Still Standing (2015) s01e07 Episode Script
Lytton, BC
1
Oh my god!
I thought if I pee in my
wetsuit now nobody will notice.
[Laughs]
We've got gold!
And it's educational.
I learned valuable lessons
in physics and gravity.
[Laughs]
I love this place.
If you don't brag about it
no one will know about it.
When you grow up in a
small town in Newfoundland
you see the people have a
sense of humour
about hard times.
Check Check.
I turned that into
a career and hit the road.
MC: Mr. Jonny Harris!
Now I'm on a mission to
find the funny in the places
you'd least expect it:
Canada's struggling small towns.
Towns that are against
the ropes but hanging in there.
Still laughing in the
face of adversity.
♪
Welcome to Lytton,
British Columbia.
♪
Where the clear waters
of the Thompson
come together with the brown
waters of the Fraser.
Music: water's rising
as the sun goes down ♪
Technically it's Canada's
first mixed marriage.
Music: watch the river
swallow up this town ♪
And not just mixed
marriage considering
it's Tom and Fraser.
[Laughs]
But here we are in
Lytton British Columbia.
[cheering, applause]
A town for generations
defined by its location.
It's the Gateway
to BC's interior:
a rocky little town
fighting to survive.
Oh my god!
Hang on - let's begin
at the beginning.
I went to speak to
Bernie Fandrich.
[cheering, applause]
Not only is Bernie's
rafting business the
largest employer in town,
he's also the local expert
on Lytton's glory days.
Lytton was very central
to the interior.
It was the hub.
He's written a book,
The Majestic Thompson River.
I don't want to give too
much away
but it flows downhill
and spoiler alert,
ends up in the ocean.
[Laughs]
They could go up the
Thompson they could go up
the Fraser and up
into the interior.
Before Canada was founded,
Lytton found gold.
A huge nugget was
discovered and the
word spread and that's
what triggered the
great gold rush of 1858.
That was Lytton?
- That was Lytton.
In fact there was a
petition here in 1867,
Lytton should be the
capital of British Columbia.
That was almost here.
- Yeah.
That's amazing.
And it became an
important service town.
A hub for 2 railways.
The two national
railways right here
go right through town.
A lot of unit trains
running coal
and sulphur and wheat.
This is the economic
lifeblood of the country.
The mighty Trans Canada
twisted it's way through
the area and cemented
Lytton's gateway status
until a new highway with a funny
name changed everything -
the Coquihalla.
Unfortunately now for Lytton
people don't take the Trans
Canada as much.
Of course the new
Coquihalla highway was built,
it's a faster way
to the interior.
That's kind of a shame
because nobody wants to
nobody wants to take the river
route anymore, nobody.
I've seen salmon hitchhiking
up the Coquihalla.
[Laughs]
Since the Coquihalla,
local businesses,
large and small, have downsized,
moved on, or shut down.
But there is one super
story of super store survival.
I went up to have a chat
with Ken Wong at the
Jade Springs Grocers
or as you guys have
affectionately termed it,
Ken-Mart.
[Laughs]
♪
You've got some produce
over here?
We have office chairs.
If you're looking for
grass seed, you can find it
over in the produce section.
[Laughs]
Camping gear, coffee makers.
This is like a stretcher for
if somebody injures themselves.
Yup this is the last one.
If you're looking for somewhere
to keep your fresh produce,
you can buy a refrigerator,
you can find them in the
produce section.
[Laughs]
So what's this hidden pocket -
oh a little Velcro pocket.
- Oh, yeah.
You can put your
weed in there
Cell phone?
Not in that area!
Sterilize you.
♪
And how long have
you been in Lytton?
I'm 30.
[coughs]
His unique wares and
once-prime Trans Canada
location put Ken's
kids through college.
I get some canning stuff here.
Yeah?
- Yep.
I got my office chair here too.
Is that right?
- I did.
Ken you're a genius!
Ken was sitting pretty
until the Coquihalla highway
took the traffic
from here and delivered it
to big box competition
in the next town.
Suddenly Kenmart
was kinda lonely.
Because we are
middle of nowhere,
we need a dog here at night.
Don't have to pay staff.
In fact the only
employee Ken has
is his guard dog Len.
He's a good guard dog?
- Oh yeah.
And only Len works 38
hours a week so
Ken doesn't have to
pay him benefits.
[Laughs]
But it turns out being
the only store in
the middle of nowhere
also had its benefits.
♪
How about 4 dollars?
[Laughs]
They don't have shoes
at the other store.
Ok thank you for the
good deal on the shoes.
But your family
all day everyday?
That's tough, working every day.
Ken said Lytton is
like one big family.
I think he's right and
I love my Chinese uncle Ken.
[Laughs]
Just the gum please Ken.
- Ok.
I was starting to
acclimatize to a
particular kind of crazy
Oh and a donkey, microscope.
That starts to seem normal
when you're here in Lytton.
And stretcher board.
If I would have saw that
I would have got it.
Well it's a 12-dollar
stretcher board of course.
You'd have to be
crazy not to buy it.
Ya.
You got another one Ken?
♪
Oh my god!
Lytton, British Columbia,
a once important location,
seemed to have lost its
sense of place in the world.
But I was going to meet
people finding new ways to
make this town a destination.
Like most things here,
it started strangely,
and on the side of a highway
I had noticed beside me
a forty foot long
Winchester rifle.
You can die with a gun for
your country but
you can't live with a gun
for your freedom.
Right below the huge
rifle there's an enormous
bowie knife.
And this Bowie knife
is a gate to Ken Glasgow's mind.
[Laughs]
♪
It's this big, beautiful,
bizarre museum.
It's like, it's like the
Guggenheim on mushrooms
is what it's like.
[Laughs]
How many pieces you got?
I got 96 pieces of art.
Why do I do this?
It's simply to prove I am me.
A different grain of
sand upon life's beach.
God!
- I'm just being me.
Who else can I be?
I'm not Elvis Presley
so I have to be me.
That's brilliant.
Ken built a huge motorcycle.
Holy smokes.
A 10,000 pound,
24 foot long Harley Davidson.
The handlebars are
12 feet in the
air. Ken set the bars
pretty high.
[Laughs]
I'll take it.
♪
One thing he's got out
there was two satellite dishes.
[Laughs]
Okay okay some of
you know this one.
It's a piece called breasts.
Those ultimate
biological universal
geometrical masterpieces
of amazement.
So he's a boob man.
Ken's a boob man.
I'm everything man.
I asked Ken about
his creativity.
As an antennae you connect
up to it and
it just hits you so fast.
We're all antennas
tuning in stuff that's
already out there.
They call it infinite
knowledge for the
universal mind and
that's what it is.
I just think Ken is on a
wider bandwidth than
the rest of us.
I think,
I think Ken tunes into
AM, FM and what the FM.
[Laughs]
Do you have tourists
show up to have a look?
Yeah they show up at
any time that's perfect.
Everybody's like a set of
encyclopedia books,
it's up to you to
turn the pages.
That's my job exactly!
♪
Lytton's claim to fame
is that it is the
hottest place in Canada.
It could go up to
40 degrees here.
I went to talk
to Chris O'Connor.
He used to be the mayor
here for nine years.
Chris's pet project
now is the hot spot.
The town monument.
A big concrete disc,
painted up and it states
that Lytton is
Canada's hot spot.
It was just supposed
to be a normal chat.
When I got there, I was
treated to a four-act play
out of an episode of Scooby Doo.
Hi there.
Can you feel that there's
no kinetic energy here.
And Wayne Didrikson was
there dressed up in a
dressing gown with a vacuum
cleaner strapped to his back.
[Laughs]
The hotspot was gone
and they alleged that
it was the people in the
next town, Lillouette.
In 1999 Lillouette
raised 14000 dollars to buy an
Environment Canada
weather station so they
could prove they are once
and for all Canada's hot spot.
We just poured five
hundred dollars worth of
concrete and put a
brass pin in the middle.
To say Lytton is the
hottest spot of Canada.
Yes absolutely.
It's like I got a mug that
says world's number one lover.
So it's in writing.
[Laughs]
Lillouette and Lytton
argue about who's hotter.
Who's hotter?
You guys are the Britney
and Christina of the
Fraser Valley.
[Laughs]
I don't want to wag
my finger at Lillouette.
Did you guys take the monument?
Nooo!
No we did not!
If you look at the sky
Why would we steal our monument?
It was a real who's
who of what the what?
My mic pack.
So then the idea was that
me and Chris would go
looking for the hot spot
so we jumped in his truck.
So Chris what brought
you to Lytton?
Well do you want
to know the truth?
I'm a forester and I
traveled all over the
interior for work.
So I used to drive by
Lytton thinking jeez
I wonder what kind of
[beep] lives there?
Then I became like
the head [beep].
And then I've been
here 30 years right?
♪
We found bob and Becky
parked on the side of the
road with the boom truck
and they had the hot spot.
Oh yeah, there it is.
Ironically, Chris told me the
lesson of this little
morality play is that
Lytton is a place where
people trust each other.
You talk to other
people and they say
I don't like living in
a small town because
everybody knows your business.
It's because everybody
knows your business that
they trust you and
you trust them.
Because the currency in
the world is not dollars.
It's trust.
After one more costume change,
we could finally begin
the toonie toss.
[horn]
It's just kind of a
combination of
horseshoes and curling.
The winner of this
charity event is Lytton
and crazy as it all seems,
you can't mess
with Chris's logic.
Cause it's all marking right?
The Fraser River is not
silty, it's exfoliating.
[Laughs]
I think if we could just
get a swim up bar on the
Thompson River
- [Laughs]
You guys'd be laughing.
[Laughs]
♪
I love dirt bikes.
I fell in love with dirt
bikes when I was 7 years old,
but I didn't have one.
When other kids were
pretending to be soldiers
or super heroes, I was
pretending to be a dirt bike.
[dirt bike]
Nee nee nee nee nee nee nee!
I was like doing donuts.
Nee nee nee nee nee nee nee!
[Laughs]
I went up into the mountains
to talk to Naomi Peters.
She formed the Rez
Riders dirt bike group,
and is probably the
coolest mom around.
I used to beg and plead
with my parents so I could
go ride a dirt bike
but you obviously
fully support it.
We have no rec center and
we've been here for -
I've been living here for 19,
20 years now and
there's still no rec center so
we just took it upon
ourselves to just
do it for our kids.
This is my beast?
- Your beast.
Great.
I got to go out with those guys
which was great for me.
Paul White was there,
he was helping us out.
If you come up here
you're definitely a
committed dirt bike rider.
- Yeah.
From Vancouver it's 3 hours.
The views, you're up to
7,000 feet and you can see
the whole area - it's amazing.
And now Lytton's back
on the map for
its unbelievable backyard.
Which I got to explore
with Naomi's son, Davis,
and his buddy, Troy.
Are you ready to ride?
- I'm ready to ride!
♪
We were up there, we were
7,000 feet in the mountains.
♪
The smell, just the smell
of the forest, you know
after there's been a light
rain and you got a mouth
full of pine cones and
mosquitoes,
oh just love that, it was great.
I told the guys my
favourite part of dirt biking
has always been stopping
for a chat.
Yeah this is pretty
great out here.
You got a pretty killer
wheelie Braden
Thanks
And a standing on
the pegs wheelie.
I wish I could do that.
- Just practice.
No it's too late
for me to learn now.
And it's educational.
I went tumbling down the
hill on my arse,
it wasn't fun and I learned
valuable lessons in
physics and gravity.
I looked up just in time
to realize my bike
had decided to rejoin me.
Anyway back to the good part.
You guys stayed up pretty good.
- Ya.
No one ditched did they?
- No.
I was starting to feel like
these guys thought I was lame.
My forearms are exhausted and
I think I need
a puff on my puffer.
Damn right ya.
[dirt bike sounds]
Neee ne nee nee nee ne neee!
Brilliant!
[applause]
♪
Another great guy I
got to have a chat with
George Kirszenstein.
Big George, yes.
[applause]
He took me gold panning.
Now the important
thing is when you're
panning you want
to pan correctly.
You have to shake
everything down.
Beyond gold, this odd
jobs man about town
sees a mother-load of "unique"
positives in Lytton's location.
You can stand up on that
hill up there and
you can drive golf balls
across the river.
George told me that the
Trans Canada highway
comes through here in Lytton.
In places it's treacherous.
Every now and then
unfortunately a freight truck
will go off the
road and the whole town
benefits from a
truckload of groceries.
[Laughs]
One time a truck full of
chickens capsized over there
next week every
restaurant in town
on the menu, chicken.
[Laughs]
You could buy a side of
beef for 75 dollars at
the side of the road, frozen.
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
One time a truck went
over with lumber.
Oh I don't know how
many times I used the
lumber in the hotel,
saved the hotel
a pile of money.
I got a feeling at the
first snowfall of every year
you guys are out by the highway
with fingers crossed going
come on, beer truck.
Come on!
George's love for Lytton
is just exploding out of him.
