Small Town Versus City Debate

[Ojisan]

Crawley is our 66th largest town and it still has a population of over 100,000

[yorkcountykid]

In England, that's a large small sized  town. I guess small is something under 30,000

well, that's about how the feeling was for us. being right on yonge st., just about 20 miles north of the actual toronto border, all of the towns between us and toronto seemed kinda small. there might have  been about one or two miles of farmland between each town. now, that is all gone and if the signs were removed, you'd not really know you were in different towns.
anyway, a large, small town is how we were seen. it just depends where you are. the small towns i've been in through the praires are far smaller and far apart from their neighbouring towns.

[Dave]

Dave, I have fond memories of the northern lights from when I lived 6 hrs. north of Edmonton.  Absolutely spectacular!!  When I lived there, we received a northern living allowance which if I remember correctly, was a tax break rather than a cheque.  Is that still available?

A view of the northern lights unhindered by ambient lighting is amazing. Have you ever seen them in different colours? Where did you live in Northern Alberta?

[Sharlee]

I've lived in a dozen little towns north of Edmonton, as far North as Peace River. The smallest and most primitive was Grouard, which is 1/2 reserve, 1/2 town about 45 minutes north of High Prairie.

Dave, I'm amazed that Churchill has so much to offer!  For a town of 1k it has a lot happening!!

[Dave]

It's true! Churchill is amazing and to top it off this community has very historic roots dating back more than 300 years. I'm a history nut and have even found a somewhat specious (but nevertheless interesting) link in my own family tree and the very founding of this town with the Hudson Bay Company. Who knows, maybe I own this place ... lol.

To walk the streets of Churchill for the first time it seems to be just another isolated northern community but that is a wrong impression.

Chuchill is a tourist destination and during Polar Bear season (late Sept to early Nov) there are throngs of people from all over the planet here. Other times of the year draw more tourists for different reasons such as bird watching, star gazing, northern lights and beluga wales watching. If you google 'Churchill polar bears' you may get a small sample of what I see every day. Also look for 'Churchill Mb' in Youtube and Wikipedia.

[Sharlee]

Churchill is on my list of places to visit!  Definitely a summer holiday though.   

[Dave]

As an added bonus taking place now, this very weekend and happening RIGHT NOW,  is Homecoming. The party started Thursday and will continue when the train leaves for Winnipeg Tuesday morning. There is no party like a Churchill party.

[MR.BUMP]

 just move here to colorado itsy   

[Itsy Bitsy]

^ If only I could get a work visa for the usa 

[MR.BUMP]

 ill just smuggle you in and get you work as a go go dancer

[Itsy Bitsy]

Haha, nice!

[MR.BUMP]

 now we only have to find a suitcase to fit you in so i can sneak you past the border guards

[Itsy Bitsy]

^ any standard sized carry-on would do. 

[MR.BUMP]

 lol or  back pack 

[Dave]

Churchill is on my list of places to visit!  Definitely a summer holiday though.   

Churchill was on the national CBC news tonight due to the premiers visit here over the last few days. I wasn't terribly impressed with some of the unflattering scenes shown. Nevertheless, even though we get a ton of tourists here all year round Churchill is really a winter community. To actually see this place and to understand what it means to be a northerner and a Churchillian you have to come here in mid winter when there is a -55 windchill blowing. No, that isn't a typo. Temps like that are quite common here in winter and a stetch of ultra-cold weather can last for weeks at a time. Warming up to a mere -30 makes an enormous and very noticable difference.

[yorkcountykid]

dave, it does sound like a great place, but the reason i picked vancouver was for the warm winter weather. after shoveling snow hundreds of times (the driveway) when i was growing up and dead car batteries and icy roads and very cold fingers and toes etc etc etc, i do not mind 'fighting' through the vancouver rain drops however, i wouldn't mind visiting churchill.

