Pemberton’s tight-knit farming community lean on each other
Pemberton couples stay close to home for their big day
Industry meets retail, food and service at Pemberton Industrial Park
We are so happy you’ve chosen Pemberton and area for your next adventure. Whether you are seeking the thrills of the mountains or the serenity and richness of our valley’s farmlands, Tourism Pemberton hopes to support your visit and offer all sorts of memorable experiences by making responsible travel and positive contribution to the region’s and residents’ lifestyle top of mind.
Pemberton is a year-round destination where you can hop on a helicopter for a scenic tour, a golf challenge, mountain biking or an epic ski tour day. Explore the trails by horseback, motorized or human-powered bikes, hike to epic views, waterfalls, and awe-inspiring glacier lakes, attend live music events, and grab a beer on a farm or a patio. We put the sky in the Sea to Sky, with a world-renowned paragliding destination. Whether you get lost
in the tulips field, the sunflower maze or the pumpkin patches, Pemberton will stupefy you every season. All we ask is that you only take with you memories and official souvenirs!
Tourism Pemberton takes great pride in supporting your visit with responsible and sustainable projects that align with tourism management to offer you a pleasant experience and a chance to educate yourself and fellow adventurers on the best practices as a visitor. Our organization is fuelled by volunteers, a passionate board of directors and members of our community who have at heart to share the beauty of our valley and enhance the infrastructure and offerings for the residents and guests to, in an accountable manner, get the most out of each initiative we champion. From trail building to agri-tourism wayfinding, connecting with adjacent communities to responsible pit stops
at one of our backcountry outhouses, the most eco-friendly facilities, to our signature event the Slow Food Cycle Sunday. We hope you will join us in discovering the particularity of our rivers and glaciers, mountains and meadows, forests, fields and trails.
May your journey lead you to learn, gather and connect with nature, the land, your family and friends and our community. Thank you for aligning with our values of respect and adventure, we are glad you are here.
We acknowledge that we work, play and invite you to recreate responsibly on the traditional territory of the Lil’wat Nation.
Adventure Begins Here!
Christine Raymond,
Whatever your speed, from flower farms and cross-country skiing, to rodeo and paragliding, Pemberton’s got you covered.
When in need, Pemberton’s tight-knit farming community lean on each other
Pemberton couples stay close to home for their big day.
Pemberton is a one-of-a-kind hiking destination with dozens of trails for all abilities.
Heavy industry meets new retail, food and service at the Pemberton Industrial Park.
Travel back into Spud Valley’s unique history at the Pemberton Museum.
Your go-to guide for all things Pemberton.
TOURISM PEMBERTON invites you to indulge in all the richness and thrills of the mountains and our valley by being an educated visitor and supporting responsible and sustainable tourism with the following initiatives:
BACKCOUNTRY SANITARY INFRASTRUCTURE, AGRI-TOURISM WAYFINDING SIGNAGE, BC ALE
TRAIL, NAIRN FALLS TRAILS & PARKING ACCESS, RANGE BEYOND RANGE CIRCLE ROUTE, RAVEN
BACKCOUNTRY FESTIVAL, PEMBERTON FARM TOUR, and the return of our signature event
SLOW FOOD CYCLE SUNDAY on August 18, 2024! BC ALE TRAIL
AUGUST 18 2024
Pemberton has emerged over the years as a highly sought-after destination for couples looking to tie the knot, and, like anywhere where a wedding sector thrives, the ancillary businesses quickly follow suit: the planners and designers, caterers and florists.
On the latter, there’s no shortage of talented floral designers to boot, especially for a town of Pemberton’s size.
But, despite ideal growing conditions, you can
count on one hand the number of Pemberton’s flower farms.
In 2016, Meredith Gardner, a former pro skier and television producer, wasn’t getting what she wanted out of life after making the move with her husband Doug from Ontario to B.C.
Then she found a 14-acre farm in Pemberton for sale. Or, as she describes it, the farm found her, and HappiLife Farm was born.
“What we grow and sell are completely organic, spray-free, specialty-cut flowers. They are some of the most beautiful flowers. Anything you can grow in an organic environment, you can grow here,” explains Gardner.
HappiLife makes bouquets and arrangements for all occasions, and offers a monthly flower subscription, delivered to Pemberton or Whistler, from April to September.
Along with brightening her customers’ days,
Gardner is committed to doing her part for the planet, a firm advocate of the so-called slow flower movement.
“If you look at the carbon footprint of flowers that come from Colombia and how toxic the chemicals are to grow those flowers, and the bad environment for the workers, there’s a strong movement to say we can grow these flowers seasonally,” she says. “It’s good for our economy, good for the planet and I think flowers are really good for people’s mental health.”
Learn more at happilife.ca.
HappiLife isn’t the only flower farm operating in the Pemberton Valley. Cold Creek Acres focuses primarily on fresh-grown produce, but also offers fresh blooms when in season. It also organizes its Flower Share program, a subscription service that offers delivery or pickup of beautiful blooms weekly.
Learn more at coldcreekacresfarm.com.
While not technically a farm, Pemberton Valley Nurseries is a full-service florist and garden centre that has been growing its own flowers from its onsite greenhouse for more than 30 years.
Learn more at pembertonvalleynurseries.com.
This May Long Weekend, the time-honoured tradition that is the Lil’wat Nation Open Rodeo will welcome visitors from across B.C. and beyond.
The long-running event is back May 18, 19 and 20, and, as always, the buzz is already building. Buckle up your boots, dust off that ole’ Stetson, and head down to the Lillooet Rodeo Grounds for a weekend like no other, chock-full of cowboys, cowgirls, rodeo competition, and fun community events,
Organizer Maxine Joseph Bruce says volunteers have been hard at work all year to put on one of the Lil’wat’s most beloved events.
“There are a lot of us involved. It’s just a bunch of volunteers from the community,” she says. “We spend a lot of time throughout the year organizing and fundraising.”
