Sparwood is a
district municipality
A district municipality is a designation for a class of municipalities found in several locations, including Canada, Lithuania, and South Africa.
Canada British Columbia
Under provincial law, municipalities in British Columbia are to be desig ...
in the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. It is the second-largest community on the
Elk River.
Located approximately 30 kilometres from
Fernie, the District Municipality of Sparwood has approximately 4,200 residents. Sparwood is quite large for its population, taking up an area of 191.01 square kilometres and incorporating the local
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
s.
In the late 1800s, there was a railroad stop known as Sparwood, which was so named because of the trees from this area being shipped to the coast for manufacturing spars for ocean vessels.
Economy
The local economy is heavily dependent on steel-making
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
, one of British Columbia's primary industries. A large part of the population either works in the mines or as tradespeople and labourers in related support industries, such as trucking or as mechanics. Logging is another important industry.
Sparwood/Elk Valley Airport
Sparwood/Elk Valley Airport is located north of Sparwood, British Columbia, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into ...
is the local airport for
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
. The closest airport with commercial service is
Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport
Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport is an international airport located north of Cranbrook and south-east of Kimberley, British Columbia, in the Canadian Rockies.
It is owned by the City of Cranbrook and operated by Elevate ...
. Road access is provided by the
Crowsnest Highway
The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection b ...
.
Sparwood was formed on 12 May 1966 accepting people from the nearby towns of Michel, Natal, and Middletown (an urban renewal). Since the beginning of Sparwood, it has experienced many ups and downs in coal mining, the town's primary industry.
Attractions
![SparTitan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/SparTitan.JPG)
Sparwood promotes itself extensively as the home of the
Terex Titan
Terex Corporation is an American worldwide manufacturer of lifting and material-handling plant for a variety of industries including construction, infrastructure, quarrying, recycling, energy, mining, shipping, transportation, refining and ut ...
, at one time the largest truck in the world. The green Titan, in service at Sparwood between 1978 and 1991, stands a few yards from the
Crowsnest Highway
The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection b ...
where it can attract the attention of
tourist
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
s and travellers. The adjacent tourist information centre serves visitors to the district municipality and the wider area.
Sparwood is distinguished by mural art which depicts something of the history of the former Michel-Natal mining communities.
Sports
Sparwood is home to the 2011 B.C. provincial champion boys snowboarding team. Sparwood is also home to the 2011 Junior Boys and 2012 Junior Girls Provincial Bowling champions.
Laurie Hockridge of Sparwood and Lethbridge College, is a CCAA-ACSC Hall of Fame inductee (WBB, '87–90). Her legacy includes back-to-back national championships and two national championship MVP trophies.
Fernie Memorial Arena disaster
On 17 October 2017 an ammonia leak at the
Fernie Memorial Arena killed three workers (two City of Fernie employees and one CIMCO refrigeration employee from Calgary) during the
Fernie Ghostriders
The Fernie Ghostriders are a junior 'B' ice hockey team based in Fernie, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Eddie Mountain Division of the Kootenay Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). The Ghostri ...
' regular season. Because of this tragedy, the City of Fernie declared a state of emergency and people had to evacuate the area for days. The 'Riders were relocated because of this to the Elk Valley Leisure Centre in Sparwood during the 2017–18 KIJHL season until the City of Fernie installed a new chiller unit. The Ghostriders now play at their home rink again.
Demographics
In the
2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Sparwood had a population of 4,148 living in 1,815 of its 2,183 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,784. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Religion
According to the
2021 census, religious groups in Sparwood included:
*
Irreligion
Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and a ...
(2,405 persons or 58.0%)
*
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(1,695 persons or 40.8%)
*
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(15 persons or 0.4%)
Education
There are two public schools in Sparwood;
Frank J Mitchell which is an Elementary School and the new
Sparwood Secondary School
Sparwood Secondary School (SSS) is a public high school in Sparwood, British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has ...
.
