From a Christmas letter, December 1999
A Dawson Creek Update
Along with our best wishes for a Merry Christmas, we thought you might like a bit of an update on some of the recent changes in Dawson Creek. Many of the local businesses chose 1999 to expand or move and the town is actually growing again.
In February, the Lake View Credit Union opened a new, much larger building – the biggest and best-looking bank in town. Three Monkeys Computers moved from their small store to the old Credit Union building so they could expand their services.
Price Connection closed completely early in the year, but shortly after Inland Auto (Chrysler) took over the property and totally renovated it to give themselves a much larger service and sales facility. The old Inland Auto building was razed and a large new Safeway built on that property. Of course that means that the Mall is looking for a tenant for the old Safeway store. Unfortunately we did lose Jack Patterson’s Men’s Wear after more than 60 years in business and so far there has been no new clothing store to take its place.
A new Super 8 Motel opened in late October on Alaska Avenue at 15th Street. Just a little further east, Peavey Mart is building a large new store to replace the old one located near the golf course. Opening date is sometime early in the spring – perhaps as early as February. Northern Metalic doubled its size by adding on to the existing building and Home Hardware (R-Home) seems to have increased the size of its yard by quite a bit.
Canadian Tire is going to build on 8th Street, nestled between McDonald’s and the A&W where a farm equipment dealer is now located. Speaking of farm equipment, a large new dealership, Peace Tractor, has taken over RNC Sales on the Rolla Road and built an impressive new sales and service facility. There’s something large planned for a parcel of land at Fynn’s Corner, but so far nobody is saying what.
Of course our Arena and Curling Rink are practically brand-new as a result of the roof problems they had and the need to almost completely rebuild them. Both facilities are very attractive and modern. The Swimming Pool is having a major renovation done to it this year and the upper floor of the old Library Development Commission building next door to the pool has been turned into a large Day Care Centre. The South Peace Archives has a permanent home there as well.
Louisiana Pacific is building a $10 million veneer plant just east of the airport and talking about yet another industrial project somewhere in the area. Several other smaller businesses have built new facilities – Northern Auto Shine, Glacier Glass and Pace Auto Body, for example. The old Silverado Hotel has had a major facelift and looks much better now. A couple of new restaurants have opened and there is even some new project on line to move into the empty Zeller’s store downtown.
Northern Lights College is almost finished building their new dormitories and with the great ratings the College is getting they will need them just to keep up. Construction of the new Rotary Manor is supposed to be underway early in the spring. There are now three Seniors Condominium developments in Dawson and a fourth will be started in the spring – right across 13th Street from the Hospital.
Anyway, it looks like Dawson Creek is in a bit of a boom period and everyone is hoping it will continue so there will be more local jobs and less need to go to Grande Prairie to find things a bit out of the ordinary.
The Year 2000 has been designated a Homecoming Year for former residents of Dawson Creek and we hope you will be able to visit the city and us. Most of the events are planned for July and August but there should be things happening all year.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!