As Whistler’s first born-and-raised local voted to council, and a consummate party planner herself, Jessie Morden could hardly contain her excitement when discussing early ideas to mark the community’s 50th anniversary in 2025.
“I really would like us to get involved in the nitty gritty of this. I know we don’t get involved in operations, but I feel like this is different,” she said of the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) at an Oct. 8 Committee of the Whole meeting. “I don’t know what that looks like. Do we create a task force? A 50th committee so we could meet outside of council meetings? What does this mean? Because I really want to be involved in this. I really, really want to be involved in this.”
Morden isn’t alone in her excitement. Whistlerites, as we know, appreciate a good party, and as it turns out, so do mayor and council. Getting their first glimpse at a draft framework for next year’s celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the resort on Sept. 6, 1975, elected officials were presented with two potential options from staff. The first, limited to “a community-focused, intense community love-in” that would primarily take place on the September Labour Day long weekend, explained GM of community engagement and cultural services Karen Elliott, was budgeted at approximately $60,000, funded through the Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT) and local taxation. The second option would be wider in scope, involving several different events running from the early September holiday through to Whistler Blackcomb’s opening day in November. That is budgeted for approximately $120,000, funded through the MRDT, local taxation, grants, and possibly, sponsorship.
Save for Councillor Arthur De Jong, who recommended taking a “quality over quantity” approach like Whistler Blackcomb’s 50th anniversary in 2015, elected officials expressed their preference for the larger, more costly option. (Couns. Cathy Jewett and Jen Ford were not in attendance.)
“You only have one 50th birthday, and to me, it’s option 2-plus,” said Mayor Jack Crompton. “It feels to me we should find ways to really invest into this and bring value to it, and if that is sponsorships or more investments out of MRDT or taxation, I’m eager to see us do a really good job of this.”
RMOW staff have met with several community partners to discuss the celebration, and both options would leverage those partners’ own plans to mark the 50th. The second option in particular could also take advantage of the existing events on Whistler’s calendar, such as GranFondo (slated, as it were, for Sept. 6 in 2025), the Whistler Writers Festival, and Cornucopia.
“On the budget front, I think we spend what, like, $600,000, $700,000, $800,000 on [Festivals, Events and Animation] for people to come for no particular reason? So, I feel like spending money on this over a period of time is good value, and we know that’s a slower time so if we can invest some of that money, I think people will see value in that,” said Coun. Jeff Murl, adding the long timeline gives community partners ample runway to plan their own programming.
While no programming specifics have been discussed, the RMOW did lay out some preferred guidelines and goals for the anniversary. One key tenet surrounds sharing Whistler’s history, while involving the community’s future leaders.
“One of the big ones is this idea of looking forward, but bringing the youth with us,” Elliott said. “There were so many important community builders that built Whistler to this point, and we need to encourage that transfer of knowledge and energy and lift those voices of the new leaders coming up behind them.”
Using Whistler’s 40th anniversary in 2015 as a benchmark, RMOW staff and community partners also want to do a better job of recognizing the First Nations’ presence and long history of the land upon which Whistler sits.
“I think one of the things the 40th anniversary didn’t do was situate Whistler’s history within the thousands and thousands of years of presence the Lil’wat and Squamish have had on the land,” Elliott noted. “Our community partners, as well as staff, felt the 50th was an opportunity to do that a bit differently and really situate our history in the broader context.”
More detailed anniversary plans are anticipated to come before council as the RMOW continues to work on its 2025 budget plans.
“Bigger, better, well-funded—and we’ll get into the details later,” said Coun. Ralph Forsyth.
