Lumby is a village located near the edge of the Monashee Mountains in the North Okanagan of British Columbia, Canada. The area is home to approximately 2,000 people, and its economy revolves around the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. Major employers in Lumby include forestry companies such as Tolko Industries, Gudeit Brothers Contracting, and Kineshanko Logging; retail outlets such as Super A Foods, Ace Hardware, and Scotiabank; and organizations providing social services such as the local government, school district, and healthcare facilities.

History

Lumby was originally known as White Valley, however it was renamed to honour Moses Lumby (1842–93) following his death in 1893. He had a varied career throughout his life, including serving as a government agent in Vernon, British Columbia and Vice-President of the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway. The community was previously home to the Lumby Fighting Saints of the now defunct WHA Junior West Hockey League. The league was founded in 2006, but disbanded shortly after in 2008. On October 8, 2014, a WWII-era Japanese balloon bomb was discovered by forestry workers in the mountains near Lumby, nearly 70 years after it was launched. The bomb was reported to the RCMP, who disposed of the device on site using explosives due to risks of relocation.

Features and amenities

The village is home to a network of trails along the nearby creek beds, known collectively as the Salmon Trail. Hang gliding and paragliding are popular in Lumby. The village has hosted many national and international events, usually taking place at Cooper Mountain. The village also hosts a winter outhouse race for charity, featuring creative entries of outhouses mounted on skis. The "Lumby Days" family fair takes place annually in the beginning of summer, attracting attendees from across the Okanagan Valley.

Education

Education in Lumby is administered by School District 22 Vernon, which operates 3 schools in the village: Charles Bloom Secondary School, Crossroads Alternate School, and J.W. Inglis Elementary School.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lumby had a population of 2,063 living in 836 of its 861 total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of 1,833. With a land area of 5.93 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Lumby included:

Climate

Lumby has a humid continental climate with hot summers days and cool nights. Spring and fall are the driest seasons, and summer and winter are the wettest seasons. Fog often sets in during the winter, and can last for days at a time. Lumby is wetter and cooler than Vernon, but is still dry enough to contain natural grasslands, especially on south facing slopes. During the summer months, Lumby has one of the highest diurnal temperature variations in Canada. The daily temperature swing of 20.1 C-change in August is only exceeded by Beaverdell. Lumby is at a transition point between the semi-arid dry belt to the west and the interior rainforest to the east. Thus, both wet and dry vegetation are common in Lumby. Weather facts: