Tag: Whistler history

Whistler’s Answers: August 5, 1982Whistler’s Answers: August 5, 1982

August 5, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer).  Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1982.  Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.

Some context for this week’s question: Talk of allowing gambling in Whistler was not new in the 1980s, but an economic downturn made the idea of casinos more attractive to some residents, who argued it would bring more revenue and stable year-round employment. In 1982, a group called the Concerned Citizens for Whistler was formed in support of bringing gambling to Whistler. However, their views were not shared by all Whistler residents and, at a meeting held in August 1982, it was decided that community members did not have enough information and that a study should be done on the subject. Some concerns discussed at the meeting included the social impact of gambling, the possible altered character of Whistler, and a loss of autonomy as the industry would be strictly controlled by the province.

Question: Did the meeting tonight change your mind about legalizing gambling at Whistler?

Editor’s Note: The following three people were interviewed immediately following the August 1st meeting conducted by Concerned Citizens For Whistler on legalized gambling.

Dave Kirk – Alta Vista

This is a sit-on-the-fence answer, but what did the meeting accomplish? It really didn’t give us any facts on which to base a decision.

But the fact that there was a meeting indicates there is definitely an interest shown – especially for more information.

Jenny Busdon – Housewife – Whistler Cay

I came to the meeting not knowing if I was for or against it. There’s lots of pros and cons – I still don’t have an opinion.

I think our first priority is establishing Whistler as a first-class destination resort and putting our energies into promoting what we presently have here.

When this is done, maybe a concept of this kind would be more viable a few years down the road.

Larry Gunn – Whistler Courier – Alpine Meadows

It didn’t really change my opinion, which is that I think there needs to be more research done before the matter is put before the community and Council to make a decision.

Personally, I’m in favour of legalized gambling, but with qualifications. I’m not in favour of it just anywhere, though.

I’d like to see it kept in a very small segment before it spreads and gets out of hand.

Editor’s Note: These three individuals responded to the question “Do you think gambling should be legalized in Whistler?” in the Nov. 26, 1981 issue of the Whistler Question. It is interesting to note that the responses at that time were much more direct. All six people answered with a definite “yes” or “no” – with four in favour and two against the idea.

Ralph Kowin – Emerald Estates

Yes. Every week thousands of people in BC head for Nevada to gamble, and the money they spend would be better kept in BC. It would create more jobs for Whistler on a year-round basis and help stabilize the highs and lows in the economy. The larger tax base from hotels and casinos would help relieve the burden from property owners.

Wayne Weis – Alpine Meadows

Personally, I have nothing against gambling, but I don’t think they should legalize it here. I don’t think the community as a whole would accept it and I don’t think we have the facilities here to warrant something like gambling.

Don Beverley – Alpine Meadows

Yes, it’s a good idea. Whistler’s trying to become a world-class destination resort and in order to compete with other resorts we have to have the facilities to attract the sophisti-world traveller. Besides skiing in the winter, and windsurfing in the summer, we need something that happens continuously all year round that will attract people.

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Livening Up the StreetLivening Up the Street

August 3, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

On the mid-to-late 1980s, after working as the Vice-President of Marketing at Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation, Mike Hurst began a new position as the acting general manager of the Whistler Resort Association (WRA), known today as Tourism Whistler. While Vancouver had drawn international attention during Expo 86, summers in the Whistler resort were still quite slow, with some businesses even shutting down for the season. According to Hurst, “People would come up to the Village, and they’d come in, and they’d go to a restaurant, and then they’d walk around wondering what to do, and there’d be very little to do.”

In an effort to change this, Hurst contacted Maureen Douglas and Laurel Darnell of Street Access and asked them to organize street entertainment in the Village for the summer of 1987. Though Douglas spent Expo 86 recovering from a broken leg, she was inspired by the “sleeper hit” street performers at the festival and wanted to ensure that talent wasn’t forgotten. She and Darnell formed Street Access Entertainment Society as a non-profit street entertainment booking and development society in September 1986. They were soon contracted to organize three days/week of entertainment in Whistler.

Some acts included combinations of acrobatics and knife juggling. Whistler Question Collection, 1993.

Each weekend the Village would host performances by jugglers, musicians, comedians, and character actors who roamed the Village Stroll. At the end of the summer, fifteen acts were brought together for the Whistler Street Festival Grand Finale over the Labour Day weekend to compete for a contract to perform at Expo 88 in Brisbane, Australia.

