Tag: Lindsay Wilson

Having a BallHaving a Ball

August 12, 2025 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

When the Alta lake Volunteer Fire Department (ALVFD) was formed in 1962, it had five members and was supported by donations from community members. Alta Lake residents contributed axes, mattocks, shovels, stretchers, first-aid kits, hoses and more. When the ALVFD made their first purchase of a Wajax pump and 400 feet of hose for $305, Florence Petersen collected $15 from each property owner along Alta Lake Road. Regular fundraisers were established to provide funding from the ALVFD and the money raised was used to supply the firefighters with necessities. Members of the fire department continued to volunteer their time.

The fire department remained a volunteer organization for some years the Resort Municipality of Whistler was formed in 1975 and fundraisers continued to be an important source of funding. One fundraiser was the annual Ice-Break-Up raffle held in the spring. Each year, a barrel would be set out on the ice of Alta lake and tickets were sold with guesses of when the ice would break and the barrel would fall into the water (in 1976, Bob Dufour was announced as the lucky winner, though it was later revealed that an error had been made and the raffle should have been won by Guy Baervoets; both worked for the Whistler Mountain ski school). This tradition continues today, though it is now a fundraiser for the Point Artist-Run Centre rather than the fire department.

Volunteer firefighters Jim Crichton and Rick Crofton battled high winds and slippery ice to place the barrel in the centre of Alta Lake to mark the beginning of the 1984 Ice Break-Up Derby. Whistler Question Collection, 1984

Another annual fundraiser for the fire department was the Fireman’s Ball. This event was reportedly first held at Rainbow Lodge in support of the ALVFD, though it appears to have stopped by the mid-1970s. The Fireman’s Ball, however, was revived in 1985 to raise money for the Whistler Volunteer Fire Department’s (WVFD) Life Saving Equipment Fund. Specifically, the fire department wanted to purchase a Jaws of Life, a tool described to the Whistler Question by Fire Chief Lindsay Wilson as a “hydraulically operated cutting and spreading device used to gain entry to damaged vehicles, thereby facilitating speedy and safe rescue.”

Vancouver band Station to Station performed at the 1992 Fireman’s Ball, a masquerade held on October 31. Whistler Question Collection, 1992

The 1985 Fireman’s Ball on September 21 was one of the first community events to take place in the Conference Centre, which had held its official opening ceremony just two weeks earlier on September 7. Tickets were sold at local businesses and directly by members of the fire department. There was even a weekly Top Ticket Seller competition reported on in the Question.

With the support of volunteers and sponsorships from the community, the Fireman’s Ball was reported to have been a success, raising about $15,000 for the fire department. There was dancing the ballroom to the sounds of the Bobby Hales Orchestra, a full-service casino in the atrium area, a cash bar, and hors d’oeuvres. Organizers had promised it would “be THE social event of the year” and its popularity guaranteed that it would return in 1986.

Over 800 people turned out for the 1986 Fireman’s Ball, which included a casino in the atrium and the Dal Richards Band in the ballroom. Whistler Question Collection, 1986

Due to the success of the Fireman’s Ball, the fire department was able to purchase its Jaws of Life. On September 11, 1986, the driver of a 1985 Jaguar left the road while turning left at the intersection of Village Gate Boulevard and Highway 99. This was the first time that the fire department put its Jaws of Life to use, allowing them to remove the driver from the vehicle with a broken femur much more quickly than they otherwise would have.

Fire Chief Lindsay Wilson demonstrated the use of the Jaws of Life apparatus in front of the firehall. The equipment was purchased with funds raised from the first Fireman’s Ball in 1985. Whistler Question Collection, 1986

In 1998, the Ball was a smaller affair held at the GLC and the money was split between the fire department and the school’s Parent Advisory Committee. According to Alex Bunbury, who had then retired from the WVFD, the Ball had become less profitable for the department over the years as more events sprung up and the Ball was no longer “the only event of the year where Whistlerites dressed formally.” As Whistler grew, the fire department became a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters. The Ball became known as the Whistler Firefighters’ Ball as women such as Sheila Kirkwood joined the department and continued in different forms into the 2000s.

Moving HouseMoving House

October 1, 2019 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Most people in Whistler are familiar with the process of moving house, including the packing, repacking, and unpacking. Just about every person you meet has a story to share about moving to or within Whistler, but not many are able to tell you about the time they moved a house to Whistler.

Last week, however, we had someone do just that: Len Ritchie visited us at the museum to share his story of moving a 278 square metre (3,000 sq/ft) house from Garibaldi to White Gold in 1983.

Ritchie and his (not-yet-at-the-time) wife Patty first came to Whistler in 1975 and later moved to Whistler full-time, buying an empty lot in White Gold. While driving Highway 99 in the fall of 1983, Len spotted a house on the side of the road with a sign proclaiming “For Sale $16,000 Delivered.”

Len and their dog pose next to the price of the house. Photo courtesy of Len Ritchie.

The unfinished house had originally been built at Garibaldi and the owner had decided to move the structure to a lot in Pinecrest. Bob Moloughney of Squamish had been hired to move the house, but when the owner’s plans fell through Moloughney was left with the house. He decided to sell it, including the cost of delivery in the price.

The house was sitting on the side of Highway 99, waiting to be moved. Photo courtesy of Len Ritchie.

Moving the house up the highway required some careful planning and could certainly disrupt traffic. When Ritchie approached BC Hydro and BC Tel about dropping the lines during the move, he was told it would cost $16,000. Instead, the decision was made to remove part of the roof from the house, bringing it down to a legal height to move under the lines, and move that piece separately.

The roof was reattached once the house reached its final resting place, and, according to Len, never leaked. Photo courtesy of Len Ritchie.

On the first day they got the house as far as Function Junction. Ritchie recalled, “It was dark, and it was a little rainy, and we’re up on top with our poles to go under the lines. So the logging truck, Valleau trucking, they were the driver, we had walkie-talkies, so he’d get up on the road and we’d get under a line and we’d go, ‘Hold it, hold it,’ and we’d push the line up, ‘OK, go ahead, go ahead,’ and that’s how we worked our way all of the way up the highway.”

The house waiting to cross the Fitzsimmons Creek Bridge into White Gold. Photo courtesy of Len Ritchie.

To get over the Fitzsimmons Creek Bridge, then the only access to White Gold, took more than four hours. Lindsay Wilson, fire chief, left a truck in White Gold just in case a fire should occur while the house was occupying the bridge. The house was jacked up using railway ties and the ends of the bridge railing were cut off, allowing the house to clear the bridge by mere centimetres. After a while, White Gold residents came out to go to work and about their days, only to find that they couldn’t drive out. Instead, Ritchie remembers, “If anybody needed to leave, I’d take their hand and bend down and crawl or crouch all the way.” When the reached the other side, he had taxis waiting for them.

The house moved along the bridge just barely above the height of the railings. Photo courtesy of Len Ritchie.

The last stage of the move was up the hill to Ambassador Crescent. After one perilous attempt at winching the house up the hill, Art Den Duyf kindly sent over a D6 Cat and a 988 loader to push and pull the house into place. The top of the roof was then reattached and Ritchie, Patty and helpful friends took the next year and a half to fix the house up.

An excited group on the deck of the house, now on its lot and once again in one piece. Photo courtesy of Len Ritchie.

The house has since been sold a few times, but it is still standing. In Ritchie’s opinion, the house that he first saw covered in tar paper, is now “a beautiful big house up there today,” and it has quite the story behind it.