These schools are operated by
School District 5 Southeast Kootenay
School District 5 Southeast Kootenay is a school district in British Columbia. It covers the southeast corner of the province up to the Alberta and Montana borders. This includes the major centres of Cranbrook, Fernie, Elkford, and Sparwood
Sp ...
which is based in
Cranbrook.
Climate
Sparwood has a warm-summer
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Dfb'') with relatively cold and very snowy winters combined with moderately warm summers with relatively high
diurnal temperature variation
In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day.
Temperature lag
Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak d ...
. As a result of the low overnight lows in summer, September's mean of places Sparwood just above
subarctic climate
The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...
s (Dfc) in classification.
Local media
Newspapers
* ''Fernie Free Press'' – Weekly Paper
* ''Kootenay News Advertiser'' – Weekly Paper
* ''Fernie Fix'' – Monthly Glossy Magazine
Radio stations
* 99.1 FM – CJDR, a rebroadcaster of
CHDR-FM
CHDR-FM is a Canadian radio station in Cranbrook, British Columbia that broadcasts a classic hits format at 102.9 FM branded as ''102.9 Rewind Radio''. The station is owned by the Jim Pattison Group.
History
The station originally began broad ...
, Rock
* 92.7 FM – CFBZ, a rebroadcaster of
CHBZ-FM
CHBZ-FM (104.7 FM, ''Wild 104.7'') is a radio station in Cranbrook, British Columbia. Owned by Pattison Media, it broadcasts a country format.
History
The station originally began broadcasting in 1995 as CKKR until it was changed to the curr ...
, Country
* 97.7 FM – CBTN, a rebroadcaster of
CBTK-FM
CBTK-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts the programming of the CBC Radio One network in Kelowna, British Columbia. The station broadcasts at 88.9 FM in Kelowna.
History
The station was launched in 1987. Prior to its launch, CBC Ra ...
, CBC
* 107.9 FM –
CFSM-FM
CFSM-FM (107.5 FM, ''107.5 2Day FM'') is a radio station in Cranbrook, British Columbia. Owned by Vista Radio, it broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format targeting the Kootenay region of British Columbia.
History
The station was approved b ...
– Adult Contemporary
Cable television stations
* Channel 10:
Shaw TV
Shaw Spotlight (formerly Shaw TV) is the name of locally based community channel services operated by cable TV provider Shaw Communications. The channels are available only to Shaw Cable subscribers and are produced in communities throughout w ...
* Channel 5:
CFCN,
CTV
* Channel 13:
CBUT
CBUT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving as the West Coast flagship of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBUFT-DT (channel 26). Both stations sh ...
,
CBC
Notable people
The following people were born in Sparwood:
*
Daryl Boyle (born 1987), professional ice hockey player
*
Michelle Loughery
Michelle Loughery (born 1961) is a Canadian muralist from British Columbia.
Life and work
Early career
Loughery was born in the community of Michel-Natal in the Elk Valley in southeastern British Columbia, but her family was relocated to the ...
(born 1961), muralist
*
Niki Sharma
Niki Sharma is a Canadian politician and lawyer, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2020 British Columbia general election. She represents the electoral district of Vancouver-Hastings as a member of the Bri ...
, politician
Sister cities
Since 1980, Sparwood has been the
sister city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
of
Kamisunagawa
is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan.
As of September 2016, the town has an estimated population of 3,278. The total area is 39.91 km2. There is a microgravity test facility located in Kamisu ...
in
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
See also
*
Fernie Ghostriders
The Fernie Ghostriders are a junior 'B' ice hockey team based in Fernie, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Eddie Mountain Division of the Kootenay Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). The Ghostri ...
*
Elk River
*
Elk Valley
*
Kootenay Ice
The Kootenay Ice (officially stylized as ICE) were a major junior ice hockey team based in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and competed in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team played its home games at Western Financial Place. The franchise wa ...
*
Regional District of East Kootenay#Municipalities
References
External links
*
{{authority control
District municipalities in British Columbia
Mining communities in British Columbia
Elk Valley (British Columbia)
Regional District of East Kootenay