[Dave]

I'm pretty much the same as you in some ways regarding the weather. Although I was born and raised in Vancouver I have also lived in many other parts of Canada. Before returning to Vancouver in 1984 I had lived in Inuvik for quite awhile and found the rain to be a relief from the cold and snow. Since that time I have let Vancouver again and have now lived in Churchill for over 21 years. Call me a masochist if you like but it is MUCH colder here than Inuvik even though that town is about a thousand mile further north than Churchill. My years in Inuvik was basic training for Churchill winters. Blame it on the prevailing North wind that howls all winter long. The only part of the cold weather I fnd really annoying though is April to early May. The rest of the planet seems to be warming up, we see it in news broadcasts from all over the country etc, but here in Churchill we are still wearing our parkas, mukluks and toques waiting for the next blizzard. That time of year is the only time when it starts to get to me. Still, we can have some pretty brutally warm - did I say warm? - temperatures here. This summer has been better than usual but I recall back in the early nineties when the temp was 37 C, tied with a town in Texas for the North American high temperature for that day.

[Sharlee]

To actually see this place and to understand what it means to be a northerner and a Churchillian you have to come here in mid winter when there is a -55 windchill blowing. No, that isn't a typo. Temps like that are quite common here in winter and a stetch of ultra-cold weather can last for weeks at a time. Warming up to a mere -30 makes an enormous and very noticable difference.

I'm getting frostbite just reading this.  While in northern Alberta we experienced 3 days where it was -50 with the windchill, but other than that it was usually
-20 to -30 which is plenty cold enough for me.  I hate having to keep my face covered.

I think my cold weather days are behind me.  I'll have to be one of your wimpy tourists and come in June - August!

[Itsy Bitsy]

I would rather go in the winter. I like to see the extremes of places. The extremes are what make the place what it is and why it's a place worth seeing. I guess if you've already experienced those kinds of conditions, then it's not a big deal, but it would be a very new experience for me being in weather that drastic. 

[Dave]

I would rather go in the winter. I like to see the extremes of places. The extremes are what make the place what it is and why it's a place worth seeing. I guess if you've already experienced those kinds of conditions, then it's not a big deal, but it would be a very new experience for me being in weather that drastic. 
[/quote
My thoughts exactly. Even though I already live here I always tell people to visit in winter to really see what this place is like. Not all do of course but to my mind this town is all about winter with summer being a distraction. Besides, in extreme cold weather such as we experience here no one goes outside to stay there unless they actually work outside. I go from home to work in the am and the reverse at 4pm. sometimes there is a stop at the store on the way home and sometimes I go to my favourite watering hole on Fridays. It's all good.

[yorkcountykid]

geez, itsy sounds so hot on this that the cold weather wouldn't adjust her 'personal'  temp tooooo toooo much--tee hee

[Green Hornet]

Would you consider me a small town person?  I lived in a suburb of Vancouver all my life that is mostly agricultural in the beginning.  You can say I was a child of the harvest because I used to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peas and potatoes.  What other job can you do for pocket money for a pre-16 teenager and they had lax child labor laws at that time?  Then our small farming community grew to become a township, then a town and now it is consider a city.

I guess I am from a small town boy into a big city man without actually moving .

[yorkcountykid]

grreen, i heaar ya an i coonsider you a guy fom a  small ttown. i sorta went througgh  a simiillar ttransition exceept ttheere  wwerre no  berries to picck. m neww laptop doubless  letttters aand i haave  no cluee  how to fix it.

[Sharlee]

m neww laptop doubless  letttters aand i haave  no cluee  how to fix it.

You might have a hyper-sensitive keyboard.  Under control panel, look under printers and other hardware and then under keyboards.  Try adjusting the keyboard repeat rate.  If that doesn't work, I have no idea what to suggest.   

[Sharlee]

Would you consider me a small town person?  I lived in a suburb of Vancouver all my life that is mostly agricultural in the beginning.  You can say I was a child of the harvest because I used to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peas and potatoes.  What other job can you do for pocket money for a pre-16 teenager and they had lax child labor laws at that time?  Then our small farming community grew to become a township, then a town and now it is consider a city.

I guess I am from a small town boy into a big city man without actually moving .

Are you happy with the way it's developed or would you prefer to go back to the good old days?