The event offers a unique atmosphere for visitors, particularly for those who might not have been exposed to rodeo before. Even if they have been, the Lil’wat rodeo is unlike most they are used to.
“The closest rodeo is Cloverdale,” says Bruce. “It’s quite a different thing around here.”
The first day of the rodeo kicks off with a parade in Mount Currie.
“People decorate their vehicles, their trucks, and their wagons,” says Bruce. “The pedestrians or people on bikes will dress like clowns. We move towards the rodeo grounds for a load of fun games like foot races and watermelon-eating contests.”
A pie-eating contest and the cowboy-cowgirl hustle should give guests a good belly laugh before the nail-biting spectacle begins: A tug of war pitting men versus women that usually gets the whole community involved.
Then it’s time to sit back and let the big guns do their thing. Lil’wat Nation boasts some of the best of the best in bull riding, bronco riding and barrel racing, and welcomes other top-notch competitors from across B.C. and Alberta. Gasps and double takes are guaranteed.
Don't believe us? Come in and see it with your own eyes! We promise it's worth the drive! Call us: 604-894-6197
Plus, we know a Guy with a Jet Boat! If you want we could set you up with him Ask us how!
Show us who else in the Sea to Sky area has a Par 4 - Island Green below a Mountain & NO DRESS CODE!
Plus, if you ask us nicely, we might be able to set up a booking for a helicopter ride to the 19th tee on top of the mountain! (The one in the picture)
Yeah our Food is great! We eat here all the time We've all stopped bringing our lunches and just let The Chef cook for us now!
The views are awesome from any of our 2 patios We also offer Brunch on the weekends, a Pool Table, & Sports on 6 TVs Life is good at Sunstone!
“They come from Quesnel, Alberta and the Okanagan Valley,” says Bruce. “A lot of the First Nations cowboys have been coming here for years. It attracts amazing athletes.”
Beyond the can’t-miss athletic competition, the true heart of the Lil’wat Rodeo is the strong familial aspect. First Nations family and friends separated by geography get the chance to reconnect and celebrate all the great things that make Mount Currie and the wider St ’ át ’ y’emc Nation.
“My favourite thing is seeing family that don’t live in Mount Currie or in the region,” says Bruce. “They get to come home and visit.”
Admission is $10. Elders 65 and over and kids 10 and under get free admission.
Fear not, golfers: Pemberton has you covered.
Sunstone Golf Club and Big Sky Golf are located virtually adjacent to one another, amidst the picturesque backdrop of Mount Currie and about a half-hour away from Whistler’s typically more crowded courses. Both feature bent grass fairways, which are firm, smooth and fast-running under optimal conditions.
Tee times are usually easy to come by at Sunstone, which offers an accommodating and laidback experience for new or casual players. Meanwhile, the signature par4 eighth hole brings a challenge with its unique island green that demands a precise second shot.
Crews have recently done some landscaping work on the back nine to mitigate future flooding—a tightly-forested area that looks,
feels and plays differently from the front nine.
All in all, Sunstone remains one of the Sea to Sky’s most affordable courses without skimping on scenery or player experience.
“People say we’re just as good for half the price,” remarks GM Kevin McLeod.
After enjoying a round or two, visitors can refuel and unwind at the Sunstone Bar and Grill: known for tasty food and friendly service at a similarly accessible cost.
Big Sky, meanwhile, boasts an Arnold Palmerdesigned course that made the top 15 in ScoreGolf’s 2023 ranking of the best public clubs in Canada. Large fairways and generous greens cater to the young and inexperienced, while more skillful guests will find a diverse challenge each time they drop by.
Overlooking all 18 holes is Fescues Restaurant,
with its quality dining and a patio that’s second-to-none in the area.
Plus, Big Sky includes Pemberton’s only driving range: a popular facility that sees lots of traffic all summer long. The range’s double-ended layout helps to mitigate crowds and spread people out, with more secluded areas to host lessons and other private engagements.
“[Big Sky] is a golf course that you can play every day and not get tired of,” opines director of golf Corry Butler. “The setting speaks for itself.”
Both Sunstone and Big Sky host all kinds of special events throughout the summer, from concerts and comedy shows to weddings and group tournaments.
Learn more at sunstonegolfclub.com and bigskygolf.ca.
When a layperson hears the word “paragliding,” images of Red Bull-sponsored daredevils barreling through canyons and valleys at literal breakneck speeds often come to mind. As a result, many don’t even consider the activity when planning their vacations and weekend outings.
Guy Herrington, founder of Sea to Sky Paragliding, wants to dispel those misconceptions. Paragliding isn’t skydiving,
BIG SKY GOLF CLUB IS REGULARLY RECOGNIZED AS ONE
BASE jumping or hang gliding, and it can be very beginner-friendly.
“Most people won’t do a Formula One race in their lifetime, but they drive every single day and they don’t consider that to be an extreme thing,” he explains. “Paragliding is the same: it can be done extremely safely or it can be done in a very dynamic manner. People don’t understand that [professionals who fly through canyons] have been practising for thousands and thousands of hours.”
Herrington and his team keep the kid gloves on when dealing with their average clientele. Near-perfect weather conditions are a must: rain, snow and winds beyond a certain threshold are a hard no-go. Tandem flights pair guests with steady veteran pilots who do all the flying, and all they need to do is take a few steps to get off the ground.
Standard paraglider wings are fully inflated before liftoff and travel at a modest 35 kilometres per hour.
Tandem experiences are highly recommended for beginners or casual flyers, but those with aspirations of pilothood can check out Sea to Sky Paragliding’s training curriculum. P1 Novice includes six solo flights in four days, while P2 Novice (which can be done in as little as two weeks) gets you a licence.
“I love teaching,” Herrington says. “I know a lot of people are just doing this as a one-off or a bucket list thing, but we love having students that want to actually learn the sport.”
For those who remain hesitant about getting airborne, Herrington suggests they drop by and observe a series of launches. More often than not, those who are initially terrified calm down once they see how controlled the sport can be.
