As fresh as the snow that fell earlier this week (and could still be falling by the time you read this, for all I know), we begin a new year, full of hope and opportunity.
Hope doesn’t cost us anything, and being hopeful gets more accomplished than being skeptical. And this year we begin with more cause for hope than in the recent past.
Ashcroft Terminal is feeling confident enough about expansion to ask the Village to rezone their land to allow for a round the clock caretaker to live there.
Constantia came back for phase 2 of its exploration of the “Maggie Mine” area of 16 Mile. While they are here, they have provided training for dozens of local people who become more employable.
Wastech and Cache Creek continue to work towards getting the landfill extension up and running. The current landfill closes at the end of this year and Metro Vancouver has indicated that it will be sending more waste this way than they’d previously planned. That means more income for the Village and more work for Wastech employees.
School enrolment rates are levelling off and minor hockey announced that its registration is up this year. More children means younger familier in the area.
Community Futures reports that it has fielded a record number of business inquiries in the last few months. Ashcroft welcomed a brand new downtown business late last year, and we hope to see more.
Desert Hills Ranch is expanding and attracting lots of visitors to their market-store and events - visitors who have to pass through Ashcroft on their way there.
Horstings Farms also re-opened and is becoming once again a destination point for travellers who come to enjoy lunch and shop for fresh produce.
We’ve watched a slow and steady decline in our towns for long enough to know that they can go on forever if we give up and let them. But there are plenty of individuals and groups working to reverse that and help us rebuild.
And, as they say, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. It’s a little bit more work, but it’s way more fun to be part of the solution.
Wendy Coomber is editor of the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal