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Hedley today is a vibrant village with population nearing three hundred, including the Upper Similkameen Indian Band, a thriving community of 75 band members. Every spring, Twenty Mile Creek roars into the Similkameen River, and rocks still tumble into town from Stemwinder and the Nickel Plate, covering trails along the creek and nearing homes - reminders to townsfolk that nature can only be appreciated and not restrained, or perhaps they are warnings of an earlier pronouncement?

Nowadays there are only a handful of businesses including the Post Office and the Grace Church that sustain the small community. There's no longer a police station, nor a hospital, or any first class hotel. Yet just as it were, at the Highway 3 turnoff into town, there is gas station with an attached restaurant; and at the centre of town, the General Store and the Hitching Post Restaurant. Today a child can still go into the General Store, spend a quarter, and come out smiling; the Hitching Post is a destination eatery in the Similkameen Valley, where Canadian award winning musicians play in the backdrop of one of Hedley best preserved structures, with the mountains gleaming through the original 1903 paned glass windows. Now restored, the Mascot Gold Mine buildings sit perched in situ on Climax Bluff above the Nickel Plate Mountain; while the relics and ruins of the stamp mill leave a visual reminder of Hedley's once golden and bustling past.

Yet generations of Hedlites continue to make Hedley their home; to raise their families in this tightly knit community, where the old adage it "takes a village" remains true. And every year, a few pilgrimage to Hedley for a quieter life far from the bustle of city life; or perhaps they arrive with aspirations of becoming the Duncan Woods of the 21st Century? Secrets and dreams of gold discovery remain carefully guarded!

"Only in Hedley" is the town declaration that captures the spirit of its people: creative and inventive, determined and tenacious; attributes that have clung to the town since the early days of Camp Hedley. Today, the community fosters their tenacity by finding alternate solutions to rural living in the 21st century; developing initiatives around the preservation and maintenance of the town's infrastructures and heritage sites are top priorities; the conundrum of building a third crossing bridge up of Twenty mile /Hedley Creek continues; and while learning how to live with the neighbours choices of lawn ornaments, will surely be some of the tasks of future Hedlites.

For those who make time in their itinerary to visit Hedley and the Mascot Mine will surely have a "blast" - a trip to the Hedley Heritage Museum, the Snaza'ist Discovery Centre, or a walking tour of the town, all shape the stories of those who have made Hedley rich with community memories. The old trails along Twenty Mile Creek and a walk to the old hydro- electric dam on the Similkameen River are year round enjoyments for locals and visitors. Visitors may want to borrow a town dog to warn off any of the black bears, deer, cougars and bobcats that roam their territory in the canyon and valley. Don't forget to look for the determined mountain goats that roam the rocky slopes.

Hedley, Then and Today, remains a continuation of persistency and cooperation. The population has ebbed and flowed over its hundred years; the mining economy is now only a prospector's dream; and yet the spirit of hope, tenacity and community are found in every individual who resides together, wedged between Stemwinder and Nickel Plate Mountains and the Twenty Mile Creek basin.

Hedley is where Community Memories are built.