If you’re ready to fly, be sure to give Sea to Sky Paragliding a few days notice ahead of your preferred dates to account for possible changes in weather.
Learn more at seatoskyparagliding.com.
Pemberton’s cross-country trails are becoming more and more popular each winter, a community-driven project for everyone to enjoy. The locals’ secret is creating chatter up and down the Sea to Sky corridor.
When Ullr pulls through, you can usually find at least four or five cross-country ski tracks open locally. Each one of them is owned by a different group or business. Each trail offers something special and a chance to take in the valley’s breathtaking views.
For the last few years, the Pemberton Valley Trails Association (PTVA) has partnered with the Big Sky Golf Club, while Spud Valley Nordics maintain the track at Nairn Falls and help teach little ones rearing to go. Cranberry Farm offers dog-friendly crosscountry skiing in Pemberton Meadows.
Bruce Miller and his family groom the tracks around The Beer Farmers, a fourthgeneration organic farm that doubles as a brewery, a good pairing for those looking for a pint after the thirsty work of Nordic skiing.
Miller got involved with cross-country skiing when his kids first took up the sport.
“Then, when our brewery started, we thought it would be a great community facility,” he says. “It’s a bit of work but pretty rewarding to see people getting outside. It’s nice that people don’t have to drive the highway to ski. It’s just 10 minutes from town.”
Kailey Morin, communications director for the PVTA, encouraged people to donate to the volunteer organization as thanks to the locals who help bring the fun, all the more important as Pemberton’s trails have seen a surge in interest recently.
“It’s been an organic, community-led thing,” she says.
For those looking for a change of pace from the speed and vertical of downhill skiing, cross-country is the perfect, lowimpact alternative—all the better to take in Pemberton’s majestic views.
“Cross-country skiing is a different skillset,” says Morin. “It’s quite accessible for people.”
PEMBERTON BOASTS SOME OF THE SEA TO SKY’S MOST BREATHTAKING CROSS-COUNTRY TRAILS IN THE WINTERTIME.
In
relatively
Heading into the Pemberton Valley, you can’t help but feel a sense of vastness. An expanse of farmfield meets your gaze, while the impossible majesty of Mount Currie looms in the distance, casting its ever-watchful eye.
But this sweeping, fertile landscape belies just how small Pemberton’s farming community really is, part of the reason why local operators and farmhands are so quick to look out for each other.
“We’re a pretty small community and we’re pretty isolated, so that leads us to relying on our neighbours,” explains Simone McIsaac, owner-operator of Rootdown Organic Farm.
“Whether it’s small-scale mixed organic farms like ourselves or the larger seed potato growers in the valley, everyone has such a great respect for each other and are willing to go out on a limb and help.”
When someone runs out of a necessary supply, help is just a text away, and “there’s
usually someone jumping at the opportunity,” McIsaac adds.
It’s not like this in all farming communities. Agriculture is a tough business by nature, but especially so in 2024. Between the ravaging effects of climate and wildfires, a dearth of young people entering the industry, combined with rising costs and low commodity prices, making ends meet can be a tall order for the average farmer. It’s also the kind of competitive environment that can breed resentment.
“In some places, there’s quite a lot of headbutting between farmers with different values, but I feel like, in our community, there’s a lot of respect,” McIsaac says. “It’s amazing. When I compared it to other folks on the island, it made me feel really darn special with what I have.”
That dynamic persists no matter the size or type of farm. From small-scale vegetable farmers to long-running, large-scale seed
PHOTOS BY BEN GIRARDI WWW.BENGIRARDI.COM
Chances are you’ve heard about the potato. We’d be concerned if you hadn’t. Chances are less likely you know much, or anything at all, about the seed potato, which grows plentiful in the Pemberton Valley.
Not your average supermarket potato, seed potatoes are specially selected tubers that provide the foundation for growing high-quality potatoes. These potatoes are meticulously chosen for their resistance to disease, genetic consistency, and optimal growing characteristics.
New varieties of seed potato can only enter the Pemberton Valley in the form of a tissue culture, “just a little potato plant that’s been tested for numerous different viruses and bacteria,” explains Anna Helmer of Helmer’s Organic Farm, whose family has practically written the book on seed potato farming.
“You take that tissue culture and take it to the lab, cut that up and plant each little piece. That makes another plant and then you can cut up those plants and they will grow more plants. You can bring those plants out of the lab and plant them in the soil and they will grow actual potatoes.”
It’s a laborious, complicated process, (“Farming isn’t all doilies and barn-raising,” Helmer quips) but ultimately a worthwhile one: Unlike a potato you’d find in the grocery store, which can be up to 10 or 15 generations old and never been tested for disease or bacteria, you know exactly what you’re getting with seed potatoes.
“The nice thing about potatoes is you do need to have a really clean early-generation seed or you don’t get a very good crop. That’s why the seed potato industry is really important,” Helmer says.
Making local farmers’ jobs a little easier is the fact that Pemberton offers the perfect conditions for the seed potato to thrive.
“Everything that makes good soil has happened in Pemberton: Receding glaciers, exploding volcanoes, wildfires and tons of flooding. Plus, our isolation here means there are fewer diseases,” notes Helmer. “All these things make really good soil for potatoes, teeming with most of what a potato needs to grow.”
Helmer and her family’s lives quite literally revolve around potatoes. Helmer has written potato poetry, potato-themed columns for publications far and wide, and never misses a chance to proselytise the glory of seed potatoes to anyone who will listen.
So, how many potatoes has Helmer eaten in her lifetime? Fair to say: probably more than you.
“Not as many as my mom,” she laughs. “But if the average person eats 10 pounds a year, we’ve definitely had our share. And not French fries either, but boiled or roasted.”
potato farmers, there’s never a shortage of things to talk about.
