‘I’m not going anywhere’

Patrick Edmonds can most often be found walking through Revelstoke’s core, coffee cup in one hand as he strolls through the town he loves.

Family brought Patrick here when he moved to town to help his sister raise her children.

“Now they’re all taller than me!” Patrick laughed, gesturing above his short frame and giving a glance up.

Decades of labour have curled his back, but it’s rare not to see his head held high, meeting you with a smile that could convince you he’s known you the entire time he’s lived in Revelstoke.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” will likely be Patrick’s reply when you say hello.

Only the heaviest of snowfalls or hardest of rains will convince him that not all of Revelstoke’s weather is fantastic. Still, he’ll optimistically comment how he’s walked to work in even harsher weather.

He measures previous jobs, former homes and past travels in the walking distance from there to his spot in Revelstoke.

“Six hours to get to Noah’s Ark? That’s not that bad,” Patrick told Revelstoke Mountaineer, referencing a previous job at the landmark campground over 30 kilometres west on the Trans Canada highway. “It was $86 plus tip for the taxi to Three Valley one time. Forget it, I’m walking.”

The same work ethic kept Patrick at Revelstoke’s historic Regent Hotel, working in the kitchen for 15 years along with all the other jobs he lists in his stories.

While Patrick’s current health struggles have hindered long-term employment in recent years, his eyes light up at the hint of a chance he might contribute to Revelstoke, whether taking weekend landscaping jobs or helping local stores with smaller tasks.

“Give ‘er until you’re finished,” he said, recalling how often employers and fellow employees have urged him to slow down on the site.

Revelstoke is a community that he loves, and with its growth over the years, there is still a friendly streak in all of his favourite landmarks. Including local coffee shop, Dose Coffee. Almost always his first stop of the day, Patrick has a reputation for bringing the crowds.

“I’ll get there, they’ll say, ‘what are you doing here so early?’ Well, I got to get there before it gets busy. I leave, there’s 47 people in line after me.”

Dose staff hail him as a good luck charm, and a store gift card is frequently topped up by community members to cover Patrick’s morning routine. That is just one of many ways Revelstoke residents new and old look out for him, among bringing him along for Soup and a Smile lunches, coordinating clothing donations and repairs or joining along for his morning and evening walks to enjoy the life stories he easily shares.

While his family hails from the Lillooet Nation and he grew up working on the family dairy farm in Ontario before moving around Canada for work, any mention of moving on from Revelstoke gets a quick and sure response.

“I’m not going anywhere.”