Tsawwassen – Ours to preserve by hand and heart

Tsawwassen is a suburban, mostly residential community on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the City of Delta in British Columbia, Canada. It provides the only road access to the American territory on the southern tip of the peninsula, the community of Point Roberts, Washington, via 56th Street. It is also the location of Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, part of the BC Ferries, built in 1959 to provide foot-passenger and motor vehicle access from the Lower Mainland to the southern part of Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands.

One of the things Tsawwassen-ites love to share is how sunny it is here, and yet so many people still aren’t “in” on the best kept secret in the Lower Mainland. Tsawwassen literally means “facing the ocean” but it’s also known as the land of the sun. The self-proclaimed “Land of Sun” gets 3 full days of sunshine for every 1 in Vancouver though we’re only a short 40-minute drive away

Since 2001, Tsawwassen has played an integral part of the Tour de Delta, one-day bicycle races that take place over a July weekend (The White Spot / Delta Road Race for men since 2001; and the women’s since 2011). The weekend culminates in a race from North Delta through Ladner to Tsawwassen, where men and women do various laps around Tsawwassen’s perimeter until finishing in either Diefenbaker or Winskill Park. The race grows in popularity and coverage each year.

The Tsawwassen / Boundary Bay chapter of Lions Clubs International runs a Sunday car lot in the east parking lot of Town Centre Mall, which donates the space. People selling their cars park them in the lot, where they can be seen by locals and people passing through on the way to Point Roberts. Dozens of cars and hundreds of shoppers now come from all over the Lower Mainland each Sunday.