We Heart KidsWe Heart Kids

July 21, 2011 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The Whistler Museum loves kids. Our exhibits feature tons of hands-on fun, from interactive natural history displays–where kids can compare real animal skulls, mineral specimens and more–to our official 2010 Olympic torch and uniforms that you’re encouraged to try out (take that you stodgy, old “look but don’t touch” museums). You should see the energy levels (or chaos, some would say) in this place when school groups come in.

As part of our efforts to provide as much kid-specific programming as possible, Every Saturday in July we have been opening up the Museum for family-friendly craft activities.

The fun started off with pioneer potato stamping. Inevitably, the kids’ creative designs ended up on more than just the paper we provided. This might have been Whistler’s first locavore craft activity, as all the spuds were Pemberton-sourced.

This past Saturday we welcomed talented artist, long-time Museum friend, and all-around awesome Whistler local Isobel MacLaurin as she offered a painting class for local and visiting youth. Using watercolours, the kids were taught in Izzy’s trademark landscape and wildlife techniques, creating beautiful mountain vistas and noble bald eagles.

Class was in session. When Izzy’s running the show, ears perk up.

The kids were really receptive to Izzy’s instruction, and it showed in their work. The day ended with everyone feeling confident that the future of Whistler’s arts community was in good hands.

Coming up next… This Saturday the museum welcomes local bear researcher Michael Allen to give an illuminating talk on our furry friends. There will be face painting to help kids get in character, and we will be making bearpaw-print t-shirts that the kids can take home. T-shirts provided, just bring your young ones!

We round off our Family Saturdays on July 30th with a nature walk led by the Whistler Naturalists, where kids can collect the raw materials to inspire and compose their ecological artwork.

Finally, we’re currently gearing up for our annual LEGO-building contest, which we”ll be hosting August 20th. Believe it or not, the event is now in its 15th year! Stay tuned for more details and registration in the coming weeks!

Everyone loves LEGO! (from last year’s competition).
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The Story Behind “100 Years of Dreams”The Story Behind “100 Years of Dreams”

July 16, 2011 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 5 Comments

*Note: this post was originally published in July 2011*

While deep snowpacks, sprawling ski lifts and downhill dirt made Whistler the international mega-resort it is today, it was actually fish that brought the valley’s first fun-seekers. And it was 100 years ago, this summer.

In a community as young as Whistler, 100 years is nothing to sneeze at. In celebration of the centennial of the Philip’s fateful first visit to this valley, the Whistler Museum and partners are hosting a 5-day series of free events, entitled “100 Years of Dreams.”
 
John Millar in front of his cabin, where you could get a plate of steller’s jay pie for 50 cents.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, the Whistler Valley–then known as Alta Lake–was home to a handful of trappers, prospectors, and loggers. Life was rough and the only connection to the outside world was the Pemberton Trail, a rugged path leading from Squamish (then Newport) to Lillooet and the interior goldfields.

In the spring of 1911, a local trapper named John Millar (for whom Millar Creek in Function Junction is named) was in Vancouver selling some of his furs and picking up provisions. One day a hungry Millar stopped by Gastown’s Horseshoe Bar & Grill where he struck up a conversation with the restaurant manager, Alex Philip.

Millar’s description of his secluded mountain valley struck a chord with Alex, who had recently moved to BC from Maine with his wife Myrtle. It was the Philips’ dream to one day open a fishing retreat in the Canadian wilderness, so they were enthralled by this string of glacier-fed lakes teeming with trout. They took  Millar up on his offer and made the 3-day trek to Alta Lake that August.

The Philips on the Pemberton Trail, en route to Alta Lake, August 1911.

It was perfect. They fell in love with Alta Lake, instantly recognizing that this was the place to pursue their fishing-retreat dreams.

In 1913 they returned and purchased 10 acres of land on the west side of Alta Lake from another local trapper, Charlie Chandler. To raise money Alex returned to managing the Horseshoe in Vancouver, while Myrtle’s family, the Tapleys, moved out from Maine to help build their lodge.

The next summer Rainbow Lodge–named after the bountiful rainbow trout in Alta Lake–was ready to go. That same year the PGE railway, running from Squamish into the BC Interior, opened up, making Rainbow Lodge a much more accessible day-trip from Vancouver.

