If You Grew Up in the Fraser Valley, You’ll Remember These 13 Things

If you grew up between Langley and Hope, some memories need no explanation. There was the ferry lineup at Fort Langley. There was the single lane over the Fraser at Mission, run by a traffic light. And for one weekend every August, the whole valley watched the sky over Abbotsford.

This is a list of those places and moments. It runs from Langley and Abbotsford out to Chilliwack, 100 km east of Vancouver, and on past Hope. Some of these places are gone. Others are still standing, and you can visit them this weekend.

For each one you get the story, why it stuck, and the practical details if you want to go back. Where hours or prices couldn’t be confirmed, they’re left out, with a link to the official source.

13. Willowbrook Shopping Centre (Langley)

Willowbrook opened in 1979 and has been expanded and renovated several times since. It’s a large single-level mall where Fraser Highway meets Highway 10. For a generation of Langley teenagers, it was where Saturday happened.

Check the mall’s own website for current hours before you go. A Willowbrook SkyTrain station is under construction beside the mall as part of the Surrey Langley SkyTrain, and the province expects it to open in late 2029.

12. Sumas Lake and the Sumas Prairie (Abbotsford to Chilliwack)

The flat farmland along Highway 1 between Abbotsford and Chilliwack used to be a large, shallow lake. Settlers drained it between 1920 and 1924 to make farmland. On July 9, 1924, it was officially declared dry.

For the Semá:th (Sumas) First Nation, the lake, Semá:th Xó:tsa, was a central food source. Its loss is still remembered. If you want to understand what that stretch of highway covers, start with the Sumas First Nation’s own account and this local history of the lake.

You can see the prairie year-round from Highway 1 and the back roads, from Sumas Mountain east toward Chilliwack. Most of it is private farmland. Stay on public roads and off the dikes. The low ground still floods.

The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford holds historic photos of the lake. Look at a few before your next drive east, and the flat fields start to read differently.

11. Langley Speedway (Campbell Valley Regional Park, south Langley)

In south Langley, a paved stock-car oval ran from the 1960s until 1984. The Langley Advance Times puts the opening at 1963. For its last few years, 1980 to 1984, it ran as Action Raceway. It hosted NASCAR races in the 1970s.

The track closed in 1984 as its popularity faded. The land became part of Campbell Valley Regional Park. Metro Vancouver later turned down a plan to bring racing back, so the noise stayed in the past.

The old oval sits inside the park, which is free and open year-round. The closest parking is the equestrian centre lot on 208 Street, just south of 16 Avenue. The North Valley entrance is on 16 Avenue near 200 Street. Walking the banked asphalt with no engines around is an odd and memorable way to spend an afternoon.

10. Westminster Abbey’s bells (Mission)

Benedictine monks run this hilltop abbey above Mission. The abbey church was completed in 1982. The hilltop gives wide views over the Fraser Valley.

The bells are what many people remember. The abbey’s ten bells were ordered from London’s Whitechapel foundry in 1948. They hang in a concrete tower finished in 1957. They’re rung in the English change-ringing style, which sounds nothing like a single church bell tolling the hour.

This is a working monastery. The abbey asks for absolute silence in the church and no photos during services. The church and grounds have set visiting hours, and the abbey does not list an admission fee. Confirm them on the abbey’s visiting page first.

It’s off Highway 7 and Dewdney Trunk Road in east Mission.

9. Clayburn Village (Abbotsford)

Clayburn grew up around a brick plant founded in 1905 at the foot of Sumas Mountain. Brick and clay products were made here until 1930. Clayburn bricks were shipped widely, including for Vancouver’s Marine Building.

The company town is still mostly intact. The original brick houses, church and schoolhouse are standing, and there’s a small museum on the first floor of the schoolhouse. Heritage Abbotsford has more on the buildings.

The village store operates in the general store building that opened in 1912. The museum’s own site lists it as open Saturdays 1 to 4 p.m. in June, July and August, admission by donation, with private tours by appointment, so it isn’t open for drop-in visits in November. Store hours couldn’t be verified, so check before you make the drive for a specific stop. The streets are free to walk year-round.

Take Clayburn Road east of Highway 11. These are homes, so keep it respectful.

8. The Hope Slide (Highway 3, east of Hope)

Early on January 9, 1965, a huge landslide came down into the Nicolum Creek valley. It buried nearly three kilometres of the Hope-Princeton Highway. Four motorists were killed.

The rebuilt highway now runs over the top of the slide debris. A roadside viewpoint lets you stop and take in the scale of it. Most people who grew up out here have pulled over at least once on the way to the Interior.

The viewpoint is about 16 km east of Hope on Highway 3. It’s a roadside pullout, so access depends on highway conditions. Check DriveBC before any winter trip on Highway 3, and go prepared for mountain driving.

