Tag: Whistler Village

Bringing the Mail to the VillageBringing the Mail to the Village

March 18, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In February 1981, Whistler Mayor Pat Carleton was informed that the Post Office would be moving into the (still under construction) Whistler Village. This announcement that a three-year lease for a space in the Rainbow Building had been signed came from Senator Ray Perrault on behalf of the Postmaster General, the Honourable André Ouellet, and it was made clear that this was to be a temporary location until a more permanent location for the post office was built.

The post office had already moved around the Whistler valley a few times, starting out at Rainbow Lodge in 1914 and ending up in a building provided by the Valleau family at Mons. After the Resort Municipality of Whistler was formed in 1975 and planning began for a town centre, it was expected that the post office would eventually move to a more centrally located site near other services such as a grocery store, bank, and more.

New lockboxes are moved into the recently renovated Post Office in the Rainbow Building. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

In his February 17, 1981, letter to council, Senator Perrault reported that improvements to the space would begin shortly and that the Post Office would be scheduled to open on May 1. As of mid-March, however, work had not yet started on any renovations to the space across from the Gourmet. The May deadline came and went and the post office continued to be located outside of the town centre.

1981 was an eventful year for post offices and sorting facilities in Canada. On June 30, over 20,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) went on strike over one of the union’s key demands, which was the provision of seventeen weeks of paid maternity leave for their members. While small rural offices such as the one in Whistler were still open, mail was only delivered to other rural offices in the region and larger offices such as the one in Squamish were shut down.

Postmistress Beth Pipe serves customers from the new post office location. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

By mid-July, Beth Pipe, the post master, was the only employee working at the Whistler post office and hours had been reduced so that the office was closed for lunch each day and closed on Saturdays (post offices were already closed on Sundays). In the meantime, work had begun on the renovations at the new post office space and it was hoped that the move would be able to take place during the strike, as there would be little traffic to either location and so minimal disruption to operations. It was proving difficult, however, to find a solution to an access problem, in that lock boxes needed 24-hour access and putting a public doorway in the stairwell would also provide 24-hour access to the private condominiums on the second floor. The Whistler Village Land Company initially objected to the eventual solution of turning one of the external windows in the post office space into a door for aesthetic purposes and the location of the door had to be negotiated.

When a national vote by members of the CUPW on August 10 (after the Treasury Board had agreed to their demand for seventeen weeks of paid maternity leave, setting a precedent that would soon be followed by other unions) ended the strike and postal service resumed on August 11, the new post office was still not ready for occupation. It was not until mid-September that the move occurred and the post office began operating out of the Rainbow Building on September 21.

The move came with a couple of surprises for post office staff. When arriving at the new location the Saturday prior to the move to get some work done, Pipe found the public access door locked. As an employee, she was able to gain access through the back door and found a couple “well ensconced in their sleeping bags” in the lock box area who had locked the door from the inside.

Just in case anyone was unsure about the postal code for Whistler. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

Operating in the new space also turned out to be very different from the post office’s previous location. According to Pipe, “It’s like moving to the big city” and in some ways she missed the quiet setting of the old office. The new space had an additional 260 post boxes, with space for another 312 to be added, which meant that there would be fewer people having to queue to collect their mail.

The Rainbow Building was not the final stop for Whistler’s Post Office and mail service has continued to change. Even with the additional space and lock boxes provided by the new location, there was an extensive waiting list for lock boxes by 1985 and other solutions such as boxes in the subdivisions were put in place. The Post Office’s current location in Marketplace opened in the 1990s and at certain times of year additional locations are sometimes opened in other areas of the valley to help meet demand.

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Passing Under Highway 99Passing Under Highway 99

July 23, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

At a council meeting in July 1984, council member Terry Rodgers stated, “I am very much afraid someone is going to get killed there.” He was referring to the unmarked crosswalk on Highway 99 between the Village site and the Whistler Golf Course. The unofficial crosswalk also connected the Village to the Valley Trail system and so was heavily used. With no marked crossing, pedestrians and cyclists crossing the highway were often unexpected by drivers. Not long before the meeting, Rodgers had noticed long skid marks near the crosswalk left by a large, dual wheel truck.

Rodgers’ concerns about the safety of the crossing, which had no signs for either motorists or pedestrians, was widely shared. A 1983 transportation study called for an underpass, the council sent a letter to the Department of Highways, and WLC Developments Ltd. (the owner of the golf course at the time) promised to discuss the issue at their board meeting. When asked about the safety of the area for the Whistler Question’s “Whistler’s Answers” feature, all three people said no, it was not safe.

