While at the Brackendale Art Gallery Saturday night, a friend who hadn't been around Squamish for a few months and whom I hadn't seen for a while started talking about the "incredible energy" that's virtually palpable in Squamish at the moment.
"Have you noticed it too, that vibe?" she asked, knowing full well what my answer would be. It's inspiring to have my intuition affirmed by a person whom I greatly admire and who has contributed significantly as a young entrepreneur to redefining the Squamish vernacular. As we talked more I could sense her excitement as she begins exploring what she wants to do next. She was like a kid in a candy store.
As we perused the room - a full house at the BAG to hear Squamish's own Arno Kopecky read from his new book The Oil Man and the Sea - we couldn't help but feel the kinetic energy there as well.
It's always hard to pinpoint where that paradigm shift really starts to occur in a community. Is it the natural order of things as we emerged out of the global recession and the Olympic hangover? Have we reached that critical mass of human capital that starts to collectively influence outcomes?
Regardless of what might be the action or reaction in this case, when you start to see tangible projects that embody conspicuous community vigour, you know it's not just your imagination at work. Things like: the new DC FastCharge for electric vehicles outside municipal hall, the beginnings of a community gathering place on the Mamquam Blind Channel opposite the Arts Council building, the Mountain Bike Skills Park courtesy of SORCA, recent movement on the oceanfront lands, a significant increase in housing/development starts and single family homes sales in past few months, TEDx Squamish, Imagine Squamish grassroots initiative to beautify downtown, the DOS Downtown Transformation Initiative, an ever-inspiring Quest University coming into its own and making its mark on the world, the Sea to Sky Gondola well on its way and ready for business in the spring, Squamish's prolific baby boom (there is definitely something in our water), the amount of people willing to show up for a book reading on a Saturday night the list goes on. I think even October's unprecedented warm, sunny weather helped fuel the sense of opportunity and optimism I was hearing in town.
What will the outcomes of this critical mass of energy be? How will you take advantage of, or contribute to, its momentum, or enjoy its glow? These are the questions that we should all be contemplating and acting on. This was certainly what the above-mentioned friend was so excited about on Saturday night.
Twenty-fourteen will be a banner year for Squamish I really believe this. When you have so much going on at one time, in a community of our size, it can't help but become viral!