“We are all friends and we all know one another,” says Anna Helmer of Helmer’s Organic Farm. “Whenever we get together we have a lot of important common ground. We always have good conversations. I am 100-per-cent certain if something happened on my farm and I needed help, I know there would be people coming down the driveway to help seamlessly.”
As it turns out, some of the strongest connections in Pemberton’s farming circles have been between women. McIsaac at Rootdown, for example, is right across the street from HappiLife Farm, an organic flower and veggie farm, run by Meredith Gardner and her husband, Doug.
“When I decided to make the move and try to make this flower farm work, [McIsaac] answered questions about where to find stuff, irrigation, the whole works,” says Gardner.
“Anna Helmer has been super supportive. In general, the community is amazing and I’ve had the benefit of all these exceptional female organic farmers here … I really feel resilience is community, and the heart of resilience is the people who will pick you up at your lowest.”
After a year hiatus, Pemberton’s own moveable feast, Slow Food Cycle Sunday, is back this Aug. 18, a celebration of food, farmers and the joys of biking. Inspired by the principles of slow food, the event is a self-guided, 40-kilometre cycle up and down Pemberton Meadows Roads, with eager bikers stopping along the way to visit one of several participating farms and vendors, giving the public a chance to connect with their local farmers and sample some of their homegrown products along the way.
Founded in 2005, this unique event was started by Helmer and friend Lisa Richardson after a drive one day through the valley.
“Lisa isn’t a farmer and we were going up the valley one day, and she’s like, ‘Where are all the potatoes?’ I realized she didn’t know the potato fields are part of a rotation,” Helmer recalls.
Noticing both an educational opportunity and a chance to connect farms directly with their customers, Helmer and Richardson launched Slow Food Cycle almost 20 years ago as a ragtag, DIY affair, with just a hundred or so attendees that first edition, to now welcoming even more farmers and more than 3,000 guests.
“I think Pemberton is the perfect location for us to understand where our food comes from,” says Christine Raymond of Tourism Pemberton, which now produces the event. “It’s so easy with all the visitors from the Lower Mainland to bring them here to connect with farmers. A lot of restaurants in Whistler and Vancouver get produce from Pemberton, so it’s awesome to have them actually understand where it comes from and the hard work behind it.”
Along with the views, the tasty treats, and the ripe produce on offer, this year’s Slow Food Cycle will also feature a special attraction of sorts: a giant structure still under construction at the time of writing that Raymond said would be “a big Instagrammable moment” for attendees to snap photos. Learn more about Slow Food Cycle Sunday at tourismpembertonbc.com.
And if you can’t make the event on Aug. 18, there is still another way to tour Pemberton’s farms on your own. The Pemberton Farm Tour is a year-round, self-guided tour with nine different farms to check out. Learn more, and download the tour map, at pembertonfarmtour.com.
Pemberton is a oneof-a-kind hiking destination with dozens of trails for all abilities to exploreBY MEGAN LALONDE
With its sweeping fields, dramatic peaks, and glittering lakes and rivers, visiting Pemberton is like stepping into a different world—one that attracts scores of hikers eager to lace up their boots and hit the trails each summer.
This small-but-growing farm town is well-known for its proximity to a handful of iconic destination hikes and popular provincial parks you’ve likely seen showcased in more Instagram posts than you can count. But, as locals know, there are plenty of lesser-known routes worth exploring. Spud Valley is home to dozens of stunning trails of varying lengths and difficulties, and that’s without accounting for the even more remote backcountry offerings hikers can access through tourism operators like Whitecap Alpine and Blackcomb Helicopters.
With so many trails to choose from, where do you even start? Pemberton Valley Trails Association (PVTA) president Kyle Leitch gives the low-down on how to make the most of Pemberton’s hiking season in 2024.
Even compared to its Sea to Sky counterparts, Pemberton is unique as far as hiking destinations go. Leitch attributes that, in part, to its geography.
“The terrain in Pemberton is generally steeper
than a lot of areas of Squamish or Whistler,” Leitch says. “Once you get off the valley floor, it’s pretty vertical.”
While that undoubtedly makes Pemberton a draw for experienced hikers looking to challenge their stamina with grueling uphill climbs and their knees with precarious trips back down, the area is home to several less strenuous but just as scenic trails that are accessible to a wide demographic.
“The Valley Loop is a great hiking loop,” says Leitch. The non-motorized, 7.6-kilometre circle is “kind of flat to undulating,” he explains. “There are some horse trails in there as well, which make for nice little sidecuts where you can get off the big gravel path and [experience] more singletrack, be close to the river and do some wildlife watching.”
It’s the trail Leitch recommends first to hikers looking for a family-friendly, green-rated route. The option also exists to cut the Valley Loop’s distance in half by following the Friendship Trail back to town, Leitch adds.
For those seeking slightly more elevation gain, is there one particular trail Leitch suggests checking out?
“Definitely Lumpy’s Epic,” he says. The nine-km loop accessed via the green paths surrounding One Mile Lake is technically a black-rated
cross-country mountain bike route, but in recent years has attracted greater numbers of hikers and trail runners for its epic views of Green River and the majestic Ts’zil (the summit better known to settlers as Mount Currie).
“It’s probably the best hiking trail that we have here that’s close to parking,” Leitch says. “It’s probably more of a blue, to be honest, than a black. There’s some little bits where you want three points of contact, but there’s no cliff exposure.”
In case the mentions of mountain bike and horse trails in this story haven’t already tipped you off, it’s worthwhile to note that when we say Pemberton offers “trails for all,” we really mean it.
The PVTA and its volunteers work to maintain, develop and advocate for trails used by multiple groups, from bikers and horseback riders to hikers, paragliders, hunters, and everyone in between. That means the PVTA is also tasked with reminding these multiple user groups how to safely share the trails.
A new PVTA signage campaign aims to educate hikers and bikers, in particular, about trail safety and etiquette. “Caution, downhill mountain bike traffic” signs posted at the bottom of “more consequential” downhill routes serve to remind trail users “to be conscious, aware and respectful; [and] for hikers to not walk up downhill mountain bike trails,” Leitch says. “As you can imagine, that’s just not a safe combination for anyone.”
