What are your favourite small towns in Canada?

urbandreamer · #1 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 12:08 AM**

Inspired by the "neighbourhood vs downtown" debate, let's post google streetview links of your favourite main streets in small town Canada.

Let's try to keep them to towns under 15,000 people to keep it interesting.

I really enjoyed spending a 2016 summer afternoon in Creemore, Ontario. I know it's now associated with Kellie Leitch but it's really the perfect tiny town if you're coming from a downtown Toronto perspective: indie cafes, brewpub, LCBO and Beer store, library, tiny jail, grocery store, etc surrounded by rolling hills and endless horse farms.

SignalHillHiker · #2 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 12:15 AM**

Bay de Verde, on the Northwest Avalon. It's one of the only surviving Newfoundland villages, in every sense. It hasn't become a tourist town, or an artist retreat, or a bedroom community. It has a thriving fish plant, young families, thick accents, traditional activities. It's like going back to the 1940s.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@48.08288...8i6656!6m1!1e1

Bonavista is my favourite small town. It's a bit meaty by our standards, several thousand, but is still obviously small. Despite having so few people, it has almost as many heritage buildings as St. John's.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@48.65317...8i6656!6m1!1e1

I haven't been to this one yet, but learned of it through SSP. Paris, Ontario. This view... I love it so much that it could honestly be enough to sustain me. I could live here, alone, for a few years without getting bored. Just for this:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.19425...8i6656!6m1!1e1

ue · #3 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 12:50 AM**

Nelson BC
Kaslo BC
Oliver BC
Fernie BC
Cumberland BC
Tofino BC
Dawson City YT
Lacombe AB
Nanton AB
Hairy Hill AB
Rowley AB
Dorothy AB
Peace River AB
Coleman AB
Virden MB
Churchill MB
Goderich ON
St Marys ON
Fergus ON
Paris ON
Alma NB
Amherst NS
Pictou NS
Lunenburg NS
Liverpool NS
Riverport NS
Neils Harbour NS

rousseau · #4 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 12:59 AM**

St. Marys is a cute town, though people tell me it's full of meth-heads.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.25961...7i13312!8i6656

Meaford is a nifty little place when you're driving along the shore of Georgian Bay.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.60731...7i13312!8i6656

For quaintness, it's hard to beat Perth.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.89992...7i13312!8i6656

Elora is kinda artsy and has a gorge.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.68323...7i13312!8i6656

Bayfield is a sedate beach town for adults. No tacky T-shirts or stale hot dogs here.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.56358...7i13312!8i6656

Farther up the coast, Kincardine has a sleepy maritime vibe in the summer.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.17669...7i13312!8i6656

ue · #5 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 1:23 AM**

I've never heard of Bay de Verde and Kincardine; they look amazing!

isaidso · #6 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 1:32 AM**

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia
Rustico, PEI
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec
Jordan, Ontario
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Elora, Ontario
Owen Sound, Ontario
Fort Frances, Ontario
Steinbach, Manitoba
Banff, Alberta
Canmore, Alberta
Nanton, Alberta
Oliver, BC
Osoyoos, BC
Castlegar, BC

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

Courtesy of ak0

Courtesy of twnmm

balletomane · #7 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 2:02 AM**

Snowflake, Manitoba population: 2

I've always found this nearly deserted community enchanting, something about the name and its two, forlorn grain elevators overlooking the prairie landscape near the Pembina Valley. It was once a thriving farming community of 150 around WW2, but those days are long gone.

https://cpsouthernmb.com/2015/05/page/4/

Flin Flon, is also an odd, quirky town.
Its sewage system was built above-grade, also functioning as sidewalks because building in the Canadian shield is expensive.
It was named after a science fiction character.
Its located on the MB/SK border, like Llyodminster between AB/SK.
Some of its up-and-down streets are reminiscent of those in San Francisco, if it were shrunk and transplanted into the Canadian Shield.
There was once a plan to develop an urban corridor in the Canadian Shield, and Flin Flon was to be transformed into a metropolis.
Plus, its "the best" place for viewing the northern lights...does every northern community capitalize on this?
And...home to Manitoba's tallest free standing structure (825 ft tall)!

https://sites.google.com/site/northo...reid/the-stack

SignalHillHiker · #8 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 2:05 AM**

We have a town with two residents as well... but it's just two houses.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.89427...7i13312!8i6656

I assume it's either people who really love the French radio/television broadcasts from St-Pierre, OR, people actually from St-Pierre who settled here.

