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Hiring Local Trades in Mission
The do-it-yourself era ends in every household eventually. How to choose a local electrician, plumber or roofer in Mission: credentials, permits, quotes, and why local usually wins.
The blog
Mission guides & local news
I started writing these because I was answering the same questions one text message at a time. Where to take a visiting parent for dim sum. Whether the night market is worth the parking. What is still open on a wet Sunday in February. The long answers live here, and they are written for people who are going this weekend, not for people planning a trip next year.
Written and checked by
Carla Jensen
10 guides published
Every guide comes from going. I rank places, I tell you what the ranking is based on, and when I have not been back since somewhere changed hands I put that in writing instead of hoping you do not notice. Some of it is logistics: parking, the hour the lineup starts, which places take cash only, how to feed eight people on a Saturday without a booking. Some of it is me being opinionated about lunch.
The one rule I hold to is that the guides cover the whole city, including the half that is harder to write about.
What's in here
- Place guides I take one neighbourhood, or one plaza, at a time. Where to park, when to turn up, and what to walk past.
- Best-of lists I put them in order and say out loud what the order is based on.
- Seasonal and events These run on dates. What sells out, what to book, and where to leave the car.
- Practical guides These answer the awkward ones. Nine days of rain, where the dog is welcome, feeding eight people without a booking.
Notes from the valley floor
A guide that likes everything is useless. So I rank things, I say why, and I tell you when I haven't been back since the owners changed.
More from the blog
Everything else worth reading
The newest guide sits at the top. I go back and rewrite the older ones when something changes on the ground.
Durieu and the Farm Gates of Rural Mission
Five kilometres northeast of the old town the rooftops run out and the farm gates open. Durieu, the Hatzic Valley, and the etiquette that keeps the stands open season after season.
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Hillside Living: Cedar Valley and Silverhill
Half of Mission lives uphill, and the answer to where is not a street name but a direction. Acreages in Cedar Valley, forest-edge streets in Silverhill, and the services closer than newcomers expect.
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Where to Eat in Mission: A Resident's Tour
Our food list is shorter than Vancouver's and that is fine. Breakfast near the station, the Greek room on the main street, family dining on the Lougheed, and the brewery that keeps North Railway honest after dark.
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Riding the West Coast Express from Mission City
The commuter train that ends its run at Mission City station has shaped this town for thirty years. How the ride works, when it runs, and what it means for shopping local on First Avenue.
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The Abbey Hillside: Westminster Abbey and the Best Walk in Mission
Westminster Abbey sits on the hillside above town with the best free view in Mission. The monastery's history, the working farm, and the walking loop I give visitors, all in one guide.
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Berry Season in Mission: The Stands, the Fields, the Etiquette
Mission once billed itself as Home of the Big Red Strawberry, and the habit never left. When the stands open on the flats, where to drive, and how to be a good customer at the gate.
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Stave Falls and the Lakes: Mission's Hydro Country
North of town the valley opens into hydro country: the old powerhouse at Stave Falls, Hayward Lake below the dam, and Stave Lake stretching twenty kilometres between forested slopes. A local's guide to Mission's backyard.
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Old Town Mission City, Block by Block
The old town below the hill is one of the Fraser Valley's oldest main streets, and it gives nothing to people who do not stop. The station, the storefronts, the museum and the river, in the order I walk them.
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Mission's Neighbourhoods, Explained
Mission is not one town but six: the old town on the flats, two hillside neighbourhoods, the river benches at Steelhead, the hydro country up the Stave, and farm country out at Durieu. A practical tour of how the District is laid out, from the editor who has walked all of it.
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Tips and corrections
Somewhere I missed, or something I got wrong?
I read everything that comes in. If a place has closed, changed hands, or is simply better than I gave it credit for, tell me and I'll go back and eat there again.