The village of Stirling is growing and mayor Trevor Lewington thinks it’s because the community offers the perfect blend of small town living with some big city amenities.
“You can have horses in your backyard here if you have more than an acre, you can have chickens, we don’t care.
“You still have the ability to have a gig fiber connection and work from home, so I actually have better internet service here in the village than I do in my office in downtown Lethbridge,” added Lewington.
The latest federal census shows Stirling grew by 19 per cent, from 978 residents in 2016 to 1,164 in 2021. Lewington said it’s the fastest population growth rate among all communities in the south region.
“We’ve been very focused on building community, so that is having the right facilities.
“We expanded our library, we’ve made updates to our pool, we’ve attracted some important business services so we have a dental clinic, a medical clinic, a pharmacy and a restaurant,” Lewington said.
Edwin Quinteros moved to Stirling in 2019 from Lethbridge. He said he considered several communities in the area, but Stirling checked all the boxes.
“There was three things we were looking for. Number one was the house; it had to accommodate the size of our family. Number two was we wanted something with a nice-sized yard. And number three, we wanted a neighbourhood or a community that would fit our lifestyle.”
Quinteros is also a realtor and said he saw that the village of Stirling gave him the best bang for his buck, finding the large lots were a huge drawing feature.
Devynn Bohn moved to Stirling 10 years ago, and in 2020 she opened the only restaurant in town called Hickory Street, serving smoked meat favourites. She said being one of the drawing cards for the community is a fun way to give back.
“We chose to raise our kids here, we think it’s really fun, it’s nice and quiet, crime doesn’t exist really here, it’s a great little village.
“So when it came time to open the restaurant, it made sense to open it in Stirling,” Bohn added.
Other communities, similar in size to Stirling, also saw an up-tick in the last census.
“Foremost had very strong growth, around 13 or 15 per cent. Raymond, just down the street, I think was around 13 per cent,” Lewington said.
Comments