Search for Metro Vancouver's best neighbourhood quarterfinals: Northern Final

It's usually gasoline that fuels people to Deep Cove, the small neighbourhood on the eastern edge of North Vancouver.

But before it was closed due to COVID-19 crowding, it was usually something else that fuelled people up Quarry Rock.

"There will be people who come and grab a doughnut, go hike up, eat a doughnut, come back down, grab another doughnut, go kayaking — it's the pit stop," said Ashifa Saferali, co-owner of famed Honey's Donuts. 

Deep Cove's views and hikes make it a popular tourist destination, but its semi-isolation and relative tranquillity are also a big reason it has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Search for Metro Vancouver's Best Neighbourhood. 

"You see locals helping locals, and in a time of crisis everyone is pulling together. Everyone knows each other, it's like a small town," she said.

"But Deep Cove is changing so fast as well, it's not the best kept secret anymore. People all want to live here."

To get to the Final Four, Deep Cove will have to defeat the only small municipality still in the running. 

"It's got that small-town family community feel to it. We all kind of have each other's back," said Jennifer Hopcott-Foxley, third-generation Pitt Meadows resident and operation manager at Hopcott Premium Meats. 

"I love that we're kind of in the middle. I love Vancouver, a half hour drive I'm there, but we've got lakes, dikes, mountains. It's the perfect little area we can access."

A longtime agricultural and suburban community, Pitt Meadows has seen slow but steady growth over the decades. But there's a reason multiple political candidates in the last election referred to it as Mayberry — the famed sleepy town from The Andy Griffith Show — in an all-candidates debate. 

"There's a lot of history, and the next generations are getting to know each other, the farm kids all went to school with each other, we grew up and now see each other around town," said Hopcott-Foxley.

"We don't like to brag too much. Just come experience it. We're quiet, proud people."

From 48 neighbourhoods to start, Deep Cove and Pitt Meadows are the two finalists in the Fraser Quadrant of our competition. The winner will face Fraser River champion Steveston in the semifinals next Wednesday. 

Both are beloved neighbourhoods. But only one can move on.

Tale of the tape

Pitt Meadows:

• Average age: 41.
• Average household size: 2.6.
• Renter households: 22.4 per cent
• Average total household income: $100,000
• Visible minorities as a percentage of neighbourhood population: 18.9 per cent
• Road to the Elite Eight: Defeated Oxford Heights 63-37 per cent, Glenwood 64-34 per cent, Downtown Port Coquitlam 60-40 per cent, Belcarra 50.3-49.7 per cent and Lions Bay 59-41 per cent. 

Deep Cove:

With files from Cathy Browne