Berry Creek

Welcome to Berry Creek!!! Where your neighbours are your friends.   Or that's what the sign says on the way into town.  The sign also says this is the location of the best Berry Pies this side of the rockies.  Every Summer there is a pie baking, pie eating and pie throwing contest.  The area is ripe with wild berries and you pick farms.  It's one of the main staples for entertainment. 

Berry Creek was founded when explorers got blown off course from the main river in the fall.  They came across a Native American encampment, they were welcomed to share the fire.  They also shared fresh picked berries and bannock that night.  Because the creek is on the larger side, some of the explorers asked to stay and began setting up homesteads.  Within 2 years there was a prosperous community living along the creek.  They had good relations with the neighbouring Natives, but as the land had never been claimed by one band or another the residence were not bothered by the natives in the area.  At least to begin with.

Fast forward ahead one hundred and ten years to present day.  Berry Creek is still a prosperous community though it's growth has slowed somewhat in the past few years.   They have expanded their industry to include a Saw Mill and Pulp and Paper mill to the North, Potash Mines to the south, and there are a few federal and provinicial prisons in the area.  Berry Creek's population has grown and continues to grow, there are about 45,000 citizens in this fair city.

The city has trees and hills and is divided into 6 sections.  There is central Valley, South hill, West Valley, East Valley, West Hill and East Plains.  Each section has multiple elementary schools and there are three high schools in the city, a public one, a catholic one and an alternative high school.  There is also a college located in East Valley that works as a feeder to the provinicial universities.  The affluent areas include the West Hill and East Plains with East Valley and South Hill being fairly middle class.  Central Valley is mostly commericial developments though there are a few older homes which vary is price range.  The West Valley is mostly low socio-economic, there are more incidents of crime and gangs in that area, but for the size of the city the crime rate was a little higher than someone would like it to be, meaning most of the citizens in Berry Creek.

The Public High School was a comprehensive High School.  It was named after the founder of the first school in Berry Creek, Mrs. Vylma Meiers, Meiers Comprehensive High School.  The school usually had a population of 3500 students at any given time.  In the 80s the school had gone under a revamping to include different programs for all the students.  It boasted one of the most varied program offerings in the province.  The sports team were known as the Meier Mauraders.  There colours were blue, silver and white.  They even had a drama club known as the Meier Masquaraders which would often put on variety shows and compete in national drama competitions.  The last 5 years they had won nationals and were even given the opportunity to showcase some of their skits on the Comedy Network.

The Catholic High School, which provides MCHS with it's greatest competition, is Sacred Heart High School.  It started some 20 years after the public school and has a population of 2000 students at any given time.  It is currently undergoing an upgrade so that it can offer more programs and increase their sports program.  Their sports team are the Sacred Heart Saints and their colours are Black, red and yellow.  Their Drama deptartment will sometimes pair up with MCHS and put on public musicals or larger productions although this is becoming less frequent as the school's population increases.

The Alternative High School is staffed as a cooperative by the public and Separate division.  They offer courses at alternate times and in such away that young adults who would like to finish their education but have to work as well can attend school at night or in block chunks meaning they would only take one class in the morning or afternoon but they would only take that course for 4 weeks.

The rest of the city was pretty much like any other small city across the country.  There were regular restaurants, fast food restaurants, chain restaurants, two malls one was better than the other, box stores were beginning to pop up everywhere and the housing development had recently gone on the rise. 

Outside of Berry Creek are some wonderful natural places to experience.  They have lakes and parks within a hour driving distance, there are historical sites that are marked as places to visit but also there are some sites that aren't but the teens love to go there and have for years.  Just don't tell the teens that their parents used to hang out there too!!!

In future blogs I will go into more detail in the schools, the hang outs and some other important venues of this little town with so many loveable characters.