It wasn’t all bad: A look at some of the good things that happened in Revelstoke in 2020

By Elouise Paabo. Illustration by Sonia García

This story first appeared in print in the February 2021 issue of Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine. Read the e-edition here:

THE NIGHTMARE THAT WAS 2020 IS FINALLY OVER.

Now that we’re in the new year, it may be tempting to pretend it never happened, delete it from our memory and throw out any remaining artifacts from the year.

Yet, after looking back on 2020, it wasn’t all bad here in Revelstoke. In fact, amazing things happened in Revelstoke, and it’s important to remember all the good things.

The year started off with the first community musical performance in Revelstoke in 11 years, followed by the library celebrating its centennial anniversary. The year was filled with new ways to celebrate the people of our town. There was a driveby parade full of encouraging signs to celebrate the graduating class of 2020, with onlookers banging pots and tooting horns for those on the front line.

There were cheerful Christmas parades organized by locals wanting to spread the holiday spirit. The Revelstoke Arts Council hosted socially-distanced Guerrilla Gigs in the summer. Artists Kyle Thornley, Bruno Long and Kelly Hutcheson had their work added to the Art Alleries exhibition that we all know and love in downtown Revelstoke. As the holidays came, thirty local volunteers hosted the Community Christmas Dinner, a heartwarming act of kindness during a particularly tough time.

With a line out the door every day and one of the hardest holiday seasons to hit this town, the community showed immeasurable gratitude to the staff at the Revelstoke Post Office. A few days after Christmas, staff member Janice Jarvis wanted to return the gratitude, “The Revelstoke Post Office Staff would like to thank all our amazing customers for their patience, kind words, and gifts during this holiday season!”

The post office seemed to be a place of compassion when a stranger made Devon King’s day, “Shout out to the wonderful woman that paid the shipping for my parcel at the Post Offi ce! I waited in line for 45 minutes, finally got up to the counter, then realized I didn’t have my card with me.

Happy holidays Revelstoke!” Similar acts of selflessness were happening throughout town when Amélia Bradbury was buying poutine for her friends at a local pizzeria, but when her card didn’t work the staff paid for everything and wished her a Merry Christmas with the simple request to pay it forward.

And paying it forward is exactly what local woman Sandra Gregory did one night in January when she was driving near the Big Eddy Pub in freezing weather, when she thought she saw someone with a walker on the side of the road. “I was sure I was seeing things, so I went over the bridge, but it was bothering me too much. I drove back.” Sure enough, it was an 88-year-old senior who couldn’t get her car out of the snow and was trying to get to her church group at the Big Eddy Pub. After picking her up and offering her number for whenever she needed help, seniors started calling Sandra taking her up on the off er. Sandra didn’t know it at the time, but she had just started a domino effect of kindness throughout town and Revelstoke Unstuck was born.

Sandra organically received help from two other local women, Céline Rytz and Ella Carmicheal and now the three of them voluntarily run Revelstoke Unstuck alongside multiple full-time jobs.

Céline was hooked from the first time she shoveled snow for members of our community who may be isolated or physically unable to remove the snow. “It was kind of contagious because it felt like you really did make a difference,” she said.

The initiative quickly became even more meaningful when the group posted online, asking if anyone in the community needed to be shown they were loved on Valentine’s Day. Fourteen elderly ladies were nominated and the next day each woman was delivered a beautiful bouquet of flowers. A lot of the nominated ladies were widows and couldn’t remember the last time they received flowers, “If you’ve ever delivered flowers to someone who has not had them in twenty years or has no idea genuinely why someone would even think of them, it’s one of the best feelings in the world.”

Revelstoke Unstuck quickly became a community of taking elderly ladies out to dinner, helping a neighbour with work around the house, getting groceries for those in need and being a support network for anyone who needed it. They now have a group of dedicated volunteers and the involvement from locals is only growing, “The greatest part of Revelstoke Unstuck is that it’s not specific to one person. It doesn’t matter if you are new to town, a stay-at-home mom, working three jobs or retired. It’s a group of people that come together to help where we can, when we can.”

Revelstoke community members also paid it forward in 2020 with their generosity to the new bargain basement shop that opened in early November. Patty Campbell says, “It’s very humbling to see the amount we received from the community. We didn’t think we were going to open our doors until December but thanks to the people of Revelstoke, we were able to open up early. The community is awesome, they’re very giving.”

Another resident who has experienced the giving nature of Revelstoke firsthand is Justine Winser. Through the generosity of the community, she was able to raise close to $35,000 for her young cousin who is fighting Desmoplastic Small Cell Tumor, a rare and aggressive cancer. “I’ve lived here nine years now and Revelstoke attracts very special people,” she said. “People that I have met here and have since left, reached out from all over the globe to send donations. I have so much gratitude for the people of Revelstoke.”

With a little reflection, it’s clear that 2020 was full of silver linings and reasons to smile, especially here in Revelstoke. Perhaps we needn’t forget about the year after all. Instead, we can embrace the support we showed one another and head into the new year with more love and kindness than ever before.