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Column: A little thing I love about living in Salmon Arm

In Plain View by Lachlan Labere
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Salmon Arm’s foreshore trail runs along Shuswap Lake through a wetland that attracts more than 300 bird species – in addition to being home to beavers – making it popular location for a leisurely walk, bike ride, taking photographs and exploring nature. (Lachlan Labere-Salmon Arm Observer)

Add air to the tires, throw my stuff in the seat bag and I’m off to work, a 3.12-kilometre bike ride, done in about six minutes.

The short, mostly downhill trip is a perk of spring/summer/fall living in Salmon Arm.

Over the past few days I did a couple of Google searches of Google searches of Salmon Arm, just to see what people are looking at. Vacation-related searches were popular with folks looking for parks, hotels, where to shop etc. People also appeared to be interested in things related to moving, local real estate and storage.

Karen Brown with the South Shuswap Chamber of Commerce recently mentioned to me how during the COVID-19 pandemic, some employees, and employers, have realized they don’t necessarily need to live in a big city in order to work and do business, and that the Shuswap could be a viable place to relocate.

It makes sense people would have a look at Salmon Arm. We were, after all, recognized by Maclean’s Magazine as the best community in B.C. and the sixth best nationwide to live. Part of that had to do with affordability (housing/rental). If you want to know more on how we were ranked, you can look for it online, or give the folks at the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society a shout. Not all the benefits of living in a community, however, can be captured by statistics. Some things you just have to experience.

Read more: Salmon Arm named best community in B.C.

Read more: Affordable housing project in Salmon Arm expected to be complete by winter 2020

After work, if I have my bike and the time (and we’re not in the midst of high water), I will take a longer and more scenic route home. It involves travelling through the downtown (an easy, stress-free thing to do in Salmon Arm) and make my way to the foreshore trail. This four kilometre ride, for me, is a mental cleanse with a lake view – the day’s work-related stress rapidly fades as I make my along the treed trail beside Shuswap Lake towards Raven. From there I’ll head to Cress Creek, a cool little trail off of 24th Ave. NE.

If there’s no pressing need to get home, I’ll head east to 60th Street SE – one of the prettiest rural-ish roads in town.

I’ve taken this route often yet only just realized how special it is to me. It may be a simple pleasure, but it’s something I love about living in Salmon Arm.

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A boardwalk bridge runs along the bottom of the Cress Creek Trail between 24th and 20th Ave. NE. (Lachlan Labere-Salmon Arm Observer)