Romance, anyone? Kamloops has come a long way, baby

FRIDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — Kamloops is many things, but “romantic” is not a word we would often associate with our community.

Nevertheless, when Amazon.ca unveiled its top 20 Most Romantic Cities this week, there we were, sitting firmly in seventh spot. The Amazon list, of course, is about promoting Amazon — the basis for the rankings is the sales tallies for a collection or romance novels and CDs sold by Amazon.

It’s fun, though, to be listed in the top 10 for something other than “best place to do business” and all those other more serious lists.

And, it’s affirming in a way that we beat out places like Regina, Red Deer, and Thunder Bay to grab that ranking. Also a reality check that we are placed below the likes of Saskatoon, Lethbridge and Winnipeg.

Niagara Falls and Victoria, we can see, but Winnipeg, Lethbridge, Saskatoon? Swarming black flies in summer and bitter cold in winter? Please; where’s the romance in that?

Still, seventh ain’t bad. Was a time that we would never have expected to be on the list at all. A time when we were regarded as just another smelly pulp-mill town, not much to look at, offering little to do. A necessary stop on the way through to somewhere else, perhaps, but little more.

Now, we’re Canada’s Tournament Capital. We’re Playtime, Redefined. Finally, Kamloops is a good time, a fun time. We’re romantic.

We may not be Paris, or New York, but we’re something. We’ve come a long way since “The Hub City.”