Ask yourself: who in their right mind wouldn’t want to move to an oasis like Fernie. On a North American scale, are there not thousands or tens of thousands of people for whom Fernie is a uniquely perfect lifestyle match.
Then why do the number of permanent residents stay pasted at 5,000, or even drop slightly, year after year?
Employment opportunities.
My impression, as an outsider and long-time admirer, is that Fernie is an attractive base for coal mining commuters and seasonal service workers. It is also an attractive base to set up small, low-revenue store front shops. It is not a place to start your career (with a few noteable exceptions that I have encountered over the years), and it is an economically risky place to relocate a family.
If the community does aspire to stabilize or grow its size with more permanent residents, these people need quality jobs. Effective self-promotion seems like a good first step. Your DMO opportunity sure seems on the mark.
If, on the other hand, you would like to keep things as they are, then stick with your current plan, but hope that nothing else changes (like an influx of big box stores, a string of bad winter seasons, new ski industry competition, an environmental hazard, a turn in coal fortunes, etc.), where change occurs without your control.
This was the lesson that I learned in Toronto during SARS – an event that we have still not gotten over completely – or Detroit learned during the change of auto inductry fortunes, or New York learned on a business-as-usual day one September, or New Orleans learned when bad climate met bad luck – things will change. Invest in the community to flourish during the good times, while building strength to help manage inevitable changes.
P.S. Please invest in Fernie so that I can relocate my family there.
czar from afar
