Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada

🇨🇦 Chilliwack is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoor activities in the area in which to participate, including hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking horseback riding, whitewater kayaking, camping, fishing, golf, and paragliding. Chilliwack is known for its annual corn harvest, and is home to the Province's second largest independent bookstore The Book Man. The Fraser Valley Regional District is headquartered in Chilliwack, which is the Fraser Valley's second-largest city, after Abbotsford.

History The archaeological record shows evidence of Stó:lō people in the Fraser Valley, or S'ólh Téméxw, 10,000 years ago. Permanent structures in the Chilliwack area date from around 5,000 years ago. It is estimated that at the time of the first contact with Europeans, there were as many as 40,000 people living within Stó:lō territory.

By 1859, over 40,000 gold miners had trekked to the goldfields of the upper Fraser River, many travelling through the Chilliwack area. By the mid-1860s, several farms had grown up around the steamboat landings on the Fraser River called Miller's Landing, Minto Landing, Sumas Landing and Chilliwack Landing.

The Township of Chilliwhack was incorporated in 1873, the third municipality in British Columbia. The initial settlement was along the Fraser River at Chilliwack Landing. Steamboats were the main mode of transportation, carrying goods and passengers between Chilliwack and New Westminster. After the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, many residents began to cross the Fraser River at Minto Landing to catch the train at Harrison Mills.

With little room for expansion along the river, the commercial area of the town moved south to the junction of the New Westminster-Yale Wagon Road, Wellington Avenue and Young Road, called "Five Corners". A large subdivision called Centreville was built in 1881. The name "Centreville" was replaced In 1887 by the more popular "Chilliwack".

The Chilliwack area experienced extensive flooding in the 1894 Fraser River flood.

The Chilliwack (formerly Centreville) area was incorporated in 1908 as a separate municipality, the City of Chilliwack. The city and the township co-existed for 72 years.

The Chilliwack area again experienced extensive flooding in the 1948 Fraser River flood.

In 1980, the Township of Chilliwhack and the City of Chilliwack merged to form the District of Chilliwack. The District of Chilliwack became the City of Chilliwack in early 1999. Chilliwack has the largest number of rainbow crosswalks in BC despite City Council's decision not to install more.

In November 2021, an atmospheric river caused widespread flooding in Chilliwack, forcing major roads, including Highway 1, to close indefinitely. The Highway has since been reopened for traffic in this area.

Geography Chilliwack is located in the Upper Fraser Valley, 100 km (60 mi) east of Vancouver on the Trans-Canada Highway. The city is bounded on the north by the Fraser River, and on the south by the Canada-United States border.

Chilliwack is surrounded by tall mountain peaks, such as Mount Cheam and Slesse Mountain, and large rivers (the Fraser and Vedder).

Geology The Chilliwack Batholith forms much of the North Cascades in south-western British Columbia, Canada and the U.S. state of Washington. The geological structure is primarily named after the City of Chilliwack, where it is the most notable geological feature.

The Chilliwack Batholith is part of the Pemberton Volcanic Belt and is the largest mass of exposed intrusive rock in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. The age of the Chilliwack batholith ranges from 26 to 29 million years old.

Cityscape The city is made up of several amalgamated villages and communities. The urban core follows a north–south axis bisected by the Trans-Canada Highway. The city is bounded in the north by the Fraser River, in the east by the Eastern Hillsides, in the south by the Canada–US border, and in the west by the Vedder Canal. With 939 farms on approximately 17,322 hectares (42,800 acres) of dedicated farmland, farming remains an important part of the Chilliwack landscape.

Neighbourhoods Neighbourhoods on the north side Also referred to as "Chilliwack Proper Village West", the north side covers the area from the Trans-Canada Highway in the south, to the Fraser River in the north, and includes the communities of Camp River, Chilliwack Mountain, Downtown Chilliwack, East Chilliwack, Fairfield Island, Rosedale and Popkum. Downtown Chilliwack is the historical urban centre of the city. Several cultural attractions, such as the Chilliwack Coliseum, Chilliwack Cultural Centre, The Book Man and the Eagle Landing Shopping Centre are located there, as well as key government buildings, such as city hall, FVRD offices, and the Provincial Court of British Columbia.

Neighbourhoods on the south side The south side includes the communities of Atchelitz, Cultus Lake Park, Greendale, Promontory Heights, Ryder Lake, Sardis, Vedder Crossing, Garrison Crossing and Yarrow. Sardis is the urban core of the south side and is a popular shopping destination.

Parks • Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park • Cheam Wetlands Regional Park • Chilliwack Heritage Park • Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park • Cultus Lake Provincial Park • Fairfield Park • Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve • Gwynne Vaughn Park • Island 22 • Salish Park • Sardis Park • Townsend Park

Culture: Music Chilliwack has an active rock music scene, centering mostly around young ska and punk rock bands. Bands originating in Chilliwack include: These Kids Wear Crowns, Mystery Machine, and The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets.

Chilliwack also has a thriving classical music community, featuring the Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra and the Chilliwack Metropolitan Orchestra.

The drumline from Sardis Secondary School played at several venues during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Chilliwack also offers many other community events and classes throughout the year. The Downtown Chilliwack Business Improvement Association is hosting music in Central Park on Saturdays for the month of August 2022.

Despite their name, the band Chilliwack was actually formed, and is based, in nearby Vancouver.

Performing arts The Chilliwack Cultural Centre is a performing arts venue located in downtown Chilliwack. The building is home to the Chilliwack Players' Guild (the resident theatre company), as well as the Chilliwack Academy of Music.

