By any standard – except the Northern standard – Hay River is a small town.
It has about 3,800 people, which is undoubtedly a small town in Canada
In the NWT, that many people makes Hay River a booming metropolis.
However, for the purposes of this editorial, let’s just go by the national standard and agree that Hay River is a small community.
But unlike many – or even most – small towns in Canada, Hay River thinks big.
There are many examples to support that belief.
Most recently, the Town of Hay River entered a contest called the Community Better Challenge, which is being sponsored by ParticipACTION to search for Canada’s Most Active Community.
In brief, the competition involves residents of a community tracking their physical activity during June. After June 30, 50 finalist communities – determined on a per capita basis – will be invited to submit an application explaining why they deserve to be Canada’s Most Active Community.
While a small Northern town might be forgiven for setting its eyes on the territorial/provincial prizes in the contest, Nicole Mitchell does not have that in mind.
Mitchell, the recreation programming supervisor with the Town of Hay River, is aiming for the grand prize of $100,000.
“I think we could win the top prize,” she recently told The Hub. “We have a lot of very active, engaging and wonderful people in this community.”
You’ve got to love that way of thinking.
If you’re going to do something, don’t aim for the consolation prize. Go for the championship.
That is just one example of Hay River punching above its weight, and there are many more.
Before Covid-19, Hay River used to host the NWT Track and Field Championships, which each year attracted about 1,000 competitors. You don’t need to be a math whiz to figure out that a town of 3,800 hosting an event with a thousand people is no mean feat.
No doubt when the pandemic is over, Hay River will once again host the NWT Track and Field Championships.
Even more impressive, Hay River, along with Fort Smith, hosted the 2018 Arctic Winter Games, an international event.
The combined number of people in the two towns made this area one of the smallest by population to ever host the Arctic Winter Games.
When the idea of hosting the Arctic Winter Games was first floated, there were some doubters about whether Hay River and Fort Smith could handle the event, but it happened anyway.
For Hay River, that’s just par for the course.
It is a small town, but it doesn’t look at itself that way. Instead, it is a small town that thinks of doing things in a big way.
That is an incredible attitude to have.
You have to wonder what awaits Hay River in the future. As the town grows – and all signs are that it will grow – what will it set its sights on doing?
It seems that nothing is too big to envision for Hay River. More impressively, it appears that nothing is too big to actually attempt.
That attitude will serve the community well.