The highway underpass under construction, as seen from the golf course parking lot. Whistler Question Collection, 1986

According to Ron Winbow, the district manager for the Department of Highways, crosswalk lines were not an option because Highway 99 was an “arterial road” and the policy on pedestrian crosswalks across highways was that they were reserved for school purposes and were patrolled. Like the earlier transportation study, Winbow suggested that the municipality build and underpass.

Despite worries over the safety of the unmarked crossing, it was another two years before an underpass was constructed. In February 1986, WLC Developments Ltd. called for tenders on the building of an underpass leading off of Whistler Way beneath Highway 99 and an 82-space parking lot near the putting green. The job was expected to cost over $500,000 and be completed in time for the opening of the golf course on May 1. The parking lot was necessary as the lot where golfers had been parking, which also housed the trailers of the Whistler Medical Centre, was slated to become a hotel, with construction beginning in April. (The Whistler Medical Centre was relocated to the basement of Municipal Hall.)

Someone jumps around the underpass. Whistler Question Collection, 1996

Construction of the underpass was underway by April. Because the highway had to be temporarily diverted and a road built to run parallel, the construction timeline was pushed back to ensure the diversion was not in place during the 1986 World Cup races in March. The project was delayed again when work stopped in early May after it was found that the soil under the underpass footing was too soft to support them. Though soil testing had been carried out, it took place in January when the ground by the road was frozen and so only the soil by the parking area had been tested. Though the parking lot had been completed, it could not be accessed until the underpass was complete.

Finally, in September 1986, the underpass connecting the Village to the Valley Trail and the Whistler Golf Course was completed, a few months behind schedule and about $40,000 over budget. With two lanes for vehicles and a raised sidewalk serving as the Valley Trail, the underpass continues to be a much safer approach to both amenities for pedestrians and cyclists (apart from a few incidents with vehicles that proved to be taller than their driver expected).

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Early Days at Municipal HallEarly Days at Municipal Hall

June 25, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 4 Comments

When the Resort Municipality of Whistler was formed in 1975, the organization was small enough that the for the first couple of years employees numbered in the single digits. According to Kris Shoup, when she was hired in 1977 as the secretary of the building inspector (Jim Murray, employee number one), she thinks she became the RMOW’s fourth employee.

Shoup arrived in Whistler for the summer in 1976 and never left. There were just over 500 residents in the valley at the time and, as Shoup put it, she “absolutely adored it” and “thought it was great.” A vet technician, she ran the vet clinic located in Alpine Meadows, though there was no vet living in Whistler full-time. The vet would come to Whistler once a week and do all the surgeries and appointments booked by Shoup, who did as much as she was able for the rest of the week. She got to know a lot of the residents working at the clinic as “everyone had a dog” and, in the case of an emergency such as a dog hit by a car, Shoup would try to stabilize the animal as much as possible so they could be driven to Squamish.

Whistler Council in its first formal portrait. (l to r) Alderman Bill Peterson, Alderman David O’Keefe, Administrator Geoff Pearce, Mayor Mark Angus, Municipal Clerk Kris Shoup Robinson, Alderman Bernie Hauschka and Alderman Terry Rodgers. Whistler Question Collection, 1983

In 1977, during a particularly bad winter for skiing, Shoup was hired as Jim Murray’s secretary, though she continued to work at the clinic for another year or two as well. About six months later, she became deputy clerk and then, when Geoff Pearce was promoted from municipal clerk to administrator, was told by Carleton, “Congratulations, you’re the new clerk.” Shoup held the position of municipal clerk until the mid-1980s.

During her tenure with the RMOW, Shoup worked out of a variety of locations, including the lunchroom of the original Myrtle Philip School, trailers, the “little green building” built using a government grant, and, finally, the current Municipal Hall after the Keg building was relocated.

Before the Keg could move the old municipal hall building had to be moved off the site. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

The Keg building was relocated from its original site on Alta Lake to its Village location in 1981. It would take three years, however, before municipal staff and council were able to move in and in the interim, Shoup and others worked out of the previous Town Hall, which had been moved down to Function Junction. During this period, Shoup recalled being able to run up to Loggers Lake at lunchtime for her daily swim. After the move to the Village, she continued her lunchtime swims but now in Lost Lake.

