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 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. Sparwood's welcome sign

Economy

The local economy is heavily dependent on steel-making coal mining, 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

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

where it can attract the attention of

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

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 Ghost ...

' 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 The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, 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 ...

(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 (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 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 da ...

. As a result of the low overnight lows in summer, September's mean of places Sparwood just above subarctic climates (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 * 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 (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 Brit ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

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 lar ...

, Japan.

References

External links

* {{authority control District municipalities in British Columbia Mining communities in British Columbia Elk Valley (British Columbia) Regional District of East Kootenay