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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1490198
34 BCBUSINESS.CA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 with firms in performance apparel gear, equipment design and manufacturing and adventure-based media marketing." One of the businesses lured by Squa- mish's nature-affirming lifestyle is OneUp Components, which designs, engineers and sells high-performance mountain bike parts. "We're passionate about the outdoors and wanted to remove obstacles that pre- vented us from enjoying them," says OneUp co-owner and CFO Chris Heynen. Easy access to the Sea-to-Sky Corridor's trail net- works was a bonus for the company's prod- uct testing and development needs. OneUp is part of a burgeoning local recreation tech industry and, since setting up shop in Squamish in 2013, the brand has established a global reach. Citing the 2014 move of Pinkbike—a leading provider of digital mountain bike media and entertainment—to the mountain city, along with the organic growth of several hometown bike brands and interest from other outside companies looking to set up a local presence, Heynen thinks Squamish is making a mark. "The industry has firmly become established in this town," he says. "[Squamish] has become a destination for the sport." But despite these recent successes and its continued rapid growth, Squamish hasn't been immune to COVID-19. "There were definitely businesses that were heavily impacted and didn't make it," says Hurford. But, adds the mayor, the community was still able to find creative ways to support employers, such as a grant-writing program that secured more than $600,000 for over 60 businesses. Hurford also points to the pandemic's uneven impact on the community. As the world went into lockdown in early 2020, he says, people began flocking to outdoor recreational activities as a way to cope with COVID-induced cabin fever—much to the benefit of outdoor recreation businesses. But that unprecedented demand created its own unique challenges—ones that continue to affect the industry today. "The long lead times and increased demand created a surge of inventory that has now been delivered just when the market has taken a [downward] shift," says OneUp's 2022 RANK 2021 RANK COMMUNITY FIVE-YEAR POPULATION GROWTH (10% WEIGHT) HOUSEHOLD FINANCIAL VULNERABILITY (15%) RESIDENT SENSE OF BELONGING (5%) RESIDENTIAL GHG EMISSIONS PER 10,000 POPULATION (5%) 18 14 BURNABY 7.0% 96 91 9,706 19 37 MISSION 8.0% 115 95 14,777 20 16 VICTORIA 6.5% 94 83 10,615 21 20 PENTICTON 8.3% 96 87 12,719 22 24 NANAIMO 9.6% 100 88 10,878 23 27 DUNCAN/NORTH COWICHAN 6.4% 99 91 10,630 24 10 COURTENAY 10.2% 98 90 11,030 25 29 SOOKE 14.4% 110 98 7,098 26 26 VERNON 10.0% 97 87 15,459 27 38 CAMPBELL RIVER 7.4% 97 90 11,606 28 39 PORT COQUITLAM 5.6% 105 97 10,181 29 31 CITY OF LANGLEY 10.9% 116 86 7,887 30 30 DELTA 5.8% 93 94 14,159 31 18 SAANICH 3.3% 86 92 8,861 32 36 ABBOTSFORD 8.4% 105 96 11,035 33 15 VANCOUVER 4.6% 92 85 8,612 34 35 MAPLE RIDGE 9.8% 105 91 13,489 BEST CITIES FOR WORK IN B.C.