Rainbow Lodge

The Philips jumped at the PGE’s offer of running “fisherman’s excursion” packages in partnership with Rainbow Lodge. The first such trip brought 22 men up from Vancouver, who returned to the city raving of the great fishing and grand mountain views. From that moment on the Philips had little trouble attracting business.

Rainbow Lodge quickly became the centre of the Alta Lake community. By the 1930s the Philips had added 45 outbuildings to support their growing operation, including a general store, a horse-stable, tennis courts, and a dedicated railway station. Rainbow Lodge advertisements boasted that it was the most popular tourist resort west of Jasper.

An expanded Rainbow Lodge and surrounding facilities, ca 1930.

It may seem modest compared to the excess and grandeur of Whistler today, but Rainbow Lodge and the Philips deserve credit for recognizing Whistler’s unique beauty and promoting it to the outside world. They’re one of the biggest reasons why you live here today (or wish you did).

Alex and Myrtle Philip were the first in a long line starry-eyed visionaries to visit the Whistler Valley and encounter a landscape grand enough to fit their dreams. 100 years later, the Whistler Valley continues to be re-shaped by the Philips’ special brand of hard work and bold ambition.

3 remaining guest cabins at Rainbow Park. Jeff Slack Photo.

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Valley of Dreams Walking Tours video profileValley of Dreams Walking Tours video profile

July 12, 2011 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

Shaw TV Whistler recently produced a feature on the Whistler Museum’s Valley of Dreams walking tours. Check it out!

Our walking tours are offered every day in June, July, and August, starting from the Whistler Village Visitor’s Centre (adjacent to the taxi loop). They last approximately one hour and involve moderate walking through the village. By donation.

Also, as part of our 100 Years of Dreams series of events, running from August 3rd-7th, we will be changing the route to end at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, where participants will have the chance to sample fresh bannock and other treats, and explore the beautiful SLCC!

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Appreciating Whistler’s CemeteryAppreciating Whistler’s Cemetery

July 8, 2011 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Earlier this summer after an outing to Rainbow Park some of us museum folk paid a visit to the Whistler Cemetery. None of us had ever been so we figured it would be a good opportunity to see this oft-forgotten but integral local landmark.

Cemeteries provide historical researchers with a wealth of useful information that can often be hard to find elsewhere. Rows of gravestones offer reliable data such as people’s full names, places of birth, years of death, etc. Examining gravestone design and cemetery layout can provide clues regarding religion and class structure in a community, among other things.

I was especially interested as my academic background is in environmental history, a field concerned with not only the history of our landscapes, but the history in our landscapes as well.

At first I was surprised by how few grave sites there were. With some thought I recognized that over the years most local people remained connected to their places of birth, or chose to retire elsewhere; only in recent decades have people been born “Whistlerites.” The fact that grave markers were greatly outnumbered by still-unoccupied spaces, perhaps more than anything else, expresses just how young this community is.

Of course, cemeteries don’t only record useful data, they are hugely important community institutions. By paying tribute to our loved ones in an enduring, often highly personal manner, they preserve memories and emotion in their rawest, most human form.

With this in mind, I was equally struck by the landscape design of the cemetery as a whole.

It is refreshingly modest and incredibly peaceful in there.


There are no standing gravestones, only ground-level plaques to mark individual burials. In one corner there is a garden with some stone structures to house urns, as well as a separate meandering path through the forest along which ashes may be scattered. This simplicity and consistency in design ensures that nothing is overshadowed by larger monuments. Everyone has their place.

A simple, but fitting Eulogy for Myrtle.
By all accounts, Seppo was the man.

A few days after our visit, I was pedaling up the Westside Road, tired but content after a solo, late-evening trail ride. As I approached the cemetery turnoff, a hulking mule deer suddenly appeared ahead, staring intently at me over his shoulder. Ignoring my impulse to stop, I instead geared down but kept moving, the deer and I remaining locked in an intensely quiet gaze. Finally, after I had passed the deer and the distance between us grew, he turned his head and calmly wandered into the forest towards the ash-scatter garden.

The deer was at home.

As I rode off, I gained an even deeper appreciation of our community’s cemetery. This thoughtful landmark modestly commemorates  Whistler’s past without  disturbing its present. The local wildlife are far more rooted here than us human folk, after all. An inspiring model of sustainability, and a fitting tribute to past loved ones, one might say.

At the Whistler Cemetery new generations draw strength from memories of our past.
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