What to See in Abbotsford - Top Sights and Attractions

Art gallery in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The Reach Gallery Museum is a public art gallery and museum located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. It exhibits artwork from across Canada and around the world. The Reach is also the regional archival repository and houses a significant collection of material culture from the Abbotsford region.

The entire structure is a 20,000 square foot Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building with 6,100 square feet of exhibition space. In addition to the Great Hall and two community exhibition spaces, The Reach has a multi-purpose studio for innovative arts and heritage programming, two climate controlled storage areas, and a flexible, multi-purpose public programming space.^[1]

Convention center in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The Fraser Valley Trade and Exhibition Centre or TRADEX is the second largest facility of its kind in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

It is operated by the Tourism Abbotsford Society and hosts around 90 events every year. These events are run by independent companies or people (show managers) who are subject to TRADEX policies and procedures. The events vary in type and include consumer shows, trade shows, banquets, agricultural shows, special events, meetings, sporting events, outdoor events, weddings, product launches, film shoots, and ride and drives.

The building has an H-shaped layout of two 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) halls which can be used independently or for a single large exhibition. It has nine hangar-style doors of varying sizes, the biggest of which allows the passage of objects as large as 90 feet (27 m) wide and 19 feet (5.8 m) high.

The centre hosts the bulk of its events between September to May, during which time events are run almost every weekend. During the rest of the year, the centre hosts fewer events, mostly held outdoors.^[5]

Bridge in British Columbia, Canada. The Mission Railway Bridge is a Canadian Pacific Railway bridge spanning the Fraser River between Mission, and Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

Replacing an earlier bridge built in 1891, which was the first and only bridge crossing of the Fraser below Siska in the Fraser Canyon until the construction of the New Westminster rail bridge in 1904, it was constructed in 1909 by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The Mission Railway Bridge is supported by 13 concrete piers and is approximately 533 metres in length. Before completion of the Mission highway bridge, highway traffic to and from Matsqui and Abbotsford with Mission used the bridge as a one-way alternating route, with traffic lights at either end to control direction. Rail traffic often held up car crossings, causing long and often very lengthy waits, which were a part of daily life in the Central Valley until the new bridge was completed.

Beneath the bridge's north abutment is an important river-level gauge monitored during the annual Fraser freshet. The bridge is also the location of the end of the Fraser's tidal bore - downstream from the bridge the river is increasingly influenced by tidal influences from the Georgia Strait.^[6]

University in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The University of the Fraser Valley, formerly known as University College of the Fraser Valley and Fraser Valley College, is a Canadian public university with campuses in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission and Hope, British Columbia. Founded in 1974 as Fraser Valley College, it was a response to the need for expanded vocational training in the communities of the Fraser Valley. In 1988, it became a university college, with degree-granting status. As the University College of the Fraser Valley, it grew rapidly, becoming one of the largest university colleges in Canada.

In recognition of the growing needs for higher education within the region and in the province, the provincial government granted full university status on 21 April 2008. Student enrollment is now over 15,000 students annually.

In the 2010 The Globe and Mail Canadian University Report, UFV earned the most "A Range" grades of any post-secondary institution in British Columbia, receiving A grades in quality of education, student–faculty interaction, and ease of registration.^[7]