Anyhow, the two-person town is named Calmer.

FrAnKs · #9 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 2:08 AM**

For those I've visited :

Percé, Tadoussac, Baie-St-Paul, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Shédiac

Andy6 · #10 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 2:20 AM**

Large:
Truro, NS

Medium:
Morden, MB

Small:
Trinity, NL

Village:
Richards Landing, ON

Loco101 · #11 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 2:58 AM**

Cobalt, ON would be awesome if many of the older buildings could be restored.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@47.39636...7i13312!8i6656

Acajack · #12 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 3:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loco101

Cobalt, ON would be awesome if many of the older buildings could be restored.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@47.39636...7i13312!8i6656

"Awesome"? Let's not get carried away now...

FrAnKs · #13 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 3:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Awesome"? Let's not get carried away now...

J'vais devoir réviser mes exigences à la baisse

!

Loco101 · #14 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 3:29 AM**

Hé, vous deux!!! C'est le meilleur que je puisse trouver dans le nord de l'Ontario tabarnak!

Although somebody did mention Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island which is a very tiny place. Cobalt has an interesting history in mining and even has a real mine head frame on its main street. It's my favourite small town in Northeastern Ontario if we're talking about non-natural features. In the Northwest I'd pick Kenora....oh wait it has 15,096 people according to the 2016 census.

You won't find "cute little towns" in Northern Ontario or Northern Quebec.

GeneralLeeTPHLS · #15 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 3:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

St. Marys is a cute town, though people tell me it's full of meth-heads.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.25961...7i13312!8i6656

I've spent a good few visits at St. Mary's and I never heard or seen anything like this rumour....care to explain in further detail? It's a really charming town IMO, good amount of older people that were formerly farmers and a strong community that's growing well with new families. Good downtown and beautiful parks, just a classic mill and quarry-town.

rousseau · #16 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 4:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralLeeTPHLS

I've spent a good few visits at St. Mary's and I never heard or seen anything like this rumour....care to explain in further detail? It's a really charming town IMO, good amount of older people that were formerly farmers and a strong community that's growing well with new families. Good downtown and beautiful parks, just a classic mill and quarry-town.

Stratford and environs (including St. Marys) was and apparently still is Ontario's meth hotbed. From stories from 2005 and 2009:

Quote:

Perth County has long been recognized as Ontario's birthplace of crystal meth, starting in the early 2000s when Dan McCool obtained the recipe in Texas as the selling price for a used truck, according to Stratford Police Sgt. Mike Bellai, who presented during the summit. McCool then moved back to the area and started selling and producing meth. The area achieved nation-wide notoriety, however, when the Toronto Star pinpointed Stratford and Perth in a 2004 feature on the drug.

https://www.ourperth.ca/news-story/6...ve-in-breadth/

Quote:

As of last fall, 11 of 17 meth labs busted in Ontario were in Perth County, giving it the dubious distinction as the province's meth capital.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/bandidos.../11544991.html

It's not like the Wild West of meth around here--over the years I've only ever seen maybe a dozen kids on the streets here in Stratford who were obviously strung out on the drug--but I've heard from several natives of St. Marys that drug use among the young adults who stay in town is rather high.

St. Marys being so neat, tidy, quaint and charming is why the drug problem seems so unexpected.

logan5 · #17 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 4:21 AM**

The ultimate nightmare scenario... trapped in a small town. Whistler wins this contest.

dennis · #18 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 5:17 AM**

Kenora
Gimli
Morden
Selkirk
Beausejour
Neepawa
Arborg
Banff
Summerland
Penticton (which is not really a small town I guess)
I liked the okanagan valley.

Razor · #19 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 5:51 AM**

Perth for sure
Westport
Temagami
Is Brockville too big?

Loco101 · #20 Posted **Apr 23, 2017, 9:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

Perth for sure
Westport
Temagami
Is Brockville too big?

Temagami for sure if you're mainly counting natural beauty. As for the town itself, it's dying. There aren't really any special buildings or things to see in the town centre and along the highway with the exception of the former train station. Lake Temagami and the tall white pines are the real highlights.