7. The one-lane Mission rail bridge and the orange Mission Bridge (Mission and Abbotsford)

Before 1973, crossing the Fraser at Mission meant driving on the CPR rail bridge. In 1927 it was planked over for a single lane of cars, controlled by a traffic light. You waited your turn, and sometimes you waited for a train.

That ended on July 7, 1973, when the orange highway bridge opened. The Mission Museum’s bridge story notes a twist: the new bridge ended up helping Abbotsford’s economy more than Mission’s.

Both bridges still stand side by side. Only the highway bridge carries cars, and the rail bridge still carries trains. You cross on Highway 11 between Abbotsford and Mission.

6. Bridal Veil Falls (Popkum, east of Chilliwack)

A short forest trail ends at a waterfall that drops 60 metres over a smooth rock face, according to BC Parks. It was a standard stop on family drives east, and an easy one for short legs.

The falls have a working past. In the early 1900s they generated electricity for the Bridal Falls Chalet. The area became a provincial park in 1965. BC Parks says the park sits on the site of the ancient village of Popkum.

The park operator lists the gate season as April 1 to October 31, so the gate is shut now. A listing also showed the trails to the falls temporarily closed after a rockfall in August 2026. Check BC Parks advisories before any visit. Park listings say no day-use pass is required.

In cold weather the falls can freeze into an unstable wall of ice. Admire it from a distance.

5. The Albion Ferry (Maple Ridge to Fort Langley)

From 1957 until 2009, a small free ferry carried cars and passengers across the Fraser between Albion in Maple Ridge and Fort Langley. The Maple Ridge Museum says locals lobbied for decades to get it.

If you lived on either side, you remember the lineup. The crossing was short and the wait often wasn’t. That was the price of free.

The ferry made its last run on July 31, 2009, after the Golden Ears Bridge opened. That ended 52 years of free sailings. The old landing areas are near Fort Langley and Albion, if you want to stand where the line used to start.

4. Kilby General Store (Harrison Mills)

The Kilby General Store opened on August 14, 1906. It was the centre of a mill and railway town where the Harrison and Fraser rivers meet.

Today it’s a museum stocked with original merchandise. Costumed interpreters staff it, and there are farm animals and a café. It’s a designated provincial heritage site, and for many valley kids it was a school trip with a cookie at the end.

From Nov. 7 to Dec. 13, Kilby is open Saturdays and Sundays. The café and gift shop are open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the museum 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It then closes for the season from Dec. 14 until spring 2027. Museum admission is $16 for adults, $13 for seniors, $11 for youth 6 to 16 and students, and free for kids 5 and under. Confirm on Kilby’s hours and fees page before you go. The site says it’s dog-friendly.

Take Highway 7 east of Mission toward Harrison Mills.

3. Cultus Lake Waterpark (Cultus Lake, Chilliwack)

Tourism Chilliwack says the waterpark has operated since 1984, and the park calls itself B.C.’s biggest. Its signature ride is the Freefall, a slide with a vertical drop of 72 feet, about 22 metres. It has run for more than three decades. Plenty of valley kids remember standing at the top and reconsidering.

The park’s own site says it is closed for the 2026 season and to check back in spring 2027. The park did reopen in phases in late July 2026, after a six-week closure that followed an electrical incident in June that injured 12 young people. 2027 prices aren’t posted yet. Check the waterpark’s page before you plan next summer.

To get there, take Highway 1 to Chilliwack, then head south on Vedder Road and the Columbia Valley Highway to Cultus Lake.

2. Fort Langley National Historic Site (Fort Langley)

The Hudson’s Bay Company built the first Fort Langley in 1827. It moved to its present site in 1840. The storehouse is the original building.

The Big House, Servants’ Quarters and bastions were rebuilt in 1958 for B.C.’s centennial. That reconstruction is the fort most valley kids met on a school field trip.

Parks Canada says the site is open daily, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and closed Dec. 24, 25, 26 and 31 and Jan. 1. Admission is $10 for adults and $8.50 for seniors, and youth 17 and under get in free. The bastions and upper gallery are currently closed for conservation work. Check Parks Canada’s visitor page before you go. The site is in Fort Langley village, off Glover Road.

1. The Abbotsford International Airshow (Abbotsford)

Every August, jets fill the sky over Abbotsford International Airport and half the valley stands with its head tilted back. The first show ran in August 1962. Two local men pitched it, one from the Rotary Club and one from the new Abbotsford Flying Club. It has run almost every year since.

The show has its share of firsts. The CBC notes that a Boeing 747 made its Canadian debut here in 1969. For many valley families, airshow weekend was the biggest weekend of the summer.

The 2026 show has already happened. The 2027 show is set for Aug. 6, 7 and 8, with tickets going on sale in early spring, according to the airshow’s official site. Event listings say the Friday twilight show has been a fixture in recent years. It’s a long day in the August sun, so go prepared.

The airport is off Highway 1 in Abbotsford, about 76 km east of Vancouver.