Whether you’re looking for a short, easy loop or a challenging, full-day summit attempt, Leitch suggests consulting the free TrailForks app when planning your trip.
The PVTA updated the Pemberton Valley’s entire trail network within the app in 2023; reworking GPS tracking and classifications, and even updating trail names to reflect the Lil’wat Nation’s Ucwalmícwts names for the routes that run through their unceded traditional territory, Leitch explains.
Tourism Pemberton also has an up-to-date Pemberton area hiking trail map that’s available at the Pemberton Visitor Centre for those who prefer the paper format to choose your route and plan your day (and also folds easily into your pocket)
The PVTA is far from the only group to recognize the importance of funding Pemberton’s trails.
The valley’s trail network has seen a significant influx of support in recent years, including $278,150 granted to Tourism Pemberton by the federal government’s Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada in October 2023. The funding will help revitalize backcountry infrastructure in the area, including “installing outhouse facilities, improving service road access, and installing signage,” according to a news release at the time. The updates are intended to help protect forested areas and enhance visitor experience.
That grant came following a July 2023 announcement that Pemberton would receive $418,200 in federal funds to help finish construction of the valley’s Friendship Trail. A collaboration between the Village of Pemberton, Lil’wat Nation and the SLRD, the 7.2-km non-motorized Friendship Trail has been more than a decade in the making and is slated to be complete this year, fully linking downtown Pemberton with the community of Mount Currie.
The Sea to Sky is a popular tourism destination for a reason, but crowds have consequences. Particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a spike in the number of visitors flocking to the corridor’s trails sparked concern about the impacts of over-tourism on the region.
That concern led the Sea to Sky Destination Management Council, an offshoot of provincial tourism marketing organization Destination BC, to launch its “Don’t Love it to Death” campaign in 2022 alongside partners including Tourism
Pemberton and BC Parks. Similar concerns led B.C.’s government to implement a free day-use pass program for a few popular provincial parks, including nearby Joffre Lakes, in 2020.
Conceived in partnership with Whistler-based creative agency MMGY Origin, the “Don’t Love it to Death” campaign uses various outreach strategies—highway billboards, social media posts and outdoor ambassadors, for example— to raise awareness about the strain increased visitation can place on the environment, and the importance of following “leave no trace” principles while recreating outdoors.
Has Leitch noticed whether trail users are taking better care of Pemberton’s trails in recent years?
“Absolutely, yeah,” he says.
“2020 was a gong show for almost everything,” he continues. “Maybe it was … the mass exodus from cities into nature, and people just didn’t know and thought they could dump everything next to a garbage bin and some kind of trash fairy would pick it up the next day, but there were just garbage bins overflowing everywhere.”
Thankfully, that’s no longer the case, he says. Leitch says he’s been happy to see signage reminding hikers to stay on-trail and avoid trampling over delicate flora, among other messaging.
“I think people get it,” he says. “I think people come here for nature, right? Hopefully if they’re coming to a place like Pemberton then maybe they know a little bit about what that means, and they don’t want to love it to death, and they do want to leave only footprints, and pack-it-in, pack-it-out. All those campaigns that have been running [over the last few years], maybe every little one helps [the message] sink in.”
Leitch invites anyone wanting to give back to Pemberton’s trail network to join a PVTA Trail Day—as long as they’re willing to spend a couple of hours getting down and dirty in the name of trail maintenance, that is. The events aren’t just for locals, he says, and are a great way to learn about local trails and meet new people. “We often get people come from out of town to help, give back and contribute and we very much appreciate that,” Leitch adds. Find all the details at pembertontrails.com/events.
Before heading into the backcountry for a hike, always remember to leave a trip plan with a loved one, pack the essentials and know and stay within your limits. Visit adventuresmart.ca for more information and outdoor safety tips.
PEMBERTON’S VALLEY LOOP IS A PICTURESQUE YET RELAXED TRAIL FOR ALL COMERS.
EMERGENCIES:
IN
Be Alert! Be aware of changing weather conditions. Don’t Rely on Technology! When venturing into more remote areas, bring and know how to use a compass and map. Don’t Panic! If you happen to get lost stay calm and keep focused.
Be First Aid Savvy! Basic first aid skills can make all the difference in an emergency situation.
What to do if you see a bear: Never approach a bear, instead make a wide detour. Make sure to report the bear sighting to authorities as soon as possible. If you find yourself in close range, remain calm and keep it in view. Avoid eye contact and move away without running.
If the Bear Approaches
BLACK BEAR
If the bear is standing up, it is usually trying to identify you. Speak softly to help it identify you as a human. If it lowers its head, snaps its jaws, flattens its ears or begins to make “woofing” sounds, this is a sign of aggression. Do not run, back away, keeping it in view, avoiding eye contact. Dropping your bag or any object may help to distract it, giving you time to get away. If it is a grizzly, consider climbing a tree.
GRIZZLY BEAR
Long light claws, noticable shoulder hump, dished facial profile
Short dark claws, no shoulder hump, Prominent ears
PEMBERTONIANS EMILY AND MIKE MELONSHINSKY ALWAYS KNEW THEY WANTED TO TIE THE KNOT CLOSE TO HOME.
PHOTO BY ALANNA GOVENLOCK
You couldn’t ask for a more idyllic spot to get married than Pemberton.
Located about 35 minutes north of Whistler, Pemberton offers majestic natural scenery, a keen sense of adventure, and a lineup of service providers you can’t go wrong with.
“There’s so many awesome locations that we have and I really do feel like we have some of the best vendors,” says longtime Pembertonian Emily Meloshinsky. “There’s many wedding planners and makeup artists in town and I’ve
never heard a bad thing about any of them.”
