Yarrow, British Columbia

Yarrow is a village located 90 kilometres east of Vancouver and 18 km west of downtown Chilliwack, in British Columbia, Canada. Yarrow has a picturesque setting in the Fraser Valley with a panorama of mountain and valley views. The village was first settled by Mennonites in the late 1920s, following the draining of Sumas Lake.

Geography

Yarrow is in the Fraser Valley, which traverses the Lower Mainland, of British Columbia. The Lower Mainland Ecoregion is part of the Pacific Maritime Ecozone. The village of Yarrow lies between Vedder Mountain to the south and the Vedder River to the north. The climate is temperate with most of the precipitation falling in the winter months as rain. The summer is warm and relatively dry. The fertile upper Fraser Valley supports the growth of many varieties of fruit, vegetables and herbs. Notable local field crops are corn, hops and brussel sprouts.

History

The property that was to later become the village of Yarrow was first owned by Volkert Vedder, who alienated it from Crown land in 1858. In 1910, the B.C. Electric Railway constructed a line from Vancouver to nearby Chilliwack that skirted the edge of Sumas Lake. One of the stations along this line was named Yarrow. The townsite was built on land reclaimed, in part, from Sumas Lake. In the early 1920s, the provincial government built dykes to channel the Vedder River through the Vedder Canal to the Fraser River. This dyking project, which was completed in 1924, opened 12,000 acres (49 km²) of land for agriculture to the west of Yarrow. By 1928, much of the land was owned by Chauncey Eckert. That same year, a group of ethnic Dutch-German Mennonites, who had fled persecution in the Soviet Union, began buying lots of this land from Eckert. They created a Mennonite community that flourished from the late 1920s until the early 1960s. As many Mennonites began to assimilate into mainstream Canadian culture, they moved away from the rural village of Yarrow, and subsequent settlers were of many different ethnic backgrounds. Today, Yarrow functions mainly as a semi-rural suburb of Chilliwack.

Yarrow Days

On the first weekend of June, residents of Yarrow celebrate their community with Yarrow Days. Festivities begin at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, with a parade down Yarrow Central Road that starts at the Yarrow School on Wilson Road and ends at the Yarrow MB Church. Booths located in the park display local crafts, clothes, and homemade food. Particularly popular are the bake-sales and barbecues by members of the local churches, offering ethnic and traditional wares. Performers provide entertainment as residents and visitors make new friends and renew acquaintances. Local merchants offer specials in the nearby shops. Events include a barbecue and dance at the Community Hall on Saturday night and a pancake breakfast at the hall and church service in the park on Sunday morning.

References

* Klassen, Agatha. E. (1976). "Yarrow: A Portrait in Mosaic." Clearbrook, B.C.: Klassen
* Yarrow Research Committee (2002). "Yarrow, British Columbia: Mennonite Promise" :— Volume I, "Before We Were the Land’s.":— Volume II, "Village of Unsettled Yearnings."

External links

* [http://www.yarrowecovillage.ca Yarrow Ecovillage]
* [http://www.elmerwiens.ca/home/album3_2.html Yarrow, B.C. Scenes and Times]
* [http://www.elmerwiens.ca/home/album3.html Yarrow Days Parade]
* [http://www.elmerwiens.ca/home/album3_4.html Yarrow Pioneers: Vedder River Flats and Majuba Hill]