Northern B.C. in the 1960s

Vernon historian and videographer Francois Arseneault is giving everyone a glimpse into life in B.C. the 1960s.

Digging into his vast archive of old film footage that he converts to a digital format, the Vernon-based videographer and historian has put together a time-travelling trip from Osoyoos to Fort Nelson.

"Today we leave Osoyoos in the south Okanagan and head 1,100 km straight north to Fort Nelson for a delightful home movie of life in northern BC in 1968," said Arseneault.

"Both were similar sized towns in the 1960s but quite different. However, if you were to drive between the Osoyoos and Fort Nelson it would take two days, be nearly 1,600 km and you would still only be 80 per cent of the way across the province."

B.C. is a big province.

"That is the same distance as driving from Sarajevo, Bosnia to Brussels Belgium, except you would travel through five other countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands to get there," said Arseneault.

Fort Nelson shows off its town with a parade in Arseneault's latest vintage video.

"Today, we’re taking in a Canada Day parade or what used to be known as Dominion Day parade. With little technology available, kids looked forward to decorating their bicycles with bunting and ribbons and riding along with all the floats. Look for a British/American (B/A) decorated station wagon and a Pacific 66 float, both long defunct gas stations," said Arseneault.

"Fort Nelson Lumber, The Bay, Normas Flower shop, Muskwa Café, Fort Nelson General hospital, Ruben’s Painting, Esso, BC Hydro, Fort Nelson Motor Hotel, B & H tires service are just some of the colourful floats. These are wonderful small-town memories."

Nearby rivers and lakes make for great fishing.

"While summers are hot in the southern part of the province, summers in Fort Nelson offer their own reward… long summer days. Early summer days means sunrise at 3:59 and sunset at 10:25, the dusk light lingers far longer than down south, in fact it doesn’t really get that dark for several weeks around the summer solstice," said Arseneault.

"At this latitude you can frequently view noctilucent clouds in June and July. Despite the high latitude, the long summer days are perfect for growing vegetables. After the fall harvest, the freezer and pantry are full of canned and frozen vegetables for the winter."

Arseneault is always looking for more information on the vintage footage he digs up, and he encourages people to add their input in the comments section on his Youtube page.

Arseneault has an extensive collection of vintage footage, and he is looking for more.

Anyone who may have old 16 mm or 8 mm film footage of the Vernon and Okanagan area is invited to email Arseneault at stockshooter.yyc@gmail.com.