The lifting of an almost two-month-long closure is a cause for relief for some businesses dependent on the stretch of Highway 1 running through the Fraser Canyon.

That part of the Trans-Canada Highway was shut down on July 7 as the Brunswick wildfire complex raged near Boston Bar. There was a brief reopening that month, but it was shut down again. 

The fires are still burning, but, on Wednesday, the province deemed it safe enough for a partial reopening. 

For Jewel Rice, co-owner of Hilltop Gardens Farm near Spences Bridge north of Boston Bar, the reopening couldn’t come fast enough.

“Three thousand pounds of cherries went to the chickens … a minimum of $450 a pound,” said Rice.

“They had signage up everywhere that only local traffic [was allowed]. So all our customers never came by. And you can only sit on it for so long, right?”

With the highway shut down, there were only a few customers willing to do the extra travelling, she said.

“I just know that two months have gone by and I can’t even pay my workers,” said Rice.

She said between her employees, her husband and herself, there are four people working at the business this year.

A business stays profitable

However, not every business in Spences Bridge has been hit hard by the highway closure. 

Laurie Kingston, co-owner of the Bates Motel, said her business has been successful — highway closure or not. 

“The Bates Motel has been fortunate enough to be pretty well full of long-term construction workers,” said Kingston.

“Our business has been chock-a-block full because we’re pretty well ground zero for any of the floods and fires that happen in the area.”

Relief for festival organizers

Meanwhile in Lytton, also located north of Boston Bar, organizers of a local event were rejoicing at the prospect of an open road.

“It’s a huge relief,” said Jessoa Lightfoot, president of the Lytton River Festival Society, in a statement. 

“We’ve been watching the wildfire and highway situation very closely, and having Highway 1 open again makes it much easier for our friends and visitors from the Lower Mainland and throughout the Fraser Canyon to come celebrate with us.”

The reopening restores the most direct route to Lytton for travellers coming from the Lower Mainland and other places south of the community, said organizers of the festival. 

The free event gives people a chance to enjoy music, dancing and local culture on Sept. 5 and 6. 

“It’s been a challenging wildfire season, but with the highway open, we’re hoping people can take a little time to visit us here in Lytton,” Lightfoot said.

It’s a common sentiment among business owners impacted by the closures.

At Hilltop Gardens Farm, Rice is hoping to salvage what she can of the season. 

This isn’t the first setback she’s had to face.

“We kind of got hit really hard when the heat dome and everything came through — the first year, the heat dome, we lost just under a thousand [fruit] trees,” she said of a historic heat wave in 2021. “And then it just kept hitting and hitting and hitting.”

Still, she’s pushing on. 

“Come see us,” said Rice. “We’re still here, and we’re still willing, you know, big smile on our faces.”