It seems like an easy question: rural or urban?
But the topic has confounded me for a while on many surveys.
When I first moved here 16 years ago via Calgary and Ottawa I enthusiastically checked the box that said rural, despite the fact that I lived in a three-storey condo complete with one of the few elevators in town.
Silly as it may seem, somehow, I still managed to feel like I had a connection to more of a rural life. After all, I was located right beside the fairgrounds where nearly every weekend featured shows for cows or horses, rodeos or tractors.
When you’ve never lived anywhere but in a place where people are counted in hundreds of thousands, somehow living in a place with a population of approximately 10,000 just didn’t seem urban enough. At that time, Salmon Arm was not known as a city, but as the District of Salmon Arm, adding weight to my impression that, as I did not live in a city, I was not an urban dweller.
At that time, I remember asking a few people what they thought. All my friends who still lived in large cities were in agreement – Salmon Arm was rural, not urban. The Shuswap was cabin country, a place where the real urban dwellers fled to find peace, tranquility or a place to party on the deck of a houseboat.
But as I continued to have my doubts. I didn’t live on a farm. The closest thing I had to livestock was a cocker spaniel. I didn’t chop wood or haul hay. I simply turned up the heat on my thermostat and tried to keep the plants on my deck watered.
Later on, I moved to a suburban lot in a suburban neighbourhood, and yet, I would still keep checking that “rural” box on surveys.
Salmon Arm, however, had been a city before.
In May 1905, a formal local government was started by the request of its citizens. Then in 1912, Salmon Arm upgraded its town status to an official city. In 1958, the city reverted to a village for more favourable treatment under the Municipal Act, while the District of Salmon Arm was created in 1970.
Then along came a semantics shift at district hall. Sparked by the impending centennial in May 2005, the district decided to drop the “district” moniker and proclaim itself a city once again.
(After all, one councillor told me at the time, if Merritt can be a city , so can we.)
And yet, somehow I still want to cling to that rural check box, even though we have a Walmart and a Starbucks and multiple Tim Horton’s (OK, even if it is just two outlets).
So I finally took the plunge on the last survey that came my way. I conceded that I suppose I must be an urban dweller. I actually felt a bit sad as I checked that box.
So I’m curious. What do other people think? Is Salmon Arm rural or urban? Are you a city mouse or country mouse? Email me your thoughts at newsroom@saobserver.net.