It's inspirational.
We have so much
here to offer. I mean,
Gold panning, hiking,
mushroom picking, fishing,
rock hounding.
Just sitting on top of a
mountain and watching eagles.
But George had all kinds
of great funny stories to tell.
I heard your nickname
was crazy George?
It was for years.
- And were you a crazy guy?
Well harmless crazy.
Yeah?
This is the bridge
Big George jumped off.
On a dare!
Three times!
You know when people
jump of bridges and
walk barefoot in snow and wear
shorts all winter
and a T-shirt that could be
construed as crazy.
An archaeologist by
training since winding up
in Lytton George fronted a
band, run a video store
and worked at the mill.
Once the sawmill went
down that was the end of it
and then the economy
just totally started to die.
Get George talking about
Lytton for 10 minutes and
you'll realize that
he's still crazy -
crazy in love.
I love this place.
If you don't brag about it
no one will know about it.
You know guys Lytton is a
town that was once defined
by its location.
The deep end that's where
all the heavy materials
will settle right
down into here.
But now I can see it's the
people who are important.
And you wash in all the silt.
In the end the gold
goes down to the bottom.
The hot weather,
the rivers, the mountains,
the mushrooms, the gold.
The location is just the gravy.
Now that's gold.
- Oh there we go!
Yeee-hee-hoo!
We got gold!
Shhhhh!
- Oh let's not tell anybody.
That's actually,
that's really quite
a nice pile of gold.
♪
Lytton had been
teaching me to look for
the opportunities where you are.
And one had been
staring me in the face.
And it was time
to face up to it.
And face it - face to face.
Welcome to the Thompson river.
Very large body of water
as you can see here.
I never understood the
attraction to
white water rafting.
It seemed so dangerous to
me to go on the fastest,
most uncontrollable water
you could possibly find.
Maybe start with some meanders?
Is there any like
white water meanders?
[Laughs]
Bernie started out here in 1973.
These were the days before
liability insurance
or common sense.
[Laughs]
It's the biggest
employer in town now.
The front of the boat is
going to come completely
out of the water I'd
almost guarantee that today.
His boys Braden and
Andy took me out.
Tell my mom I died
doing something stupid!
Oh this was a bad idea!
Oh my jeez!
I got covered in water.
I was soaking wet
and actually that
was a good thing.
Because I was so scared,
I thought if I pee in my wetsuit
now nobody will notice.
[Laughs]
The next set of rapids.
Holy sweet mother of God!
I realized peeing in my wetsuit
was the least of my concerns.
[Laughs]
That's when it all made
sense to me -
sitting right there in that raft
with love in my heart
and pee in my pants.
♪
Oh, jeez!
I realized I was starting
to do what the locals
have been doing all along.
I was starting to enjoy
surviving in Lytton.
Okay, one more.
Everybody shout, Kumsheen.
You did it.
- We made it!
Death defying.
♪
Lytton is a town that was once
defined by its location.
But there's a lot of smart
ideas going on out there.
Bernie Fandrich sells
the excitement of the river.
Ken Wong,
if you can sell grass seed
and restaurant supplies
in a grocery store,
you've got something
going on up there.
Chris O'Connor created
a monument to Lytton's
hotspot status and gets
people to literally
throw money at it.
George's love for Lytton
is just exploding out of him.
Yeeehouuuuu!
Beautiful!
Ken Glasgow's big
beautiful bizarre museum.
I figured out it's all
about making where you are
and what you've got, count.
When I'm walking through
the natural beauty
of British Columbia,
cascading waterfalls,
huge Douglas Firs,
I usually think to myself
this place could use a
pair of metallic breasts.
[Laughs]
[cheering, applause]
You know right before I
came over to the school today
my mom called me for the first
time since I got to B.C.
and she said how's
it going in Lytton?
I said mom Lytton's great!
I rode the rapids, climbed to
the top of a motorcycle,
struck gold
down by the river and
solved the case of
the missing hot spot.
She said what on earth
are you talking about?
I said mom I'm talking about
Lytton, British Columbia.
Thanks so much everybody!
You've been
absolutely fantastic.
[cheering, applause]
He got the real essence of it.
He's super.
Very, very sharp.
I can hardly wait
for the TV version.
Hope he didn't [beep]
in his wetsuit actually.
[Laughs]
- Yes?
- Ya
It was great, ya really funny.
Those are people we all
know and you got em right on.
Laughter is like therapy.