Emily married her husband Mike in September 2022. The couple originates from the Fraser Valley but had lived in Pemberton for nearly a decade by the time they exchanged vows. Both are well-established, with Mike fronting his own heavy equipment maintenance business called Melo Maintenance and Emily keeping the books for Coast Mountain Accounting.
When it came time to decide where they wanted to host their big day, there was no hesitation.
“All of our really close friends and family are down [in the Fraser Valley] and they all think Pemberton is far, so they don’t really come up much,” Emily says. “So we just wanted an excuse to have all our friends and family come at the same time. We think it’s beautiful and we wanted to show it off. I actually had family coming from Ireland as well, and they had never been before to see our home.”
Many Pembertonians will tell you about the supportive, close-knit community they live in, and the Meloshinskys are no exception. They
hired some of their neighbours—planner Cailey Wilkes of Blue Violent Events and Brenda Bakker on makeup and hair—and were the first to tie the knot at Masaya Farm, a private venue owned by friends. Yet the bulk of their time was spent at The Beer Farmers on Meadows Road for a lively reception.
A fourth-generation organic farm that added an onsite microbrewery, The Beer Farmers were recognized at the 2022 BC Beer Awards for their Farmer’s Daughter White, a traditional Belgian-style wheat beer that earned them the overall Judges’ Choice Award. Operated by Will Miller and his family, it’s a farm-brewery that grows its own hops, with a tasting room where you can sample all the award-winning brews in a family- and dog-friendly environment.
Just what the Meloshinskys had in mind.
“It came down to the community feel and atmosphere,” Emily explains. “We’ve been going to The Beer Farmers since they opened [in 2018] and we’ve known the Miller family as a pretty established farming family. It’s a great way to check out Pemberton, to go through all the farmland and sit there having a beer with your friends. You have an amazing view of Mount Currie at the same time.
“[Our wedding] felt like a community event. We didn’t really want it to feel like a stiff wedding—we wanted the ceremony to go by really quick so everyone could just hang out and party. We had a wheelbarrow filled with drinks being handed out to everyone sitting in the crowd before the ceremony, because we wanted to set the intention.”
Pemberton is even capable of poaching a bit of business from vendors elsewhere in the Sea to Sky.
David and Sara Eastwood put down roots in Whistler because they live an active lifestyle.
Whether it’s winter skiing or summertime hikes and paddle-boarding trips, they take full advantage of what’s outside their door. It’s a recreational playground that David has a topdown perspective of as a pilot for Sea to Sky Air.
Naturally, he and his wife wanted a wedding that spotlighted their adventurous spirit and the place that fuels it.
A top-notch venue, delicious food and excellent music were at the top of the Eastwoods’ priority list, and Whistler has all three in ample supply. Yet they chose instead to invite friends and loved ones north to Riverlands Red Barn just off Pemberton Meadows Road.
The barn’s combination of rustic country style, picturesque backdrop, cleanliness and affordable pricing proved to be a winner.
“It’s just absolutely stunning,” Sara says of the barn’s location amidst alpine forests, verdant meadows, and mighty mountains. “They had a capacity for a higher amount of people than some other places, and it fit our budget. What you get for the price they offer is very good.
“As nice as it is to be in a resort town with the conveniences and amenities that you have [in Whistler], it’s also nice to just take a step back and get away from all of that for a little
bit. Pemberton is close enough that you can basically be out in the woods with not too many people around you.”
The Eastwoods shouted out photographer Ian Harland for his quality imagery, and Collective Kitchen for catering, with many guests (including those with special dietary needs) saying it was the best wedding food they’d ever had. Laughing Crow Organics came through in the clutch with bouquets and boutonnières as well.
Sara’s job as an operations coordinator for A+G Reforestation equipped her to plan many aspects of the wedding, from hair and makeup to desserts and tea, but officiant Tracy Kerr recommended Taylor Bragg from The Wedding Objective to assist. Sara ended up praising Bragg for her “wonderful” work streamlining the arrangements and making sure they ran on schedule.
“Taylor was super good at keeping everything going smoothly,” Sara says. “Without her, it wouldn’t have been the same.”
All in all, the Meloshinskys and Eastwoods would not hesitate to recommend Pemberton as a wedding destination—especially for those who crave the outdoors. “Go for it,” remarks Emily. “It’s such a good spot. Feels like we have a little, special niche up here.”
Adds Sara: “It’s a beautiful place to get married. As close as you are to nature, it’s also close enough for people coming from away and it’s not too big of a trek. Pemberton’s a bit more budget-friendly than Whistler, and if you live in the Sea to Sky, it’s a great representation of your lifestyle.”
SARA AND DAVID EASTWOOD ESCHEWED THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF WHISTLER FOR THEIR DREAM WEDDING IN PEMBERTON
PHOTO BY IAN HARLANDOld black-and-white, framed photos hang on the walls at the Dandelion & Clover garden centre, telling the story of old-time farmers tilling the soil with horses.
Behind the counter, Lea Ronayne explains that these are her family photos; she is fifthgeneration Pembertonian, ever since her homesteading ancestors bought property in the valley in 1899. That’s more than 120 years of farming, handed down over the generations.
“We know how to farm and garden here,” she says matter-of-factly.
Fitting then that Lea and her sister Nicole
opened Dandelion & Clover in the Pemberton Industrial Park in October 2022, a welcome addition to the growing area nestled in the valley. It’s just another inkling that there’s more than meets the eye in the Pemberton Industrial Park, beyond the storage units, the welding shops and the heavy industry for which it was originally designed.
The park is located roughly a seven-minute drive from Pemberton’s downtown core, and, according to local realtor Suzanne Wilson, it’s been an evolving area. She believes it will continue to grow, with more and more businesses interested in putting down roots there.
“The industrial park used to be a place you’d go to on the weekend to do your recycling and garbage and now is a favourite for many other things,” she says. “It has become its own little scene for a post-bike ride beer, coffee and pastries, fitness classes, a vegan café [The Hwy. Café], and has become home to more and more people with new condos and warehouse live/work options.”
