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Fernie...Those who have visited before and many who live here now remain quite secretive about this unique community. But once you've experienced the friendly pace of Fernie, you too may find yourself holding back from telling others. Fernie offers incredible activities and experiences that clearly set Fernie in a class of its own. As you browse through our profile it will become very clear to you why people "choose" to be in Fernie. Whether you're interested as a visitor, or in sharing in our fabulous life style, you owe it to yourself to check us out. Fernie is a community that is rich in heritage and history. With its roots planted in the coal mining industry, Fernie came into being in 1898 when the railroad came through this region. Formal incorporation took place in 1904, but this wasn't the only significant event to happen that year as a fire raged through the city nearly wiping it out. Four years later a second and more devastating fire ripped through Fernie leaving only 32 buildings standing. Out of the ashes arose a new approach to the City and buildings of brick and stone became the landscape of the downtown sector. Many of these buildings still exist today giving Fernie a unique heritage component. Our economy has always been tied closely to the resource extraction industries, particularly mining. Although, there are no mines located right at Fernie, we serve as a bedroom community to the coal mines in the area with about half of our population associated with mining. About 50% of the population base in Fernie is tied to these industries, however the communities economic dependency is much higher as there is an industrial tax sharing agreement in place. We don't anticipate much growth in the job base in mining and forestry as improvements in technology appear to be capable of handling any increased production requirements, however the industries have stability and provide important anchors to our economy. The remaining business base is in visitor services (accommodators, restaurants, etc.), community services (financial, legal, government services, health services, repair services, entertainment, etc) retail services, and construction trades. There is a growing number of "non store-front" businesses also including consultants and other home based enterprises that do not require a specific location to operate. Over the past few decades our tourism industry has grown steadily providing many amenities to locals and visitors. As a result, the city certainly doesn't fit the traditional "mining community" perception.
Our growth on the tourism front is currently very rapid and is the result of ongoing marketing initiatives. In May of 1997 our ski area (Fernie Snow Valley) was sold to the Lake Louise Group (now Fernie Alpine Resort). Over the past few years we have seen an acceleration in the development of new subdivisions in town and on the ski hill, and if all developers are able to see their plans fully completed Fernie alone will gain around 2,000 new housing units. These numbers don't take into account infill and reconstruction in the existing subdivisions, or development at the ski area. To put things in erspective, Fernie currently has about 2500 housing units. In addition to the residential construction we're also experiencing a significant amount of commercial activity. A number of buildings are undergoing extensive renovations to restore the heritage component of the structures and we're seeing increases in the numbers and types of businesses starting up in Fernie. LOCATION Fernie is located in the southeast corner of British Columbia in the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains. The local region is often referred to as the Elk Valley (name of the valley we're in) or the East Kootenays. Fernie is physically located along Highway #3 (also called the Crowsnest Pass Highway), 50 km west of the Alberta/BC border. a. Identification Local: City of Fernie Regional: Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) - British Columbia Provincial: Census Sub-Division "C" - British Columbia Federal: Census Division 011
b. Elevations 3,310 ft. (1,010 m.) c. Location Latitude: 49ø30'N Longitude: 115ø04'W
d. Land Form - predominantly glacial moraine deposits e. Distances to other centers: Calgary, Alberta 326 km 203 mi Cranbrook, BC 100 km 62 mi Spokane, Washington, USA 406 km 252 mi Edmonton, Alberta 581 km 361 mi Vancouver, BC 945 km 587 mi Lethbridge, Alberta 212 km 132 mi Medicine Hat, Alberta 385 km 240 mi Sparwood, BC 32 km 20 mi Elkford, BC 67 km 42 mi Nelson, BC 321 km 199 mi Banff, Alberta 375 km 233 mi Kalispell, Montana, USA 188 km 117 mi Roosville, USA 65 km 40 mi CLIMATE Predicting the weather in Fernie is somewhat of a challenge, however the weather patterns here are generally considered to be one of our assets. The local topography of mountains and valleys gives Fernie its own micro-climate. In this zone (roughly from the tunnel 20 km's south to Hosmer, 10 km's north) we can expect substantial snowfall during the winter (360 cm in town, 950 cm on the ski hill) and enough rainfall from spring through fall to keep the valley green and lush (but not soggy). The mountain range that makes this such a beautiful place also protects us from extreme temperature variations. Temperatures during winter will average about -11c, even when our neighbors in Alberta are locked into -30c arctic freezes. Summer time we can expect daytime averages of about +25c with evening temperatures that make it comfortable to sit outside. There is an average of 162 frost free days per year. On average, mid-April heralds the first frost free day of the year, while the first frost will usually arrive sometime in September. Wind is a rare commodity in Fernie although we can certainly move some leaves around when low fronts move through the region. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mean Daily Minimum ( øC over 13 years) Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. -11.7 -8.7 -5.4 -1.3 2.5 6.3 8.0 7.4 3.5 -0.4 -4.9 -10.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mean Daily Maximum (øC over 13 years) Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. -2.8 1.6 5.2 11.0 16.4 20.6 24.6 24.1 18.3 11.5 2.6 -2.2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Precipitation (mm over 12 years) Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Annual 143.5 107.5 86.0 71.7 82.0 94.5 81.0 55.9 69.5 88.8 152.8 163.9 1174.1
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