The street entertainers from the very first season in 1987. Photo courtesy of Maureen Douglas.

Street Access continued to organize summer street entertainment for the WRA, increasing to four days/week in 1988 and then seven days/week in 1989. The WRA then decided to bring festival and entertainment planning in house and asked Douglas to write a job description and apply. She began working at the WRA and ran the street entertainment program through the 1990s.

The Checkerboard Guy demonstrates how to eat fire on the Village Stroll. Whistler Question Collection, 1992.

According to Douglas, each year’s lineup was made of about 50% returning acts from the Lower Mainland and 50% new or touring acts. One regular act was Carolyn Sadowska, who appeared as Queen Elizabeth II and would instruct visitors on points of etiquette, provide tiaras and props, and pose for photos. Other acts included Fifi Lafluff (“the world’s worst hairdresser”), a cappella groups such as Party Fever, bands like the Mulberry Street Jazz Band, clowns, and comedic jugglers such as the Checkerboard Guy and Mike Battie (whose grand finale involved juggling pins and broccoli, which he proceeded to eat, accompanied by the William Tell Overture). Over the years Douglas also started to hire local musical acts, such as Stephen and Peter Vogler, singing group Colours on Key, and harpist Alison Hunter.

Colours on Key, a local singing group in Whistler. Whistler Question Collection, 1993.

By most accounts, the street entertainment program was a big success. Through the 1990s the September festival was renamed Whistler’s Really Big Street Fest and weekly showcases were added to the schedule. Acts were carefully placed throughout the Village, as some could attract audiences of 300 to 400 people. While this was alright in Village Square, in other areas those numbers created gridlock.

Performances could fill Village Square, sometimes even impeding foot traffic. Whistler Question Collection, 1993.

Whistler became part of the street entertainment circuit, joining other festivals across Canada in cities such as Halifax and Edmonton. While some of the other areas offered performers a chance to make a lot of money through busking, the WRA didn’t want the audience to have to pay and instead offered a “working holiday,” with a decent fee, accommodation, wine and cheese get-togethers on Fridays, and time to enjoy summer in Whistler. Douglas remembered that one of the producers of a busking festival once told her, “You know, our one beef with Whistler is that you guys are just too nice. They come here and then we don’t treat them quite as well and they’re miffed.”

Encouraging summer visitors was a large focus of the WRA and Mike Hurst in the mid-to-late 1980s and street entertainment was just one strategy to increase numbers. For many visitors and residents, however, the performers were one of the most memorable parts of their Village experience.

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Whistler’s Answers: July 29, 1982Whistler’s Answers: July 29, 1982

July 29, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer).  Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1982.  Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.

Some context for this week’s question: In July 1982, various publications, including The Vancouver Sun, published pieces on Whistler and the Whistler Village Land Company (WVLC). Some of the articles published implied that the WVLC had shut down and that Whistler, as a whole, was closed. In January 1983, the provincial government did step in and form a Crown corporation, Whistler Land Co. Developments, to take over the liabilities and assets of the WVLC, but as of July 1982 the WVLC was still operating.

Question: What was your reaction to media coverage outside of Whistler during last week’s events?

Sue Sherin – Assistant Manager at Whistler Tops – Alpine Meadows

Basically I thought the treatment the press gave to Whistler was pretty sad.

Because of the entire economic situation, what’s happened here is no different than anywhere else. But the coverage we’ve had – it makes people not want to come.

It’s beautiful here. And it’s been built in only two years. What does the press expect? They should give us more of a chance.

Mayor Pat Carleton – Westside Road

I think it’s been a disgraceful form of reporting. It just goes to show you that what you say is not necessarily what is printed.

All the media outside of Whistler – and I don’t name anyone specifically – has twisted the whole thing out of context. Nothing has been made clear.

The coverage has blown the negative aspect way out of proportion. I’ve even had a call from Lorne Greenaway in Ottawa (Whistler’s MP). He thinks the whole town has been shut down.

Alex Kleinman – Construction Manager – Alta Vista

I was disappointed in the bias taken by the media. I was hoping to see a little more of both sides of the story.

There are a lot of things which are still happening here – as well as things that aren’t.

Rather than ask municipal and Land Company officials on the history and evolution of the whole project here at Whistler, they have taken comments out of context and made that the story.