Farming in Pemberton is in the Ronayne sisters’ blood. They know what works, the things to plant that are drought-tolerant, for example.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BREAD WAREOUSE
“We get stuff that we know will grow here,” adds Ronayne. And, “We’re a fire-smart garden centre.”
But there’s more to Dandelion and Clover than soil and plants. The duo have curated the shop and filled it with fair trade products, more often than not buying from women businesses, like the beautiful woven baskets, made in Ghana, from Big Blue Moma. Or the cute felt animals from Nepal, made with 100-per-cent wool and no chemicals. Closer to home, there are sweet treats at the counter from Pemberton’s own British Baker. Fresh-cut flowers are delivered weekly.
This store could be at home on any trendy downtown main street. Instead, it’s tucked at the back of the park on Stonecutter Place, beside the town’s waste transfer station. Who’s coming to buy plants and cool knickknacks, potting soil and unique gifts?
“Who’s coming?” says Ronayne. “Women. It’s a girls’ store.”
Along the way on Carpenter Road, there’s another new spot in the industrial park, aptlynamed The Bread Warehouse. Owner Jen Park has set up shop here, baking her country sourdough loaves, fresh baguettes, croissants and more daily.
Outside, on a sunny spring day, a mom and two girls in soccer uniforms indulge in some postgame sweet treats in the outdoor space. Inside it’s a hive of activity.
“We’ve had a really warm welcome from the Pemberton community,” says Park.
The industrial park is a good fit for her business, which requires industrial power and space for the bread ovens. No stranger
to working in an industrial area (Park owned and operated 200 Degrees Bakery in Whistler’s Function Junction several years ago), she was a little skeptical of this area at first. It was a lot more heavy industry than she imagined. But, now that she’s settled in these last several months, she’s optimistic.
“I think this area is going to have a lot more traffic,” she says. “We are a nice substitute [to town].”
Among the decor in the newly renovated Bread Warehouse are custom live-edge countertops, milled right in the industrial park from Wood Streams, a high-end custom wood shop. Inspired by the wood itself, owner Olivier Godbout explains the company’s “tree-to-table” philosophy: Wood Steams mills its own slabs, which are then kiln-dried for two to three years before they are transformed into a new iteration, be it a dining table, chair, coffee table.
“We try to use every single piece of wood,” he says. “There’s not a lot of offcuts.” He tries to turn the smaller pieces into cutting boards or pepper mills.
Wood Streams has been set up at the industrial park for the past 10 years. As the area changes, with more and more people calling it home, Godbout says it’s important to find balance.
There are young families there, including Godbout’s own, living beside heavy industry.
“It’s always a balance between residential and commercial business,” he says.
Wood Streams is growing too, creating an online parent company, theslablibrary.com, which will tell the story of every slab of wood
at Wood Streams: where it came from, age, how it got its colour, and more. Selecting a slab, he adds, is like leafing through the pages of a book, with the stories etched into the grain.
Telling stories is a routine part of the day at Pemberton Brewing. There’s the residential crowd who call Pemberton Brewing their local watering hole; the after-work crowd; and, the mountain bikers, who funnel into the park, post-ride. It’s a great place to debrief on the work day or apres after a bike ride.
Geoff Macdonald set up shop with the Pemberton Brewing Co. six years ago.
“The park was a lot emptier than it is now. You could see the highway [from the brewery],” he says.
That space is now covered with warehouse buildings and more. The park is home to two cannabis warehouses, Backcountry Motor Sports, with its ATVs and side-by-sides, there’s a coffee roasting company (Gradient Coffee), and more. Pemberton Brewing is producing beer, in cans and on tap for bars and restaurants, throughout the Sea to Sky corridor; beer like the always-popular Cream Puff Pale Ale, named after the Pemberton bike trail.
“It seems like we’re in another growth spurt,” says Macdonald.
While at its heart it remains an industrial area, built to service the community with things like recycling and garbage disposal, Macdonald sees potential for more.
“I expect there will probably be, as time goes by, other service providers as well,” he says. “I think there’s going to be continual growth.”
Pemberton is growing up—fast.
The Village of Pemberton was home to 3,407 residents in 2021, according to Statistics Canada, up 32 per cent from its population of 2,574 five years earlier. Officials don’t expect that growth to slow anytime soon.
Despite the many changes Pemberton has undergone in recent years, legacies of its past exist everywhere you look. From the horse trails that still line Pemberton’s riverbanks to familiar surnames on local farms, they hint to a time not so long ago, before bikers, hikers and roadtrippers flocked up the Sea to Sky Highway for summer holidays—a time before that highway even existed, when the rural area drew a different sort of adventurous demographic.
It has only been about 150 years, give or take, since natural resources and fertile farmland first drew European settlers to the valley
Lil’wat Nation’s ancestors have called home since time immemorial.
If you really want to see what life in Pemberton looked like in the decades that followed, a time machine exists to take you there.
It’s located on a one-acre plot of land at 7455 Prospect St. in the heart of downtown Pemberton. Now in its 40th year of operations, the Pemberton & District Museum and Archives Society describes itself as “Pemberton’s longest running community project.” It boasts nine buildings—the earliest built in 1897—that hold more than 2,000 artefacts, 2,000 photographs and over 20 metres of archival materials that have been collected since 1982, according to its website. The artefacts it collects, preserves and displays range from examples of “early pioneer life, farming, schooling, commerce,
transportation, and industry, to the ingenuity, creativity and artistry of Pemberton’s earliest European settlers.”
The museum’s upcoming season will mark Charmaine Carpenter’s third at its helm, since she assumed the role of curator and executive director in 2022.
“It’s pretty amazing that such a small community has taken the time to preserve their history,” she says.
“We are still collecting, and some of the first settler families that were here are still represented,” Carpenter adds. “Their descendants are still here, and still farming or are still somehow participating in the Pemberton lifestyle. It’s pretty interesting to have the grandkids of the people that started the museum working for us.”
