Category Archives: Museum News & Events

Whistler Museum in the community.

Build a Building

Plastic bricks and a building competition probably aren’t the first things you would associate with a museum; however, for many who grow up in the Whistler area they are one of the first introductions a child has to the Whistler Museum. The museum held its first “Build a Building” competition using LEGO bricks in September 1966 and the annual event continues to bring crowds of children to the museum each summer.

In the September 12, 1996 edition of the Whistler Question, the museum called on “Lego fans, budding engineers and aspiring architects” to enter their creations in a bid to win prizes donated by LEGO and local businesses such as Great Games and Toys. There were two ways to enter; participants could build at home with their own bricks or build at the Whistler Museum on the day of the competition with bricks provided by the toy store. The two categories were judged and awarded prizes separately. Costing $2 to enter, the event was both a fundraiser for the museum building fund and a fun way to bring more children to the museum.

Building takes place at the Whistler Museum in 1997. Whistler Museum and Archives Collection.

According to the report of museum board director Paul Fournier, 66 children participated in this first competition and created “some really elaborate entries.” With any kind of building allowed, kids built hospitals, museums, libraries, lakefront homes, and even some helipads (the helipad at the Whistler Heath Centre was upgraded in late summer of 1996). Entries were judged by Citizens of the Year Kris Shoup (1995), Stan and Shirley Langtry (1994), Sonya McCarthy (1991) and Linda Marshall (1996). Winners included Liam Fisher, Robyn and Jamie Pratt, Emily Macalister and Julia Murray, Jesse Clemiss, and Evan Macalister.

The following year’s event saw more than 200 participants. The competition took place both inside the museum and in the parking area outside (event today, trying to fit 200 people inside the museum building is not recommended) and organizers immediately began asking the community about alternative venues for the next year’s event. Again, there were two categories and winners took home prize packages of LEGO from Great Games and Toys.

Since the 1990s, the building competition has evolved and moved locations, taking place at the Spruce Grove Field House, Florence Petersen Park and even online in 2020. The annual event continues to introduce children to the museum each summer (this year will mark the 28th competition) and has itself become a part of Whistler’s history.

Building competitions, however, are not just for children. This month the Whistler Museum and LUNA (Late and Unique Nighttime Alternatives) will be hosting The Big Kids Building Competition for adults on Wednesday, March 22. Entry is $5, or $2 for museum or LUNA members, and there are limited spaces available. Unlike the museum’s early building competitions, there will be no build-at-home category and all participants will build at the Whistler Museum on March 22 with bricks provided by the museum. Like the early competitions, entries will be judged and winners will go home with great prizes from local businesses including Armchair Books, Escape! Whistler, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler and the Scandinave Spa.

Learn more about this year’s Big Kids Building Competition here.

It’s Back!

The Big Kids Building Competition with LEGO bricks is back! This year’s theme is “Design your ultimate Whistler hideaway.” Would it be a treehouse? A boat? A cabin on the side of the ski hill? A park that no one else knows about?

Building will take place at the competition (at the Whistler Museum behind the Whistler Public Library) and all LEGO bricks will be provided.

Thanks to our incredible sponsors who have provided prizes for this year’s competition: Armchair Books, Escape! Whistler, Fairmont Chateau Whistler (The Wildflower restaurant) & Scandinave Spa Whistler.

The competition is open to ages 18 and up. Entry is $5 or $2 for Museum or LUNA members.

Drop by the museum, give us a call (604 932 2019) or email us at events @ whistlermuseum.org to claim your spot.

Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip

Join us and special guests at the Whistler Museum on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 for the opening of our latest exhibit, Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip 1979 – 1992.

Created by the one and only Gord ‘Rox’ Harder and published in The Whistler Answer and The Whistler Review, the Peak Bros. comics celebrated an outlaw skiing lifestyle and followed a ragtag group of friends on their adventures around Whistler. Learn more about the comics, the people behind the Peak Bros. tales, and maybe even pick up your own copy of the Peak Bros. adventures!

Thank you to Gord’s friends and family who contributed to this project and made the exhibit possible. Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic will be on display through April 23, 2023.

Images of Blackcomb

If you follow the Whistler Museum on social media, you will probably have noticed more images of Blackcomb Mountain appearing over the past year or so as we’ve been working to digitize the Blackcomb Mountain Collection. We’ve been sharing some of the more eye-catching and informative images that we’ve come across while digitizing. Next week we’ll be sharing even more of the Blackcomb Mountain Collection images in the hope of adding more information to the images.

The Blackcomb Mountain Collection includes over 22,000 promotional and candid images taken by over 30 photographers between 1980s and 1998. This period covers the mountain’s opening and its years in competition with neighbouring Whistler Mountain up until the two merged under Intrawest. Some of the photographers are well known for their photography work in the area, including Greg Griffith, Chris Speedie (of Toad Hall fame), and Paul Morrison, while others are perhaps better known for their work on Blackcomb Mountain, such as Hugh Smythe (then the President of Blackcomb Mountain Ski Enterprise) and David Perry (then in Blackcomb Mountain’s marketing department).

The Suitcase Race of 1988 is just one event pictured in the collection. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, Greg Griffith.

The content included in the Blackcomb Mountain Collection varies widely. There are, of course, a lot of images of people skiing and, in the later years, snowboarding. There are also many images that were created to promote Blackcomb Mountain and so show people (often hired models) happily wearing ski gear in the sun, sharing a meal at one of Blackcomb’s restaurants, or eating giant cookies outside in the snow. There are also images of mountain facilities, retail stores, and a lot of Blackcomb branded clothing.

While we do not yet have a name for the woman pictured, many people shared their fond memories of the giant cookies when this photo was posted online. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, David Stoecklein, 1988.

Not all of the images, however, are quite so obviously stages and instead seem to be promoting Blackcomb Mountain simply by capturing what was happening on and around the mountain. These images include many events that were hosted on Blackcomb Mountain, such as Freestyle World Cups, Kids Kamp events, Can Am bike races, and the well-remembered celebrity Suitcase Races. There are also images of people paragliding with Parawest Paragliding, the company that Janet and Joris Moschard operated off of Blackcomb Mountain in the early 1990s, and street entertainers organized by the Whistler Resort Association drawing crowds both at the base of Blackcomb Mountain and throughout the Whistler Village.

Amongst all of these images, there are also a few series of images of Blackcomb staff and staff events from the early 1990s. These are the images to which we are hoping to add more information (specifically names and possibly job titles) at our next Naming Night at the Museum.

Just one of the photographs whose subjects got named at our first Naming Night back in 2018. Photo: Whistler Question Collection, 1984.

If you haven’t been to a Naming Night before, the format is pretty simply. At 6 pm on Thursday, September 22, we’ll be posting about 100 images around the museum that we need more information about, including the series of Blackcomb staff. Everyone is welcome to come help us fill in the blanks, whether you recognize a face, a place, or an event, by writing the information on a post-it and sticking it to the image (paper and pens will be provided). This information will then be added to the image’s entry in our database, making it much more likely that the image will be included when someone searches for a specific person, place or event in our database or online galleries. We’ve also had hundreds of names added to our images by people across the world since moving Names Night online in 2020, so, if you’re not able to make it the museum, we will also be posting the images on our Facebook page on Friday, September 23. Whether in person or virtually, we hope to see you there!