Search for B.C.'s best small town: Southwest region, Round 2

If you sell real estate on the Sunshine Coast, you've got to be careful playing favourites between towns. 

"I have to tread a bit lightly because I do sell in Sechelt," said Randi Thomas, a realtor and Gibsons resident. 

"But Gibsons is just hipper, younger … I mean, if you want to be close to a McDonald's, Sechelt is the place to go, but Gibsons is hands down better."

At the same time, there are two certainties in this part of the province: tension around making the ferry, and a close relationship with neighbouring communities. 

"The Sunshine Coast, we're one unit," said Thomas.

"We're very ribbon-nature in our geography," agrees Sechelt councillor Alton Toth. 

"Everybody lives sort of close to the coastline. A lot of communities, you can sort of have your downtown and then you sprawl out from there. We can't really have that, so we've got some pretty unique challenges."

Toth doesn't characterise Sechelt as "hip," and the town can't match Gibsons for its number of breweries or closeness to Vancouver.

But he argues there are plenty of advantages to living in Sechelt.  

"I think [we've] got more going for families," he said. 

"We've got the only post-secondary institutions here. We are a bigger community. There are a lot of people that don't like the commute 20 minutes down the highway … it is quieter, whereas being down in Gibsons, you're closer to the ferry."

Sechelt and Gibsons are the two biggest communities on the lower Sunshine Coast, and face off in the second round in the Search for B.C.'s Best Small Town. 

Each day from Tuesday to Friday, there will be a new series of one-on-one votes in a different region. Each week, we'll narrow the field down — from 128 to 64, 64 to 32, and so on, until we have a champion. 

Voting will take place until 10 p.m. PT each day, with today's votes determining the eight quarterfinalists in the Southwest B.C. quadrant of the competition.