There’s no place like home, especially when it’s Lethbridge

By Lethbridge Herald on January 15, 2025.

POINT OF VIEW
Scott Sakatch

The older I get, the more I appreciate the little things in life: a really good meal, a joke that makes me laugh out loud, pulling into the drive-thru and being the only vehicle in line, calling customer service and getting an actual human being on the other end of the line who then goes on to solve my problem. It suppose it says a lot about the pace of modern life (and maybe my advanced age) that something so simple can totally make my day.

Moving back to Lethbridge after nine years away has significantly increased the number of those little moments that make me smile. In the nine years between 2015 and 2023, my wife Janine and I lived in Regina for about two years, Red Deer for nine months and Calgary for six years. Each city was different, and I can honestly say I enjoyed living in each one. We got to experience dozens of great restaurants, shows and concerts,  and met a lot of really fantastic people along the way.

Janine and I both grew up in the Lethbridge area, so spending time in other cities with varying populations gave us a new perspective on how different, and how alike, cities can be. Regina is just under three times the size of Lethbridge but has an urban feel. Calgary, of course, is huge but we found most folks, aside from their daily commute, tended to stick to their neighbourhoods. We found that Red Deer and Lethbridge, while identical in size, have a lot less in common than you might think. There’s an old line about Red Deer being a small Calgary and Lethbridge being a big Raymond, and from my perspective, that’s very true.

Since we moved back here a little over a year ago, I’m constantly reminded of little “Lethbridge-isms” and, like those moments I mentioned earlier, they always make me smile. Like how I can still get from one point in the city to another within 20 minutes most days. Or how people will actually chat you up in line at the coffee shop. Or when I’m driving and someone waves sheepishly as they jog through the crosswalk, even though they have the light, because they feel like they’re inconveniencing me somehow. Or driving past a restaurant that still looks the same today as it did 20, 30, even 40 years ago.

We’ve gotten to know more neighbours since we moved back to Lethbridge than we did in any other city. Maybe that’s because we feel more at home here, but I like to think it’s the small town spirit of the city. I remember once, shortly before we first moved away, when my brother asked me who I was going to vote for as mayor. I realized that I personally knew all of the candidates, and pretty much everyone on city council. Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt many people in Red Deer, Regina or Calgary could say that.

At the same time, I’m amazed by the incredible transformative changes that have taken place in less than a decade. From new restaurants and a vibrant downtown to schools in places that were little more than fields when we left, the city has really come into its own. Janine and I even attended a drag brunch a few months ago that was more entertaining than the one we saw in Toronto last summer. There are so many more things to see and do here than I ever could have imagined ten years ago.

And as they say these days, I’m here for all of it. The old stuff, the new stuff, it all comes together in a word that has a whole new meaning for me these days: hometown.

Lethbridge. There’s no other place like it.