Author and Whistler Writers Festival founder Stella Harvey is Whistler's newest Citizen of the Year.
"I don't think anything is possible by yourself," she told the crowd gathered in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler's ballroom for the 2022 Whistler Excellence Awards on Thursday night, Oct. 20. "I think that it takes a community and it takes people behind you. No one succeeds alone, I say this all the time."
Harvey's Citizen of the Year win was the final award presented during Thursday night's ceremony, emceed by Heather Paul, Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre's executive director and a past Citizen of the Year winner herself. It marked the first Whistler Excellence Awards to take place in-person since 2019.
Also nominated for the award were Dave Williamson, a dedicated community volunteer who currently serves as chair of the Whistler Institute's board of directors, and Carol Leacy, chair of the Whistler Health Care Foundation and co-founder of Whistler 360 Health.
The honour comes seven years after Harvey was named the Whistler Champion of Arts & Culture at the same event, hosted annually by the Whistler Chamber of Commerce.
The beloved Whistlerite started the Writers Fest more than two decades ago, when she welcomed about 20 people and one guest author to her living room for its first iteration in 2002, two years after she moved to the resort. Today, the literary event has grown into a massive, multi-day festival that in 2019 drew 2,000 people and some 70 authors, and spurred several community programs that take place throughout the year. Of those initiatives, Harvey—who is retired as of this year—said she's proudest of the school program, where, with support from the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, the Writers Fest provides books to 20 schools across the district.
"The kids read the books and then we invite the authors to the schools so that [students] can see what is possible for them and that they can find ways to tell their story," Harvey explained.
She has also helped mentor hundreds of local writers through the Writer-in-Residence program, devoting countless hours to Whistler’s arts community.
Created in 1969, the prestigious Citizen of the Year award aims to celebrate "an outstanding community member who contributes significant volunteer time to enhancing the quality of life in Whistler," as per the Chamber's website. The award recognizes recipients for their "extraordinary leadership and community service" outside of their regular working hours. The Whistler Community Foundation is tasked with selecting a new recipient each year.
The Whistler Excellence Awards—hosted by the Chamber in partnership with the Whistler Community Foundation, the Whistler Arts Council and AWARE and presented by BlueShore Financial—are dedicated to honouring the resort's most excellent in the areas of service, innovation, sustainability, outstanding leadership in the arts, business and community service.
The approximately 400 people gathered in the Fairmont's ballroom for the gala did just that on Thursday night, offering loud support for the evening's winners and nominees across the nine award categories. The Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre in particular brought some hardware home from the Excellence Awards, with manager of operations Moody Dan named Rising Star of the Year and the entire institution earning top honours for Service Excellence - Large Business.
The other winners are:
Business Person of the year: Norm Mastalir – Fairmont Chateau Whistler
Nominees: Jackie Dickinson, Whistler Community Services Society; Ian Ritz, Chromag
“For those of you who don’t know, when you get nominated for an award, you then have to accept the idea that you’re nominated,” Mastalir said during his acceptance speech. “They did a lot of arm-twisting to actually get me to accept to come here, because there’s so many amazing people in Whistler who deserve to be standing up on this stage.”
To that end, the hotel’s longtime general manager—he’s been at its helm since 2011, to be exact—took the opportunity to praise his fellow nominees Dickinson and Ritz. He called Dickinson “a leader among leaders and a giant among giants,” for her work getting Whistler’s community through the pandemic, while to Ritz, he said, is “a person who embodies that true entrepreneurial spirit and mountain culture of Whistler.”
Rising Star of the Year: Moody Dan, Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre
Nominees: Shea Emry, Whistler Racket Club; Alistair Cray, Whistler Cooks, Hunter Gather, Fridge Full, and Cranked
“The process that I follow is to really work collectively with everyone,” said Dan during his introductory video. “It helps us reach our end goal a lot easier.”
Emerging Business of the Year: Picnic Whistler
Nominees: Alpine Learning; Creekside Health
“My creativity this past year has been completely driven by our expansion,” said Picnic Whistler owner (and charcuterie queen) Amy Mac during her introductory video. “When I was not able to continue renting our commercial kitchen, I took a leap of faith on myself and opened our first storefront this May … I feel like I’ve created my wildest dreams.”
Innovative Business of the Year: Stinger Boards & Foils
Nominees: Alpine Learning, Whistle Ride
“Holy f***, really?!” is how Stinger Board & Foils' Steve Legge started his acceptance speech, to the crowd’s delight, before thanking his family and the staff that keep his Function Junction headquarters running smoothly.
“My inspiration comes from a lot of energy from this world of Whistler,” he explained in his finalist video. “Everybody doing things, wanting to do a sport, wanting to create the sport—you feel like you’re on the leading cusp, and truly Whistler does that, whether its skiing or biking, so why not with our watersports?”
Sustainability in Action Business: Fairmont Chateau Whistler
Nominees: Moguls Coffee House, Velvet Underground
“We’ve gotten creative by redefining the way we approach sustainability, by focusing on smaller aspects of a much larger goal,” said the Fairmont’s Robyn Gallagher in the finalist video. “Each small piece is not enough to finish it, but put it all together and you have a finished puzzle.”
Whistler Champion of Arts & Culture, Business: Audain Art Museum
Nominees: Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, Sushi Village
tor Curtis Collins took the opportunity to thank everyone from the museum’s staff to its founders, trustees, volunteers and sponsors, as well as its fellow finalists.
“The fact that we’ve won this award means that we are firmly planted in Whistler, and that is really the strength of where we do everything from,” he said.
Service Excellence - Small Business: Slope Side Supply
Nominees: Coast Mountain Brewing, Cutting Edge Signs
“Customer service is kind of what makes Slope Side tick, that’s what we’ve always prided ourselves with,” owner Tony Horn told the crowd following Slope Side’s win.
“People can’t believe when all of a sudden a box is at their business and they just ordered it, and that’s what we’re always trying to do … we just try to be on it, so this really means a lot.” Especially coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Horn pointed out. “If anyone’s noticed there’s been a supply problem, and for us to win this award this year seems like a weird thing.”
Horn also highlighted Slope Side’s fellow nominees as “awesome pillars of customer service that I respect a lot—and they’re also from Function Junction.” To that end, he wrapped up his acceptance speech by presenting a few T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Function Wonction” to the Coast Mountain and Cutting Edge teams.
Service Excellence - Large Business: Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre
Nominees: BlueShore Financial, Quattro Restaurant
Cultural Ambassador Georgina Dan took to the stage to accept the award, thanking her fellow SLCC staff members—or “family,” as she described them—95 per cent of whom are Indigenous.
“I also want to thank the Whistler community for allowing us the space and making room for us to be able to really learn and share our stories in such a beautiful space, in our home here on our traditional unceded territory,” she added.
