A tourism website has named Flin Flon a must-see Canadian town.
The community ranks 10th of 13 locations on “The Bucket List’s 13 Canadian Towns You Must Visit,” an article recently posted on Escapehere.com.
“There are few more quintessentially Canadian towns than Flin Flon,” reads the accompanying description. “A sun-Arctic hardworking mining community with a stellar hockey history. Six hundred miles northwest of Winnipeg in the Manitoba Lake District, it boasts a big trout festival and wilderness activities in summer and with the exception of downhill skiing, a full range of winter sports.
“It is one of Canada’s hockey factories, having sent a number of big stars to the NHL, including Bobby Clarke, Reggie Leach and Blaine Stoughton. And there is of course its iconic name with a minor literary pedigree, the only town named after Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, a character in a 1905 science fiction book The Sunless City. The venerable American cartoonist was so intrigued by the story, he created the statue of the town’s namesake that still stands.”
That unnamed cartoonist was, of course, Al Capp of L’il Abner fame. And while he did not physically “create” the Flinty statue, he did supply the drawing on which the statue was based.
One more note about the article: To say there is no downhill skiing in Flin Flon is inaccurate given the steep (and popular) skiing and sliding hill near the Flin Flon Ski Chalet.
Also making the list were Nelson, British Columbia (13); Legal, Alberta (12); Forget, Saskatchewan (11); Port Hope, Ontario (9); Hudson, Quebec (8); Victoria-by-the-Sea, Prince Edward Island (7); Saint Andrews, New Brunswick (6); Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia (5); Trinity, Newfoundland and Labrador (4); Dawson, Yukon (3); Rankin Inlet, Nunavut (2); and Fort Smith, Northwest Territories (1).
