Mines to Moguls

Dec 1, 2009

The Bigger Picture

CRANBROOK/KIMBERLEY

	Population Cranbrook, 18,947; Kimberley, 6,484; area, 27,229
	Median Household Income $64,183
	Average Home Price $281,862 (Kootenay region)
	Weather Both Cranbrook and Kimberley lay claim to the title of sunniest city in B.C. with an average 2,228.6 hours of sunshine a year. July highs average 26 C; December lows, -10 C.
	Commuter Route Between four and five hours from Calgary via highways 93 and 95 from Castle Junction in Banff National Park or via the Crowsnest Pass. Air Canada Jazz serves the Canadian Rockies International Airport direct from Calgary.
	Economic Picture Cranbrook is the transportation hub and services centre for a region once dominated by mining, forestry and, to a lesser extent, agriculture. Tourism and recreation are on the ascendant, with Kimberley’s ski hill and village undergoing a makeover as a family-friendly destination similar to Beaver Creek, Colo. Montreal-based Tembec Inc., which owns two sawmills and a pulp mill in the East Kootenay, remains the largest employer with about 1,000 area employees.
	Under Construction The City of Kimberley is building a $6-million conference centre at the foot of the ski slopes that will feature a 500-seat theatre and dining for 350. Completion is slated for 2010.
	Conversation starter B.C.’s soon-to-be harmonized 12% federal-provincial sales tax. Folks in the East Kootenay have long chafed under a provincial sales tax not charged by their neighbours and competitors east of the Continental Divide and now it will apply to everything the GST does, including books, bikes and haircuts.
	Where to Eat The Old Barnhaus, a schnitzel place housed in a reconstructed 400-year-old Bavarian barn in Kimberley, is these days feeling the heat from funky fusion upstarts like the Village Bistro and the Green Phoenix.
	Where to Sleep The new, geothermally heated Mountain Spirit Resort & Spa brings Kimberley’s accommodation options up yet another notch, above the Trickle Creek Lodge (also on the ski hill) and the Chateau Kimberly, in the converted Cominco mine offices in the old town. Cranbrook offers the expected range of hotel chains and motel options.
	Diversion If snow sports or golf aren’t your thing, the area has a surprising amount of history to discover at the Fort Steele Heritage Park, 20 minutes north of Cranbrook on Highway 95, and the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel in Cranbrook, which will delight train buffs with its collection of Canadian Pacific and Spokane International Railway passenger cars and engines.