Year in Review : Choose Pemberton 2012
This was the year the Huffington Post hailed Pemberton as “the best place in Canada to spend Thanksgiving”, Vancouver Magazine offered up 10 reasons to head to Whistler and keep on driving north, Dirt Magazine UK featured Pemberton for its mountain biking assets and concentration of “so many skilled and talented backcountry recreationalists (and professionals)” and Frequency, the Snowboarder’s Journal, probed Pemberton’s sled-assisted backcountry secrets with a couple of local hard-cores, who also happen to run organic farms and indie cafes in their downtime. And when Wesia Wong featured Pemberton on Global TV she couldn’t help herself, “I can tell why people love taking pictures of Pemberton. It’s just so beautiful there.”
American Airlines’ American Way touched down to experience the Slow Food Cycle and declare Pemberton a hamlet “emerging from the shadow of its well-known neighbour” and that’s not even touching on all the accolades the Pemberton Distillery has been receiving as it bottles and spreads the essence of Pemberton around the world.
The Paragliding Nationals and Nimby50 brought elite athletes to discover our backyard, paving the way for another cohort of physical specimens, the iron men and women who’ll test their bike mettle in Pemberton when the Whistler Iron Man heads this way next year.
Pemberton came 2nd in the province in the Earth Hour challenge, decreasing energy consumption, behind Revelstoke, again claiming our place as Champions for the Planet.
And a host of local movers and shakers made their mark – from the Village of Pemberton receiving national media recognition for “leading the way” in community engagement, to Fire Chief Russell Mack and Retired Assistant Fire Chief Christian Staehli being recognized with the British Columbia Long Service Bar for 35 years of service and the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal for 20 years of service, respectively, to Mark Blundell receiving the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal, to the Pemberton and District Public Library, Lindsay May and Henry McDermott, who received this year’s Winds of Change Wellness Recognition Awards for their service to the community, to all the volunteers and dreamers who put the muscle and momentum into projects that came to fruition over the past 18 months – like the Pemberton Skate Park, the BMX track, the Tenquille Cabin, the Sea to Sky Trail connector, or the One Mile Lake Nature Centre; projects getting underway like the Mt Currie Trail; or events like Winterfest, MADE, Multicultural Week, the Peace Declaration, the Show n Shine or the weekly Farmers Market.
Choose Pemberton was started in June 2010 as a forum to showcase and celebrate local movers and shakers, because if we don’t, we don’t deserve to live in cool thriving little communities. This year, weekly profiles of 45 different community events, businesses and groups, generated over 12,000 views. So here’s to you, people of Pemberton. And all that you do. Happy holidays and here’s to an amazing 2013.
Potato Nation 