Aquabatics - Smithers, British Columbia - Paddling is Our Passion
Aquabatics
Smithers, British Columbia
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Detail of Post & Beam in Cafe
The colour of the wood here is due to Pine Beetles damage, which results in a bluish gray staining of the wood. There is an unbelievable amount of dead standing trees throughout BC as a result of huge spikes in the Pine Beetle population, which is in itself directly linked to climate change.
Aquabatics was founded in 1990 as a paddlesports specialty shop. Originally located outside of Smithers BC, Susan began Aquabatics as a home-based business and produced an annual mail-order catalogue from the time of it's inception until 2000.
The shop grew to serve more than just northern BC; a customer base of dedicated boaters ranged through all parts of BC, Alberta, the Yukon and far beyond.
Aquabatics was an early adopter of the web, and had it's first web site in the mid 90's.
In 2000 a second Aquabatics was opened in Calgary Alberta which evolved into a vital part of the Alberta paddling community. The Calgary store was sold in 2009.
In 2009, the Smithers shop was reborn at a new location, on Highway 16 near the Smithers airport. With on-site access to Lake Kathlyn, highway visibility and lots of space to grow, the new location is proving to be a popular meeting spot.
With a wealth of small to large volume clean, free-flowing rivers, challenging creeks, beautiful lakes and reasonable access to the west coast, Northern BC is paddling Nirvana!
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