The UFV Theatre is a 206-seat thrust stage venue formerly belonging to the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) Theatre Department. Until 2017, UFV produced three or four mainstage shows each year, as well as the annual Directors' Festival, which featured student directors and performers from UFV, Capilano University, Thompson Rivers University, University of Victoria, UBC and Douglas College. As of 2021, the theatre is part of the Imagine High public high school.

The Chilliwack School of Performing Arts provides pre-professional training in acting, singing and dancing to children ages 3–18 at their downtown location. The mainstage show performs a two-week run every January at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre, and a Spring Festival featuring performances from many age groups in late May. Programs at the Chilliwack Performing Arts can be registered for at. Many different programs are available, including a Junior Musical Theatre and Summer Break Camps.

Public Art The Chilliwack Mural Festival occurs annually. Co-founded and Directed by Amber Price and Lise Oakley, their volunteer team has curated and directed the installation of over three dozen works of large scale original art in Historic Downtown Chilliwack.

Murals by Canadian Artists Emmanuel Jarus, Jason Botkin and Chris Perez can be found along with other public art via the Chilliwack Public Art Trail

Festivals Annual events and festivals include: • Chilliwack Bluegrass Festival (ended in 2013) • Christmas Craft Market • Chilliwack Art of Wine Festival • Fraser Valley Culture and Craft Beer Festival • Fraser Valley Women's Expo • Party in the Park (ended 2019) • Chilliwack Canada Day • Chilliwack Mural Festival • Chilliwack Pride Festival

Museums • Chilliwack Sports Hall of Fame • Canadian Military Education Centre • Chilliwack Museum and Archives, located in the 1912 former Chilliwack City Hall on Spadina Avenue, is a National Historic Site of Canada. The Chilliwack Museum and Archives are a non-profit organization operated by the Chilliwack Museum and Historical Society which began in 1958 by brothers Oliver and Casey Wells.

Media: Press • Chilliwack Progress - British Columbia's oldest community newspaper, published continuously with the same name in the same community since April 1891

Chilliwack Times published its final edition on December 28, 2016.

Media: Radio • FM 89.5 - CHWK-FM • FM 91.7 - CBYF-FM • FM 98.3 - CKSR-FM • FM 99.9 - CBU-FM-7 • FM 102.1 - CBUF-FM-1 • FM 107.5 - CKKS-FM.

Media: Television • Channel 11 CHAN-TV-1 Global.

Economy Chilliwack is part of the Lower Mainland-Southwest economic region. Chilliwack's service and retail sectors account for approximately 50% of GDP. Other growing industries include manufacturing accounting for 13%, construction at 8% and agriculture and forestry at 5% of Chilliwack's GDP.

Agriculture & Forestry, 5% of GDP; Construction, 8% of GDP; Education, 6% of GDP; Finance, Insurance & Real Estate, 11% of GDP; Health, 6% of GDP; Manufacturing, 13% of GDP; Public Administration, 9% of GDP; Retail/Wholesale Trade 12% of GDP; Technology, 6% of GDP; Tourism, 9% of GDP; Other 15% of GDP.

Transport: Air Vancouver International Airport is located about 113 km (70 mi) from downtown Chilliwack and has non-stop flights daily to Asia, Europe, Oceania, the United States, and Mexico, and other airports within Canada. Abbotsford International Airport is located about 42 km (26 mi) west of Downtown Chilliwack and offers scheduled service to Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Victoria, where passengers can connect to anywhere.

Chilliwack Airport is a small regional airport located in Downtown Chilliwack. It has 1,219 m (3,999 ft) of paved and lit runway that includes a parallel taxiway. Approximately 70% of the estimated 60,000 annual air traffic movements are itinerant traffic that consists of both pilot training and recreational flights from all around BC and south of the border.

Bicycle lanes There are about 175 km (109 mi) of bike lanes throughout the city with additional lanes being added every year.

Transport: Road A four-lane to six-lane expressway from Horseshoe Bay to Hope runs through Chilliwack on the Lower Mainland section of the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Agassiz-Rosedale Highway is a north–south route in the eastern part of Chilliwack that acts as the last connection between Highways 1 and 7 eastbound before Hope, and is the main access to the resort village of Harrison Hot Springs. The highway first opened in 1953, originally going between Yale Road in Rosedale and Highway 7, with a ferry across the Fraser River. A bridge replaced the ferry in 1956. When the section of Highway 1 east of Chilliwack opened in 1961, Highway 9 was extended south to a junction with the new Highway 1 alignment, which replaced Yale Road as the main route between Chilliwack and Hope.

Mass transit Chilliwack Transit System consists of a fleet of 9 buses that operate along regularly scheduled routes throughout the metropolitan area.

Transport: Rail Chilliwack Railway Station consists solely of a signpost and paved low-level platform located on the north side of the CN Railway tracks at Nowell Street.

The station is served by Via Rail's The Canadian as a flag stop (48 hours advance notice required).

Education Canada Education Park (CEP) is an 86-acre (35 ha) campus in the Vedder Crossing neighbourhood on the south side of Chilliwack that houses several post-secondary institutions, including the University of the Fraser Valley, the RCMP Pacific Region Training Centre, and the Justice Institute of British Columbia.

The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) is the largest post-secondary school in Chilliwack, and the seventh largest in British Columbia in terms of full-time enrollment. It offers master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, diplomas, certificates and citations across a range of programs in fine arts, humanities, science, social sciences, applied communication, business, nursing, as well as technical and trade programs. Its campuses are located in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope and Mission.