2006 News

Pemberton eyes slice of Olympic pie

Ken Becker, Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Picturesque town in just 30 minutes but a world away from Whistler

PEMBERTON -- This rustic village is starting to gauge its tourism potential as the nearest neighbour to Canada's hippest and wealthiest resort community.

While Whistler packs in up to two millions visitors a year and prepares for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Pemberton is trying to figure out how to get some of them to drive another half-hour up the Sea to Sky Highway.

It has some things going for it. For one, Pemberton sits in a wide valley surrounded by mountains, which makes it consistently warmer and clearly less claustrophobic than Whistler. It also has the only airport in the area, with a runway long enough to handle commuter-sized planes and private jets.

Right now, its main attractions for vacationers are Big Sky Golf and Country Club, one of the best courses in the area, at the foot of massive Mount Currie; Adventure Ranch, which offers trail rides on horseback, white-water rafting and jet-boat trips; and some helicopter and glider-plane tours taking off from the airport.

"A lot of adventure-tour companies based in Whistler actually operate out of Pemberton," says David MacKenzie, chairman of newly created Tourism Pemberton.

But most of the visitors taking such day-trips from Pemberton are similarly based in Whistler and barely pause here before returning to their hotels or condos at the upscale resort.

MacKenzie, who is also general manager of the Pemberton Valley Lodge, which opened last fall, obviously would prefer people to stay the night in one of his 85 suites. His sales pitch starts with price -- that a comparable two-bedroom suite costing $329 at the lodge would go for at least $800 in Whistler.

But he has another angle, aimed at "mature" folks looking for a place to chill. "Some people have no interest in staying in the village in Whistler because it's a party town," MacKenzie says.

The quiet country atmosphere is certainly the enticement of the dozen or so B&Bs in Pemberton, some promising rather exotic fare. At Auberge du Pre, the bilingual French-Canadian host cooks crepes; breakfast burritos are on the menu at La Hacienda, and the Pemberton Valley Vineyard and Inn is set amid the area's first vineyard.

The valley was first home to the Salish people, before Europeans arrived to farm in the 1880s. This agricultural heritage is still evident -- Pemberton is known as the Seed Potato Capital of Canada and cattle can be seen grazing off the highway within a short gallop of the village.

The storefronts of the tiny downtown -- just a couple of square blocks -- have an old-west look, like the set of a John Wayne movie. Its only bunkhouse, the 34-room Pemberton Hotel (est. 1914), is appropriately on Frontier Street.

But a new 54-room hotel is on the drawing board, while three other lots for sale are zoned for hotels, MacKenzie says.

The village has about a dozen restaurants, including the "comfortably cowboy" Pemberton Trail Steakhouse and the new Wild Wood Bistro, with a menu featuring "sashimi-grade ahi tuna, pan-seared and finished with miso and ginger vinaigrette."

Such are the signs of a community in transition. Most of the newer residents come from elsewhere, work in Whistler, and live in Pemberton (population 2,200) because of its considerably cheaper rents and property values.

Earlier this year, the local chamber of commerce created Tourism Pemberton. So far, it has started with modest projects, such as erecting new welcome signs at entrances to the village and upgrading the visitor information shack off the highway.

Still, some have bigger plans, especially with the Olympics arriving down the road in five years. "We're looking to build up to that and its opportunities," says MacKenzie.

©The Vancouver Province 2006