There should be more
of it in the world.
♪
Oh my god!
I thought if I pee in my
wetsuit now nobody will notice.
[Laughs]
We've got gold!
And it's educational.
I learned valuable lessons
in physics and gravity.
[Laughs]
I love this place.
If you don't brag about it
no one will know about it.
When you grow up in a
small town in Newfoundland
you see the people have a
sense of humour
about hard times.
Check Check.
I turned that into
a career and hit the road.
MC: Mr. Jonny Harris!
Now I'm on a mission to
find the funny in the places
you'd least expect it:
Canada's struggling small towns.
Towns that are against
the ropes but hanging in there.
Still laughing in the
face of adversity.
♪
Welcome to Lytton,
British Columbia.
♪
Where the clear waters
of the Thompson
come together with the brown
waters of the Fraser.
Music: water's rising
as the sun goes down ♪
Technically it's Canada's
first mixed marriage.
Music: watch the river
swallow up this town ♪
And not just mixed
marriage considering
it's Tom and Fraser.
[Laughs]
But here we are in
Lytton British Columbia.
[cheering, applause]
A town for generations
defined by its location.
It's the Gateway
to BC's interior:
a rocky little town
fighting to survive.
Oh my god!
Hang on - let's begin
at the beginning.
I went to speak to
Bernie Fandrich.
[cheering, applause]
Not only is Bernie's
rafting business the
largest employer in town,
he's also the local expert
on Lytton's glory days.
Lytton was very central
to the interior.
It was the hub.
He's written a book,
The Majestic Thompson River.
I don't want to give too
much away
but it flows downhill
and spoiler alert,
ends up in the ocean.
[Laughs]
They could go up the
Thompson they could go up
the Fraser and up
into the interior.
Before Canada was founded,
Lytton found gold.
A huge nugget was
discovered and the
word spread and that's
what triggered the
great gold rush of 1858.
That was Lytton?
- That was Lytton.
In fact there was a
petition here in 1867,
Lytton should be the
capital of British Columbia.
That was almost here.
- Yeah.
That's amazing.
And it became an
important service town.
A hub for 2 railways.
The two national
railways right here
go right through town.
A lot of unit trains
running coal
and sulphur and wheat.
This is the economic
lifeblood of the country.
The mighty Trans Canada
twisted it's way through
the area and cemented
Lytton's gateway status
until a new highway with a funny
name changed everything -
the Coquihalla.
Unfortunately now for Lytton
people don't take the Trans
Canada as much.
Of course the new
Coquihalla highway was built,
it's a faster way
to the interior.
That's kind of a shame
because nobody wants to
nobody wants to take the river
route anymore, nobody.
I've seen salmon hitchhiking
up the Coquihalla.
[Laughs]
Since the Coquihalla,
local businesses,
large and small, have downsized,
moved on, or shut down.
But there is one super
story of super store survival.
I went up to have a chat
with Ken Wong at the
Jade Springs Grocers
or as you guys have
affectionately termed it,
Ken-Mart.
[Laughs]
♪
You've got some produce
over here?
We have office chairs.
If you're looking for
grass seed, you can find it
over in the produce section.
[Laughs]
Camping gear, coffee makers.
This is like a stretcher for
if somebody injures themselves.
Yup this is the last one.
If you're looking for somewhere
to keep your fresh produce,
you can buy a refrigerator,
you can find them in the
produce section.
[Laughs]
So what's this hidden pocket -
oh a little Velcro pocket.
- Oh, yeah.
You can put your
weed in there
Cell phone?
Not in that area!
Sterilize you.
♪
And how long have
you been in Lytton?
I'm 30.
[coughs]
His unique wares and
once-prime Trans Canada
location put Ken's
kids through college.
I get some canning stuff here.
Yeah?
- Yep.
I got my office chair here too.
Is that right?
- I did.
Ken you're a genius!
Ken was sitting pretty
until the Coquihalla highway
took the traffic
from here and delivered it
to big box competition
in the next town.
Suddenly Kenmart
was kinda lonely.
Because we are
middle of nowhere,
we need a dog here at night.
Don't have to pay staff.
In fact the only
employee Ken has
is his guard dog Len.
He's a good guard dog?
- Oh yeah.
And only Len works 38
hours a week so
Ken doesn't have to
pay him benefits.
[Laughs]
But it turns out being
the only store in
the middle of nowhere
also had its benefits.
♪
How about 4 dollars?