Municipal Clerk Kris Shoup Robinson packs it in Friday for the big move to bigger and better facilities at the new municipal hall in Whistler Village. Staff have been waiting in anticipation for the move. Whistler Question Collection, 1984

Whistler saw a lot of change from 1977 to the mid-1980s. According to Shoup, one of the most exciting things to happen while working at the RMOW was the day when Pearce, who was still the municipal clerk at the time, came out of a meeting and told her, “Hang on to your hat, we’re gonna build a town.” She also worked with Trevor Roote organizing public access along with the sewer system in order to build the Valley Trail, witnessed the planning and construction of the training wall along Fitzsimmons Creek (for flood prevention), and saw first-hand Mayor Pat Carleton’s excitement when they found out that a Delta Hotel would be built in the Whistler Village, Whistler’s first big branded hotel.

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Circles of W’s and a Marmot Named WillieCircles of W’s and a Marmot Named Willie

December 19, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In the 1980s and 90s, two trademarked symbols of the Whistler Resort Association (WRA, now doing business as Tourism Whistler) could frequently be seen around the town: a circle of W’s and a marmot named Willie Whistler.

The circle of W’s was originally developed for the Whistler Village Land Company (WVLC) in 1978 by Robert McIlhargey (an architectural illustrator) and his colleagues Dave Clifford and Lori Brown. The Whistler Village had not yet been built at the time, but the logo was soon in use around the valley, such as on signs at the Whistler Village site. In 1979, Don Willoughby and Geoff Power of Willpower Enterprises were given permission to produce 1,000 t-shirts using the logo as souvenirs of the World Cup race that didn’t end up going ahead on Whistler Mountain. Similarly, the WRA later allowed full-members, corporate supporters, and members-at-large to use the logo. Though they did charge for commercial use, it cost nothing for members to add the circle of W’s to to their business cards and signs.

Signs put up in the area of the Whistler Village site by the Whistler Village Land Company. Whistler Question Collection

Though the WVLC did not survive the recession of the early 1980s, the logo did and was used widely by the WRA. In the January 3, 1985 issue of the Whistler Question, the circle of W’s was referred to by Stew Muir as “the official Whistler insignia” and it had become so popular that the WRA was beginning to “clamp down” on its unofficial use by other parties.

Looking back on his work in 1985, McIlhargey described the concept behind the logo. The design team reportedly decided to work with a circle because it was “a neat and tidy way of doing a symbol.” According to McIlhargey, the result was ideal for a four season resort because “it could be winter or it could be summer. In one sense it’s a snowflake, and in another you see a sunburst.” For the typeface of any words beneath the W’s, they chose Frankfurter because “it’s friendly, soft and looks a bit like a cornice or snow.”

The W’s and Frankfurter fonts were used on many signs throughout Whistler. Whistler Question Collection

The design guidelines developed with the logo suggested that in the “best circumstances,” the logo would be red with a silver background; however, most people are probably more familiar with it in white against a contrasting background, such as the wood of highway and Village signs.

By 1985, the circle of W’s could be found on signs, turtlenecks, letterheads, and the t-shirt and hat of Willie Whistler. Willie Whistler was developed as the WRA’s mascot in 1981. The marmot was named by eight-year-old Tammi Wick in a naming contest (she won a Blackcomb season pass for her idea) and introduced to the public at the first Fall Festival. From then, Willie Whistler could be found at most events in the resort. The mascot was reportedly trademarked in order to “prevent a doll manufacturer from reproducing mini-Willies without permission.”

When listing ideas for dolls of Willie Whistler, suggestions included “Willie golfing, Willie playing tennis, Willie meeting Barbie,” and more. He did, in fact, do most of these things (or close to them) during his time as Whistler’s mascot. Willie Whistler golfed with Arnold Palmer, competed in ski races, presented awards, and met visiting celebrities and dignitaries, including touring the Village with then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his son Justin in 1982.

Willie Whistler poses in his WRA logo wear with a ski class on Whistler Mountain. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection

Both the circle of W’s and Willie Whistler were still in use into the 1990s, though Willie Whistler’s appearances were becoming less frequent. Today, the Willie Whistler costume has been lost to the landfill and both the logo and the name of the WRA have changed. You can still find circles of W’s throughout Whistler, however, whether on a few original signs in the Village (take a look up at the buildings on Skiers Approach), now-vintage clothing, or some bridges on trails throughout the valley. You can find more recent productions of the logo on mugs and shirts available at the Whistle Museum or, this past summer, on hats from the Whistler Golf Club to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

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