Cloverdale is a town centre in the city of

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

, a southeastern suburb of

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term "Greater Vancouver" is roughly coterminous with the geographic area governed b ...

, located just west of the City of Langley. The town centre was initially founded as a small farm community in 1870 for its fertile land and temperate climate. Cloverdale eventually amalgamated into Surrey as one of its six town centres. Cloverdale is known as a historic centre of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, and is home to many heritage sites, including Christ Church, one of Surrey's oldest buildings (built in 1882). It is also the location of the City of Surrey's official museum.

History

William Shannon (1843-1928) was one of the first settlers to the Surrey Cloverdale region, buying 960 acres of land from the government in 1875.History of Surrey and Clover Valley
, Cloverdale Business Improvement Association website He was inspired to name the area from the clover that grew there in abundance. Cloverdale was the City of Surrey's first town centre, officially established in 1879 near Five Corners, the historic intersection of 60 Avenue and Old McClellan Road. Adding railways was significant in developing the area. Linking Bellingham, Washington to New Westminster was the subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway forged in the valley in 1891 and created a station named Cloverdale. In 1881, the first Surrey Town Hall was constructed there. In 1912, the Municipal Hall was built in the southwest corner of Cloverdale. In 1882, Surrey's first school was established on land donated by Joseph Shannon. In the 1920s and 1930s, Cloverdale was a common destination for Americans in Washington State seeking for alcohol to address the Prohibition laws. In 1968, Cloverdale's population reached to 5,000. By 2016, the population stood at 65,645.

Arts and culture

Cloverdale includes a campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), called KPU Tech. It is the main campus for the Faculty of Trades and Technology at KPU. Cloverdale's Canada Day events are the most popular in Western Canada. For example, 100,000 people are expected to attend the 2018 July 1 celebrations.

Film and television

Cloverdale is best known outside its immediate vicinity as the primary "main street" and "downtown" sets for the television show ''Smallville''. A billboard once stood on the edge of the community that read, "Destination Cloverdale - Home of Smallville." The community has been home to other filming, including one of Coca-Cola's Christmas commercials. Despite filming during summer, the town square was decked with Christmas decorations, including fake snow. In June 2006, a film titled '' Deck The Halls'' was filmed, and the area was once again decorated in Christmas decorations and fake snow. In September 2006 the feature film '' Postal'' was filmed in Cloverdale. The 2007 film ''

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'', starring Andy Samberg, was also filmed in Cloverdale. A portion of 176th Street was shut down to accommodate a

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

scene and a motorcycle stunt involving jumping over fifteen

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...

es was filmed at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. In addition to being filmed there, the town of Cloverdale was a fictional setting of the '' Stargate Universe'' episode "Cloverdale". In July 2012 and February 2016, the TV show ''Supernatural'' was filmed at Christ Church on Old McLellan Road.

Music

The Cloverdale Fairgrounds was one of the North American stops of the 1994

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

in August 1994. Featured performers were

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, The Beastie Boys, and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

Rodeo

The yearly Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair, on the Victoria Day long weekend, attracts visitors from around western North America. It is the fifth-largest rodeo in Canada. Its location, the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, is also home to Fraser Downs, a popular racetrack and casino.

Demographics

References

External links

{{SurreyBCNeighbourhoods Neighbourhoods in Surrey, British Columbia