We often hear that what people love most about New Westminster is that it maintains that "small-town" feeling.
And it's true. Despite being bordered by bustling cities like Burnaby, Coquitlam and Surrey, New Westminster has managed to maintain that friendly familiarity and slower pace of life that's all but gone in many places.
It has a sense of the small town in the way in which tiny family-run shops continue to flourish and in the enthusiasm in which people embrace annual favourites like the Hyack Festival.
But there is one way in which - happily - New West is distinctly unlike the "small-town" stereotype.
Small towns often get a bad reputation for allowing intolerance to be perpetuated under a guise of "traditional" values. For those who don't fit the "traditional" role - be it due to ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation - a small town can be a place one simply hopes to escape from, and not a place to call home.
Yet given what we've seen in the last decade, New Westminster has embraced the best parts of its small-town appeal while keeping pace with the wide world around it.
In recent years, we've seen both the school district and city hall make positive moves in supporting the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer community, while the annual Pride Festival here in the city has continued to grow and flourish, providing a family-friendly and inclusive event for residents and visitors alike. We're proud to be in a community that values acceptance, support, equality and human rights as much as it values its history and its sense of small-town coziness. It's the best of both worlds, frankly, and we wouldn't have it any other way. There's always more work to be done and strides to be made, but we're on the right track.
Keep it up, Royal City.
