In cruel winter of 1879, a baby boy was born in a grizzly bear's cave high in the Canadian mountains.
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The child grew strong and when the resident grizzly awoke a battle ensued: the boy fighting for his life, the hungry bear for his dinner. The next day a man thought he saw a little boy wearing a bear coat leaping from rock to rock. Many years later, a group of ski tourers were bootpacking on the peaks of the Lizard Range in a heavy snowstorm. One of the men glanced up at the peak they were climbing. There on the summit stood a man with shoulders six feet wide, carrying a musket eight feet long. The 300 pounds man look awesome with the grizzly coat he wore.
The man aimed his giant musket into the clouds and fired, causing blankets of snow to fall. That delighted the skiers who loved that special brand of powder snow. That's how the legends goes in the town of Fernie, British Columbia, a small town in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Fernie is named after William Fernie who was the driving force behind the coal mines back in 1887. With the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in Fernie in 1898, the production of coal began and the new town of Fernie took shape. People built more substantial houses, retail stores and office buildings. In April 1904 a fire destroyed Fernie’s commercial district.
Later that year, Fernie was incorporated as a municipality. Four years later, on August 1, 1908, a second firestorm visited the City and in less than ninety minutes the town was once again reduced to ashes. The reconstruction in brick instead of wood dramatically transformed the city’s landscape. The heart of Fernie's community now is the small Historic Downtown located on 2nd Avenue between 3rd Street and 9th Street. The architectural style is simplified Italianate with rows of 3 storey, flat-roofed commercial brick buildings with round-arched and rectangular windows decorated with hood mouldings.
This tranquil town is closed to big cities both in Canada and the U.S.: a 3-hour drive west from CaFernie Alpine Resortlgary, Alberta, 11-hour drive east from Vancouver and a 2-hour drive north from Kalispell, Montana USA. That position is one of the reason tourists were coming to Fernie since 1919 when the Tourism Association of Southern Alberta and Southeast British Columbia was founded to promote Fernie and the Crow’s Nest Pass. The opening of Snow Valley Ski Development in 1963 and Fernie’s bid for the 1968 Winter Olympics helped lay the foundation for Fernie Alpine Resort.
The museum on the 2nd floor of the former home is the place you want to visit. It tells the story about its history. The Fernie Heritage Library, in the original Post Office building, was untouched in the fire of 1908. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and uncounted hours of volunteer labour turned the post office into a heritage library that offers a variety of programs for kids, and is also the host location for the Booked! event series featuring prominent Canadian authors. The Arts Station is the center of Fernie’s cultural scene and home of the Fernie & District Arts Council.
The Arts Station facilitates art activities, gallery exhibits, public art and much more both at the station and around the community. Nature around the town is one of the main reasons for a tourist visits. There is no need to shop before coming to Fernie. All the latest in fashion trends you are looking for can be found here. From June 25 until September 5 Fernie Alpine Resort is open to welcome you for hiking, biking, scenic chairlift rides, and more. The zipline, the recently found cave called Bisaro Anima, now Canada’s deepest cave, kayaking or white water rafting, add to the adrenaline adventure.
Although nature is the main reason for a visit to Fernie, there's a lot to be seen in the town too. You may take a tour around artistic hot spots on the Fernie Art Walk with murals, art installations, great architecture, and galleries. There is also a Fernie Golf Club, a championship course, if you want that kind of fun. There are also festivals, from the Fernie Mountain Film Festival and Wednesday Socials that runs all summer, to A Taste of Fernie, one of the best culinary festivals in North America. And we must mention Fernie Distillers, a company that produces great vodka and gin, as well as Fernie Fog Liqueur.
Beanpod Chocolate, Coffee, and Gelato is one of rares places in North America that produces chocolate the old way. The store sources ethical cocoa beans from Ecuadorian farmers and then processes them on-site and you can watch the whole process. In Fernie Memorial Arena you can watch hockey team Fernie Ghostriders because Canada without hockey is not Canada. But there's also something warm: Fernie Aquatic Centre. You can swim in a pool and enjoy in the hot tub and the steam room to recover some warmth after a whole day outside. ■
