Campbell River is a cool little town up on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It’s also kind of trendy. I spent a week up there two years ago and it definitely has a Northern Exposure vibe. So I was very happy when a friend started doing serious work on her website Campbell River Now.

Probably the best part is the Event Calendar, which is thorough and up-to-date. The focus is more on the people who live in Campbell River. But the town also has a lot of tourists so there is also a Visitor’s Guide.

One thing that I was most taken with when I visited Campbell River was the Elk Falls Suspension Bridge. When I visited my long-time friend and website owner Toni, she took me to what she called, “This really cool thing.” As we hiked to it, she asked in passing, “You don’t have a problem with heights do you?”

Well, yes, I do! But I steeled myself and found the experience magical. So when Toni started working on Campbell River Now, I offered to write an article about the bridge. I was curious about its history. And the story is pretty cool. Check out my article, Elk Falls Suspension Bridge: Concept to Opening Day. And if you ever visit the area, you must check it out!

What I find most interesting about Campbell River Now is that it is part of my own changing thoughts about the internet. I don’t think there’s much of a future for websites appealing to a broad audience. That market is taken up mostly by social media. And any kind of smaller website venture is effectively a serf to Google.

But websites that reach out to a small community — especially a regionally defined one — can use the internet to connect people. And that is what Campbell River Now does. And hopefully what some of my own endeavors do.