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The village that ceased to exist, part twoThe village that ceased to exist, part two

July 27, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Part 1 of this story can be found here.

After a May 1980 Order in Council (OIC) called for the evacuation of their village, the residents of the Garibaldi Townsite faced a stressful and uncertain future. At first, many of the residents refused to accept the fate of their community, and fought the OIC with everything they had. With every day that passed, their situation seemed to become more complicated and controversial.

After the OIC was issued, the evacuation process progressed quickly. Property assessments for the area were to be completed by the coming September. Following that, residents would have until December 31st to accept their purchase offer. The residents were given the option to buy back their buildings at auction (so long as they could meet the highest bid), but at the time there were no plans for a relocation site, so the residents had nowhere to move their houses.

A Garibaldi Townsite home being relocated. Whistler Question Collection.

The situation seemed bleak in the summer of 1980, but by the fall there was a little more hope. The deadline to accept offers was extended to June 1981, which gave residents a little more time to get their affairs in order. An interdepartmental committee between the Ministry of the Environment (who were handling the evacuation) and the Ministry of Housing (who were handling the relocation) was established, and residents who chose to buy back their homes were given permission to leave them on the land until a relocation site was completed.

Despite these concessions, the evacuation order remained in place, and residents remained unwilling to give up on their town. The matter was brought to Ombudsman Karl Freidman in October 1980. While reviewing the case, he found several causes for concern. Among them was a lack of open communication between the government and the residents, the terms of sale being stacked in the government’s favour, and the lack of official commitment to a relocation plan. A few months later, likely in response to Freidman’s report, the provincial government sent letters to the residents that included the complete OIC and plans for a relocation site 7km north of the Townsite.

Just as the plight of the residents was starting to improve, disaster struck the Townsite on December 26th 1980. After days of heave rain, B.C. Hydro was forced to open the gates of the Daisy Lake Dam to prevent it from overflowing. The resulting flood wrought havoc on the village. One home was swept away into the Cheakamus River, many were undermined, and the Garibaldi Townsite infrastructure was severely damaged. The destruction shook many of the resident’s resolve to continue fighting for their community, and some decided to leave entirely.

In September 1981, the remaining residents launched a final attempt to save their town, or at the very least to spread awareness about the mismanagement and perceived unfairness of their situation.

A Garibaldi resident stands beside some of the signs for the September 1981 protest. Whistler Question Collection.

Fifteen signs were placed along Highway 99, and drivers were asked to pull over to be handed copies of “The Great Barrier Grief”, a circular that detailed their situation, the OIC, and their theories and questions about the matter. “The Great Barrier Grief” was put together by Ian Barnet, who owned the Garibaldi Lodge. It included everything from editorials on the issue, stories of longtime residents, political cartoons, and summaries of some of the theories about the cause of the evacuation.

The circular suggested four theories behind the evacuation. The first (“Pure Government Bungling”), suggested that it was miscommunication within the government that caused the situation to escalate as it had. The second (“Over-Reaction to Tenuous Report”), suggested the government’s seemingly sudden action had been caused by the eruption of Mount St. Helens (it erupted on May 18, 1980, shortly before the OIC was issued). Perhaps, it suggested, since the government had been aware of the potential risk of the Barrier, they could be held accountable for any damage it did. The third (“The Conspiracy Theory”) suggested that due to all of the development happening in the valley, the government had a vested interest in owning the land, and were therefore forcing the residents out by any means necessary. Similarly, the fourth (“The Land Grab Theory”) suggested that because land values in Whistler had recently sky-rocketed, the Crown stood to profit should they take back the village’s land, hold onto it for a few years, and to then redistribute it at Whistler prices.

Below are some examples of illustrations from the publication.

Illustration from “The Great Barrier Grief” that shows the path a landslide would have to take to damage the Townsite but none of its surroundings.
Illustration from “The Great Barrier Grief”

In the end, their resistance was not enough to save their village, but it did result in a guaranteed relocation site and provincial commitment to better and more transparent communication. In 1982, residents were offered lots in a new development called Black Tusk. Residents were welcomed to the new community in September 1984, though some fought to stay until as late as 1986. In the end, only twenty-six Townsite families chose to relocate to Black Tusk, and the remaining lots were sold to the general public.

Today, all that is left of the Garibaldi Townsite is a small collection of ageing cabins tucked away off Highway 99 across from Daisy Lake.

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