What you can still visit this month

Plenty on this list is history only. The ones still standing and visitable in November are Fort Langley, Kilby, Clayburn Village, the Westminster Abbey church and grounds, the Hope Slide viewpoint and the old Langley Speedway oval in Campbell Valley Regional Park. Willowbrook is open too.

Bridal Veil Falls’ park gate is closed from November through March (open April 1 to October 31), so check bcparks.ca before heading out, and Cultus Lake Waterpark is closed until 2027. Fort Langley is open daily, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Kilby is open weekends only from Nov. 7 to Dec. 13. Check their own sites before you go.

When to go

• August is airshow month in Abbotsford. The 2027 show is Aug. 6 to 8, per abbotsfordairshow.com.
• Bridal Veil Falls’ gate is open April 1 to October 31, per the park operator, but the trails to the falls have been closed since an August 2026 rockfall. Check BC Parks for trail closures.
• Cultus Lake Waterpark is summer only, and the park says to check back in spring 2027.
• Clayburn, the Langley Speedway oval and the Hope Slide viewpoint work year-round, weather and highway conditions allowing.

Westminster Abbey visiting hours

• Church: Monday to Saturday, 5:30 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 6 p.m. Sundays, 5:30 a.m. to noon and 2 to 6 p.m.
• Gardens and paths: Monday to Saturday, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays, 2 to 4 p.m.
• Stay silent in the church, and no photos during services.

These hours match the abbey’s current page. Sunday hours also apply on solemn feast days. Confirm them on the official visiting page before you go.

Respect and safety

• Sumas Lake is part of living Semá:th history. Treat it that way.
• The Sumas Prairie is mostly private farmland and still floods. Stay on public roads and off the dikes.
• Clayburn’s brick houses are homes. Walk through, don’t wander in.
• The frozen falls at Bridal Veil can be an unstable wall of ice. Keep your distance.
• The Hope Slide viewpoint sits beside a mountain highway. Check DriveBC in winter.

Getting there

Highway 1 is the spine of most of this list. Abbotsford is about 76 km east of Vancouver and Chilliwack about 100 km. Mission, the abbey and Kilby are on the north side of the river, along Highway 7, and Highway 11 links Abbotsford and Mission over the orange bridge. The Hope Slide viewpoint is about 16 km past Hope on Highway 3. No official drive times were found, so plan on distance and traffic.

Still standing or history only (November 2026)

Place	Status	Cost
Abbotsford International Airshow	Every August; 2027 show is Aug. 6 to 8	Check official site
Sumas Prairie	Visible year-round from public roads	Free to drive through
Cultus Lake Waterpark	Closed for the 2026 season	2027 prices not posted
Bridal Veil Falls	Gate closed until April 1; trails closed after rockfall	No day-use pass, per listings
Willowbrook Shopping Centre	Still open	Free
Albion Ferry	History only (1957 to 2009)	It was free
Langley Speedway	Old oval inside a year-round park	Free
Mission bridges	Both standing; highway bridge carries cars	Free
Westminster Abbey	Set visiting hours	Free
Clayburn Village	Year-round to walk through	Free to walk
Kilby General Store	Seasonal; hours not verified	Check kilby.ca
Hope Slide viewpoint	Year-round, subject to highway conditions	Free
Fort Langley NHS	Hours not verified	Check Parks Canada

Some of these places now exist only in old photos and in the way people still say “the ferry lineup” or “the one-lane bridge”. Others haven’t moved an inch. The fort still has its storehouse, the abbey bells still ring, and the speedway oval is still out there under the trees in Campbell Valley.

Pick one that’s still standing and go see it again. Check the official page first, especially in winter.

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Photo credits

• Fraser valley viewed from Sumas Mountain.jpg by The Cosmonaut, CC BY-SA 2.5 ca (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Fraser Valley Panorama 4.jpg by Dllu, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Welcome sign – Spuzzum, Fraser Valley Regional District, British Columbia, Canada – July 1990.jpg by Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Trans-Canada Highway – Spuzzum, Fraser Valley Regional District, British Columbia, Canada – July 1990.jpg by Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Abbotsford International Airshow (20276204169).jpg by University of the Fraser Valley, CC BY 2.0 (resized; cropped for the featured image). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Sumas panorama.jpg by Purpy Pupple, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Cultus Lake Waterpark panorama.jpg by The High Fin Sperm Whale, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Water cascades at Bridal Veil Falls.JPG by The High Fin Sperm Whale, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Willowbrook-entrance.jpg by Arnold C, Attribution (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• The old Albion Ferries – panoramio.jpg by Kiwibirdman, CC BY 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• LangleySpeedway3.jpg by The original uploader was SpencerRobinson at English Wikipedia., CC BY 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Missionbridge.jpg by B-columbia, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Westminster Abbey, Mission, BC 01.jpg by Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Clayburn Church-5881-0019.jpg by ClaudeFiset, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• The general store at Kilby Historic Site (16538960449).jpg by Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Hope Slide pano.jpg by Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Fort langley nhs 2.jpg by Napa, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.