In 1974, a booth appeared on the side of Highway 99 near the base of Whistler Mountain and began providing visitors and passers-by with information about the area. According to some sources, the small structure had once been a ticket booth for the lift company that was moved “under the cover of darkness” as its location had not been officially approved.
At our Speaker Series event in June looking at the origins of the Whistler Resort Association (WRA, now known as Tourism Whistler), Drew Meredith described the “gravel parking lot at Whistler where we built an uninsulated plywood information centre,” located across the highway from the gas station. This booth was operated by the Whistler Mountain District Chamber of Commerce, which was founded in 1966, nine years before the formation of the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
In the early 1970s, the Chamber was involved in a wide variety of activities, from sponsoring the annual Easter Parade, to supporting trailbuilding, to advocating for train station stops in the valley, to presenting Whistler’s “Citizen of the Year” award at its annual dinner/dance (which it continues to do today). The Tourist Booth was a new venture to provide information about accommodation, activities, travel and more. At a Chamber meeting in September 1974, director Jack Bright presented the idea of an area reservation service which could be located with the tourist booth, and during the 1975-76 winter season the Information Centre also gave out information on which hotels and lodgings had bookings available. The Chamber continued to operate the Information Centre from this spot into the 1980s, though its schedule varied depending on the year.
During the summer of 1976, the Information Centre was open on weekends and holidays from 12 to 4 p.m. under the care of Judy Johnston. As of the Labour Day weekend in September, Evelyn Cullen took over running the Centre, which offered rate sheets for the 1976-77 winter, information about the different specials offered by various hotels throughout the week, and a booking service.
At a September meeting, Evelyn reported the Centre had brought in $22,380 in the past year, about three times the cost of its operation, which was supported in part by a grant from the BC Department of Tourism. Despite what would appear to be a small budget today, the Chamber had difficulties funding the Centre on fees from the relatively small business community. In 1977, the Centre received a total of 5,823 phone-call enquiries and spoke with 5,143 walk-in customers.
Over the years, the services and staff of the Information Centre expanded, partly due to programs such as the Canada Works Grant. The Centre continued to offer brochures, as well as local publications such as a Whistler hiking guide produced by Vicki Vogler and Laura McGuffin that was sold at the Centre in 1979 for 75 cents. The building was also used to distribute community news, as in 1984 when a banner reading “It’s a girl” was hung outside to announce the birth of Chamber employee Sonya McCarthy’s daughter, and in 1986 when the Chamber used a similar banner to wish Myrtle Philip a happy 95th birthday.
In 1984, the Chamber purchased an 1836 BC Rail caboose for $1,500 with plans to restore it and connect it to the Information Centre as an expansion. These plans were never completed, however, and the building remained quite small.
It is unclear when exactly the Information Centre was shut down, but the duties and focus of the Chamber changed significantly as the WRA became more established and took over projects such as the marketing of Whistler and distribution of information, though the Chamber of Commerce continues to support and promote businesses and organizations in the area, as it has done since 1966.
The building of the Town Centre also shifted many activities from the Creekside gondola base to the site of Whistler Village. Today, the Whistler Visitor Centre and central bookings are operated by Tourism Whistler and see far more than the 11,000 visitors who had questions in 1977.
