Armstrong


 * For the American city, see Armstrong (Iowa)

Armstrong is a city of about 4800 people (2016) in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. It is perhaps most famous as the home of the Armstrong Cheese factory, which closed in 2004.

Understand
Armstrong is a rural community and commercial center in the North Okanagan, with agriculture, grain farming of alfalfa and wheat, logging, and ranching being traditional economic activities. It is set amidst the dairy and farmlands of the Spallumcheen Valley (a name derived from a Shuswap language word with multiple meanings: "beautiful valley","flat meadow,""meeting of the waters" and "prairie-banked river").

History
Armstrong was named after E.C. Heaton Armstrong, a London banker who helped finance the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway in 1892 and local development at the turn of the century, relocating the townsite originally at Landsdowne to the confluence of the Valley's rail lines, and the city's current site.

The influence of Dutch immigrants settling in the valley after the Second World War is represented by their cheese-making knowledge, allowing Armstrong to become well known for the cheese it produced.

The city is also known for hosting the Interior Provincial Exhibition and Stampede, which has been in annual operation since 1899. The IPE has a midway and popular retail show, but is very much still a country fair, with contests being held to judge animals, cooking, sewing, hobbies and other items. The exhibition offers a variety of entertainment options ranging from concerts, competitions, and the famous mini-chuckwagon races.

Get in
The only highway through town is provincial highway 97A which travels from Vernon to the south and Sicamous to the north of Armstrong.

The closest major airport is in Kelowna to the south.

Go next

 * Head north to the Shuswap region.
 * Head south to see the rest of the Okanagan including Vernon, Kelowna, and Penticton.
 * Kamloops is a short drive north on Highway 97.