[Laughs]
They don't have shoes
at the other store.
Ok thank you for the
good deal on the shoes.
But your family
all day everyday?
That's tough, working every day.
Ken said Lytton is
like one big family.
I think he's right and
I love my Chinese uncle Ken.
[Laughs]
Just the gum please Ken.
- Ok.
I was starting to
acclimatize to a
particular kind of crazy
Oh and a donkey, microscope.
That starts to seem normal
when you're here in Lytton.
And stretcher board.
If I would have saw that
I would have got it.
Well it's a 12-dollar
stretcher board of course.
You'd have to be
crazy not to buy it.
Ya.
You got another one Ken?
♪
Oh my god!
Lytton, British Columbia,
a once important location,
seemed to have lost its
sense of place in the world.
But I was going to meet
people finding new ways to
make this town a destination.
Like most things here,
it started strangely,
and on the side of a highway
I had noticed beside me
a forty foot long
Winchester rifle.
You can die with a gun for
your country but
you can't live with a gun
for your freedom.
Right below the huge
rifle there's an enormous
bowie knife.
And this Bowie knife
is a gate to Ken Glasgow's mind.
[Laughs]
♪
It's this big, beautiful,
bizarre museum.
It's like, it's like the
Guggenheim on mushrooms
is what it's like.
[Laughs]
How many pieces you got?
I got 96 pieces of art.
Why do I do this?
It's simply to prove I am me.
A different grain of
sand upon life's beach.
God!
- I'm just being me.
Who else can I be?
I'm not Elvis Presley
so I have to be me.
That's brilliant.
Ken built a huge motorcycle.
Holy smokes.
A 10,000 pound,
24 foot long Harley Davidson.
The handlebars are
12 feet in the
air. Ken set the bars
pretty high.
[Laughs]
I'll take it.
♪
One thing he's got out
there was two satellite dishes.
[Laughs]
Okay okay some of
you know this one.
It's a piece called breasts.
Those ultimate
biological universal
geometrical masterpieces
of amazement.
So he's a boob man.
Ken's a boob man.
I'm everything man.
I asked Ken about
his creativity.
As an antennae you connect
up to it and
it just hits you so fast.
We're all antennas
tuning in stuff that's
already out there.
They call it infinite
knowledge for the
universal mind and
that's what it is.
I just think Ken is on a
wider bandwidth than
the rest of us.
I think,
I think Ken tunes into
AM, FM and what the FM.
[Laughs]
Do you have tourists
show up to have a look?
Yeah they show up at
any time that's perfect.
Everybody's like a set of
encyclopedia books,
it's up to you to
turn the pages.
That's my job exactly!
♪
Lytton's claim to fame
is that it is the
hottest place in Canada.
It could go up to
40 degrees here.
I went to talk
to Chris O'Connor.
He used to be the mayor
here for nine years.
Chris's pet project
now is the hot spot.
The town monument.
A big concrete disc,
painted up and it states
that Lytton is
Canada's hot spot.
It was just supposed
to be a normal chat.
When I got there, I was
treated to a four-act play
out of an episode of Scooby Doo.
Hi there.
Can you feel that there's
no kinetic energy here.
And Wayne Didrikson was
there dressed up in a
dressing gown with a vacuum
cleaner strapped to his back.
[Laughs]
The hotspot was gone
and they alleged that
it was the people in the
next town, Lillouette.
In 1999 Lillouette
raised 14000 dollars to buy an
Environment Canada
weather station so they
could prove they are once
and for all Canada's hot spot.
We just poured five
hundred dollars worth of
concrete and put a
brass pin in the middle.
To say Lytton is the
hottest spot of Canada.
Yes absolutely.
It's like I got a mug that
says world's number one lover.
So it's in writing.
[Laughs]
Lillouette and Lytton
argue about who's hotter.
Who's hotter?
You guys are the Britney
and Christina of the
Fraser Valley.
[Laughs]
I don't want to wag
my finger at Lillouette.
Did you guys take the monument?
Nooo!
No we did not!
If you look at the sky
Why would we steal our monument?
It was a real who's
who of what the what?
My mic pack.
So then the idea was that
me and Chris would go
looking for the hot spot
so we jumped in his truck.
So Chris what brought
you to Lytton?
Well do you want
to know the truth?
I'm a forester and I
traveled all over the
interior for work.
So I used to drive by
Lytton thinking jeez
I wonder what kind of
[beep] lives there?
Then I became like
the head [beep].
And then I've been
here 30 years right?
♪
We found bob and Becky
parked on the side of the
road with the boom truck
and they had the hot spot.
Oh yeah, there it is.
Ironically, Chris told me the
lesson of this little
morality play is that
Lytton is a place where
people trust each other.
You talk to other
people and they say
I don't like living in
a small town because
everybody knows your business.
It's because everybody
knows your business that
they trust you and
you trust them.
Because the currency in
the world is not dollars.
It's trust.
After one more costume change,
we could finally begin
the toonie toss.
[horn]
It's just kind of a
combination of
horseshoes and curling.
The winner of this
charity event is Lytton
and crazy as it all seems,
you can't mess
with Chris's logic.
Cause it's all marking right?
The Fraser River is not
silty, it's exfoliating.
[Laughs]
I think if we could just
get a swim up bar on the
Thompson River
- [Laughs]
You guys'd be laughing.
[Laughs]
♪
I love dirt bikes.
I fell in love with dirt
bikes when I was 7 years old,
but I didn't have one.
When other kids were
pretending to be soldiers
or super heroes, I was
pretending to be a dirt bike.
[dirt bike]
Nee nee nee nee nee nee nee!
I was like doing donuts.
Nee nee nee nee nee nee nee!
[Laughs]
I went up into the mountains
to talk to Naomi Peters.
She formed the Rez
Riders dirt bike group,
and is probably the
coolest mom around.
I used to beg and plead
with my parents so I could
go ride a dirt bike
but you obviously
fully support it.
We have no rec center and
we've been here for -
I've been living here for 19,
20 years now and
there's still no rec center so
we just took it upon
ourselves to just
do it for our kids.
This is my beast?
- Your beast.
Great.
I got to go out with those guys
which was great for me.
Paul White was there,
he was helping us out.
If you come up here
you're definitely a
committed dirt bike rider.
- Yeah.
From Vancouver it's 3 hours.
The views, you're up to
7,000 feet and you can see
the whole area - it's amazing.
And now Lytton's back
on the map for
its unbelievable backyard.
Which I got to explore
with Naomi's son, Davis,
and his buddy, Troy.
Are you ready to ride?
- I'm ready to ride!
♪
We were up there, we were
7,000 feet in the mountains.
♪
The smell, just the smell
of the forest, you know
after there's been a light
rain and you got a mouth
full of pine cones and
mosquitoes,
oh just love that, it was great.
I told the guys my
favourite part of dirt biking
has always been stopping
for a chat.
Yeah this is pretty
great out here.
You got a pretty killer
wheelie Braden
Thanks
And a standing on
the pegs wheelie.
I wish I could do that.
- Just practice.
No it's too late
for me to learn now.
And it's educational.
I went tumbling down the
hill on my arse,
it wasn't fun and I learned
valuable lessons in
physics and gravity.
I looked up just in time
to realize my bike
had decided to rejoin me.
Anyway back to the good part.
You guys stayed up pretty good.
- Ya.
No one ditched did they?
- No.
I was starting to feel like
these guys thought I was lame.
My forearms are exhausted and
I think I need
a puff on my puffer.
Damn right ya.
[dirt bike sounds]
Neee ne nee nee nee ne neee!
Brilliant!
[applause]
♪
Another great guy I
got to have a chat with
George Kirszenstein.
Big George, yes.
[applause]
He took me gold panning.
Now the important
thing is when you're
panning you want
to pan correctly.
You have to shake
everything down.
Beyond gold, this odd
jobs man about town
sees a mother-load of "unique"
positives in Lytton's location.
You can stand up on that
hill up there and
you can drive golf balls
across the river.
George told me that the
Trans Canada highway
comes through here in Lytton.
In places it's treacherous.
Every now and then
unfortunately a freight truck
will go off the
road and the whole town
benefits from a
truckload of groceries.
[Laughs]
One time a truck full of
chickens capsized over there
next week every
restaurant in town
on the menu, chicken.
[Laughs]
You could buy a side of
beef for 75 dollars at
the side of the road, frozen.
That's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
One time a truck went
over with lumber.
Oh I don't know how
many times I used the
lumber in the hotel,
saved the hotel
a pile of money.
I got a feeling at the
first snowfall of every year
you guys are out by the highway
with fingers crossed going
come on, beer truck.
Come on!
George's love for Lytton
is just exploding out of him.
It's inspirational.
