Spillimacheen: there’s something happening here.
Driving north from Invermere, past Radium, past Edgewater,
past Brisco, you arrive at the northern frontier of
the upper Columbia Valley. To an outsider, sometimes
blurry are the lines distinguishing Spilli as the northernmost
community of the Invermere centric Columbia
Valley or the southernmost community of the Golden-
Shuswap district. Not so for locals. To them, perhaps
more accurate is an identity expressed as: The Independent
Republic of Spilli.
Perched on the Columbia banks with Bugaboo glacier
towering to the west, Spillimacheen is in the heart
of the Pacific flyway for migratory birds travelling from
the Arctic tundra to South America’s Patagonia National
Park. It’s a rootsy, folksy agricultural outpost with an
eclectic array of entrepreneurs offering Texan cream pie,
dehydrated backcountry snacks, all natural honey and
antiques. Those who call Spilli home have a reverence for
the land and revel in their own brand of collaborative
self-reliance.
“It’s a magical place,” said Patty Derbyshire. She and
her husband Bernie made the move to Spilli from Calgary
four and change years ago. Since, they’ve been busy establishing
their own entrepreneurial contribution: Flyway
Farm and Forest. “Flyway is a five acre refuge, creative
garden, and vintage trailer park,” said Patty. “Our vision
is for Flyway to be a destination retreat. This year we had
an intimate music festival planned in June called Newt
Fest, but with COVID, we had to put that on hold.” Also
on hold is their Newt Golf Art Invitational Putt Putt: a
creative mini-golf tournament entirely unto itself. Think
a collision of urban putt, holoscene mini-golf and folkart
whirligigs.
They both have interesting backgrounds. Patty’s career
was in higher education. For twenty-five years, she
taught at Mount Royal University. Most recently teaching
social innovation at MRU’s Bissett School of Business.
“I’ll be leaving the university after this academic
year, but I’ll continue to help at the College of the Rockies.
Meanwhile, Bernie was for a time in software – he was
the software lead on land mine detection systems for the
Canadian military effort in Afghanistan. After, he pursued
executive coaching and motorcycle engineering.
“When we first moved here, we ended up hauling
three tonnes of metal off the property,” said Bernie. Flyway
was a diamond in the rough with its own charming
idiosyncrasies. “We didn’t have electricity when we
first arrived. One day we had the generator going and
Patty heard someone singing in our basement.” Curious,
Bernie went downstairs. There, he found a stranger. “He
asked me why I turned the light off, I asked him why he
was singing in my basement,” Bernie said, laughing. It
was a local just offering a free renovation. “He was down
there innocently levelling our foundation.”
A partnership with the land is central to Patty and
Bernie’s focus. So is community. So much so that when
her neighbours Nola Alt and Nancy Fehr approached
with an offer they couldn’t refuse, they did exactly that,
they didn’t refuse. The offer was to take over ownership
of the Spilli Station Cafe. “It was a huge honour that they
approached us relative newcomers,” said Patty. “To be the
next stewards of that special cafe, it’s something we’re really
excited about.”
To prepare, Patty apprenticed under Nancy and Nola
this past spring and summer. “I learned the recipes, the
menu, how to make the pie, all of that. It’s been a lot of
fun.” But the real lesson was in getting to know the community.
“Like how we have the fella’s gather on Wednesday
and the ladies on Thursday. What I learned this summer
is the importance of sitting down and visiting and
learning about what’s going on in people’s lives. It’s as
important as the food.” Which, by the way, is mouth-wateringly
good.
“They have exciting ideas for the cafe,” said Nola.
“I’ll be around to help next spring when they reopen, but
I know they’re going to do a terrific job.” Will there be
any changes? “A few but not many,” said Patty. “We are
going to keep the Wednesday to Sunday schedule and
keep the menu. But we are going to open a month earlier
in April. We also want to add more of a grab-and-go
menu for the increase in traffic we’re going to see with the
closure of the Trans-Canada.”
They’re also going to try adding an eggs and bacon
weekend breakfast. “Lots of the changes are just from
what we hear in the community, like ‘are you going to do
a breakfast again?’ that kind of thing,” said Bernie. “And
maybe a once per month dinner too.” Bernie’s family lineage
traces back to the French area of Switzerland. “So I
would love to try doing a beef bourguignon and steamed
yeast dumplings.” The Spilli Station Cafe is central to
the community of Spillimacheen. “That’s something we
won’t be changing,” Patty said.
It’s clear. There’s something happening in Spillimacheen.
The Derbyshire’s are proud to be part of the community’s
continued economic, cultural resurgence.