Travelling to Pemberton hasn’t always been an easy feat. It was only in 1958 that the Sea to Sky Highway between Vancouver and Squamish opened to vehicle traffic, and took until 1975 for a paved route to extend to Pemberton and Mount Currie.
“Obviously you needed to be somewhat of an adventurer to even want to come here, because a lot of people had to walk or take a horse,” says Carpenter. “That adventurous spirit is, I think, always part of Pemberton. It was never an easy place to live—everything from the flooding to the mosquitoes was an adventure.”
To that end, some of “the funniest artefacts” in the museum’s collection, according to Carpenter, are massive wood stoves that especially embody that adventurous spirit.
“These huge wooden stoves came here before even trains,” she explains. “They were taken apart and carried by horseback or what have you, and that journey would take a couple of days to come from the city. But you couldn’t have a home without one, because everything revolved around the stove. It was where you cooked your food, but it was also where you did your laundry, it heated your house. It was kind of everything.”
While some elements of the site function like a traditional museum, with large informational wall displays, other areas are set up to offer an impression of what life in Pemberton looked like in the early 18th century. In particular, the school groups that regularly visit the Pemberton Museum are usually interested in “how weird and hard life would be,” in that time period, Carpenter adds with a laugh. “We’re in the middle of trying to take that idea— that storytelling part—and incorporate that more so throughout the museum,” she says.
Much of the museum’s collection encompasses farming equipment and other artefacts of settler life in the community. While the museum also references Indigenous history in the region—“the communities are so closely tied,” Carpenter says—the curator acknowledges the full story isn’t the museum’s to tell.
“But we don’t want to eliminate the fact that that story is there to tell,” she adds.
Since 2018, the Pemberton Museum has been working to repatriate items in its collection to the Lil’wat Nation, on whose unceded territory the museum operates.
“We don’t have a lot of Indigenous objects left in our collection, because most of them have been repatriated,” Carpenters says, “But the stories are still there.”
If visitors have more questions about First Nations history in the area, museum staff typically direct those guests to other organizations, like Lil’wat Nation’s Culture Centre at the Tszil Learning Centre in Mount Currie or the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler, places “that really dive into that, and they have training for it,” explains Carpenter.
Still, “we do touch on [Lil’wat history] because it’s important,” she says. “The settlers in Pemberton wouldn’t have survived without the assistance of the locals.”
In recent years, museum stakeholders have celebrated the addition of two new buildings to its site: the John Arn cabin built in 1907 as a pioneer homestead and the one-room Pemberton Station School that was built in 1929.
Construction on a replica of the schoolhouse
was completed in 2021, nearly a decade after the local school board donated the original structure to the museum.
“Unfortunately, [the original school] was in such disrepair and just really hit by the elements that they decided that rather than move that onto the site, they would rebuild it,” Carpenter explains.
The new schoolhouse—updated with a few modern amenities—“has kind of changed everything about the museum, because we now have a space we can use for people to come together,” she says. “It’s not full of artefacts, it’s heated and has lighting, and it’s accessible.”
The space has allowed the museum to host community group meetings, art shows and even a wedding earlier this year. Last summer, the museum also hosted outdoor events like “date nights,” where local restaurants provided dinner while local performers put on a show, as well as the long-running “Toonie Tea Tuesdays,” that treat attendees to baked goods, tea, and live local music.
Carpenter hopes to bring those events and more back in 2024.
“We just tried to do things that are accessible, obviously financially accessible, but also that connect people to the place that they are, the where they were, where they are,” says Carpenter. “We’re looking to the future while remembering the past.”
The Pemberton Museum is set to reopen for the 2024 season on June 3. It will remain open Tuesdays to Saturdays before closing its doors for the winter at the end of October. Entry is by donation—”We do ask for a $5 donation, but have never turned anyone away,” says Carpenter. For more information, visit pembertonmuseum.org.
SUNSTONE BAR & GRILL
1730 Airport Road | 604 894 6197
FISH & RICE
102-7433 Frontier Street | 604 894 0016
MOUNT CURRIE COFFEE CO.
2-7331 Arbutus Street | 604 894 3388
SUNSTONE GOLF CLUB 1730 Airport Road | 604 894 6197
BLACKCOMB HELICOPTERS 1850 Airport Road | 1 800 330 4354
DAN SCARRATT
dan@danscarratt.com | 604 938 4444
PEMBERTON & DISTRICT MUSEUM & ARCHIVES SOCIETY 7455 Prospect Street | 604 894 5504
REMAX SEA TO SKY REAL ESTATE - PEMBERTON
106-1411 Portage Road | 604 894 6616
DANIELLE MENZEL
danielle@wrec.com | 604 698 5128
FRANK INGHAM
frankoingham@gmail.com | 604 230 8167
WHISTLER REAL ESTATE COMPANY - PEMBERTON
5-7331 Arbutus Street | 604 894 5166
PEMBERTON VALLEY SUPERMARKET
7438 Prospect Street | 604 894 3663
STAY WILD NATURAL HEALTH
106-7445 Frontier Street | 604 894 8884
PEMBERTON BREWING CO.
5/6-1936 Stonecutter Place | 604 894 2337
ANIMAL BARN
1-1384 Portage Road | 604 894 6740
NORTH ARM FARM
1888 Highway 99 | 604 894 5379
CONNECTIONS WELLNESS STUDIO
3-1384 Portage Road | 604 894 1223
PEMBERTON OFF ROAD CYCLING ASSOCIATION (PORCA) 8-7400 Arbutus St | info@porcabikes.com
VILLAGE OF PEMBERTON
7400 Prospect Street | 604 894 6135
TOURISM PEMBERTON
7374 Sea-to-Sky Hwy | info@tourismpembertonbc.com
to
ELEVATE BIKE SHOP
1385 Birch Rd | 778 770 1203
BIKE CO.
1-1392 Portage Road | 604 894 6625