We have so much
here to offer. I mean,
Gold panning, hiking,
mushroom picking, fishing,
rock hounding.
Just sitting on top of a
mountain and watching eagles.
But George had all kinds
of great funny stories to tell.
I heard your nickname
was crazy George?
It was for years.
- And were you a crazy guy?
Well harmless crazy.
Yeah?
This is the bridge
Big George jumped off.
On a dare!
Three times!
You know when people
jump of bridges and
walk barefoot in snow and wear
shorts all winter
and a T-shirt that could be
construed as crazy.
An archaeologist by
training since winding up
in Lytton George fronted a
band, run a video store
and worked at the mill.
Once the sawmill went
down that was the end of it
and then the economy
just totally started to die.
Get George talking about
Lytton for 10 minutes and
you'll realize that
he's still crazy -
crazy in love.
I love this place.
If you don't brag about it
no one will know about it.
You know guys Lytton is a
town that was once defined
by its location.
The deep end that's where
all the heavy materials
will settle right
down into here.
But now I can see it's the
people who are important.
And you wash in all the silt.
In the end the gold
goes down to the bottom.
The hot weather,
the rivers, the mountains,
the mushrooms, the gold.
The location is just the gravy.
Now that's gold.
- Oh there we go!
Yeee-hee-hoo!
We got gold!
Shhhhh!
- Oh let's not tell anybody.
That's actually,
that's really quite
a nice pile of gold.
♪
Lytton had been
teaching me to look for
the opportunities where you are.
And one had been
staring me in the face.
And it was time
to face up to it.
And face it - face to face.
Welcome to the Thompson river.
Very large body of water
as you can see here.
I never understood the
attraction to
white water rafting.
It seemed so dangerous to
me to go on the fastest,
most uncontrollable water
you could possibly find.
Maybe start with some meanders?
Is there any like
white water meanders?
[Laughs]
Bernie started out here in 1973.
These were the days before
liability insurance
or common sense.
[Laughs]
It's the biggest
employer in town now.
The front of the boat is
going to come completely
out of the water I'd
almost guarantee that today.
His boys Braden and
Andy took me out.
Tell my mom I died
doing something stupid!
Oh this was a bad idea!
Oh my jeez!
I got covered in water.
I was soaking wet
and actually that
was a good thing.
Because I was so scared,
I thought if I pee in my wetsuit
now nobody will notice.
[Laughs]
The next set of rapids.
Holy sweet mother of God!
I realized peeing in my wetsuit
was the least of my concerns.
[Laughs]
That's when it all made
sense to me -
sitting right there in that raft
with love in my heart
and pee in my pants.
♪
Oh, jeez!
I realized I was starting
to do what the locals
have been doing all along.
I was starting to enjoy
surviving in Lytton.
Okay, one more.
Everybody shout, Kumsheen.
You did it.
- We made it!
Death defying.
♪
Lytton is a town that was once
defined by its location.
But there's a lot of smart
ideas going on out there.
Bernie Fandrich sells
the excitement of the river.
Ken Wong,
if you can sell grass seed
and restaurant supplies
in a grocery store,
you've got something
going on up there.
Chris O'Connor created
a monument to Lytton's
hotspot status and gets
people to literally
throw money at it.
George's love for Lytton
is just exploding out of him.
Yeeehouuuuu!
Beautiful!
Ken Glasgow's big
beautiful bizarre museum.
I figured out it's all
about making where you are
and what you've got, count.
When I'm walking through
the natural beauty
of British Columbia,
cascading waterfalls,
huge Douglas Firs,
I usually think to myself
this place could use a
pair of metallic breasts.
[Laughs]
[cheering, applause]
You know right before I
came over to the school today
my mom called me for the first
time since I got to B.C.
and she said how's
it going in Lytton?
I said mom Lytton's great!
I rode the rapids, climbed to
the top of a motorcycle,
struck gold
down by the river and
solved the case of
the missing hot spot.
She said what on earth
are you talking about?
I said mom I'm talking about
Lytton, British Columbia.
Thanks so much everybody!
You've been
absolutely fantastic.
[cheering, applause]
He got the real essence of it.
He's super.
Very, very sharp.
I can hardly wait
for the TV version.
Hope he didn't [beep]
in his wetsuit actually.
[Laughs]
- Yes?
- Ya
It was great, ya really funny.
Those are people we all
know and you got em right on.
Laughter is like therapy.
There should be more
of it in the world.
♪