that produces graffiti. Here we get pairs of worn-out shoes slung over electrical lines.