The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
HOW WE WELCOME VISITORS HERE
We haven't quite figured out why so many long-time residents don't view tourism as important to our community.
It was part of a casual conversation over morning coffee at the office. Morning coffee around here normally takes place after a couple hours of intense keyboard relations and hard drive communication.
By then we're due for a shot of caffeine.
Anyway, the conversation revolved loosely around tourism...or to be more exact, what we have currently in the way of tourist traps in our wonderful little community.
The massive pile of rubble that occupies the former Princeton Hotel site is most certainly a tourist trap.
One wrong step - you fall in - you could be trapped. We can't think of a better location in town that screams "Welcome To Princeton" any louder than that site.
Another tourist trap we identified was courtesy of the Trans-Canada Trail Challenge. We took a short trip out on Highway 40 (aka Princeton-Summerland Road, aka Osprey Lake Road aka Pothole Alley....you get the idea).
On our 25-kilometre journey we discovered holes, seams, rips and tears, boulders and crumbling pavement that must have been put there for a very specific reason.
Then it dawned on us.
Highway 40 is actually a tourist trap known as an Adventure Highway. Sort of like one of those theme rides you take at a really expensive amusement park where you pay 25 bucks a head for a 'deeper experience' than the movie or video the ride was designed from.
Any deeper an experience on Highway 40 and we'd need a tow truck.
But, we have to forget that we are locals for a moment. We have to remember these attractions are here to attract visitors to our community.
It's our welcome mat to our friends from other parts of the province, country and world.
Welcome to Princeton.
Did you travel on Highway 40 to get here? If you didn't experience that ride wait a few months and Highway 5A will be pretty close to it after all the Summer and truck traffic.
Welcome to Princeton.
Did you fall into our downtown tourist trap? The falling down and pealing building facades are there for you to enjoy. Really. We put them there on purpose so you'd have wonderful pictures to e-mail to friends of our interesting downtown core.
You call it messy and run down.
We like to call it rustic.
Yep, we've got our own tourist traps alright. Only we're so used to them we just don't see them anymore.
