Vallican - Communities of the Slocan Valley

Vallican sits at the confluence of the Little Slocan River and the Slocan River under the watchful eye of Frog Peak. The water and air is clear, and the people are passionate and eclectic.

Vallican has no gas station, restaurant, corner store or post office…yet most people in the valley know Vallican because of where it sits and the many community initiatives its residents have brought to fruition.

It’s most famous occupant is the Vallican Whole Community Centre, more fondly known as THE WHOLE, which is arguably the funkiest community-built community centre this side of the Moody Blues. ‘The Whole’ is probably the centre of Vallican…but who needs a centre anyway.

THE WHOLE houses BC’s first alternative school, an Indie movie theatre, and numerous community activities. Hidden in the trees along the backroads you can find B&B retreats, artist studios, horse breeders and trainers, small farms and knowledge workers telecommuting to their big city jobs.

Vallican also contains the ancestral grounds of the Sinixt people and was settled by homesteaders in the early 1900s.

Almost as mythical as Oz, and about as hard to find (since there are no road signs)…you get to Vallican by crossing the Slocan River Bridge off highway 6 at Passmore Upper Road. Turn right as soon as your wheels leave the bridge, then follow Passmore Lower Road for a km until you cross the Little Slocan River, and you’re in Vallican. Just to keep everyone guessing about “Where’s Vallican?”, Canada Post doesn’t recognise it (the postal address for Vallican is Winlaw), yet the phone company lists all phone numbers from Appledale to Slocan Park in the phone book under ‘Vallican’.