Whistler Museum

08/25/2026

Joan Richoz with a collection of challenged and banned books during Freedom To Read Week in 1994. Whistler Question Collection.

Even in Whistler, books have sometimes faced challenges. Since opening in 1986, the Whistler Public Library has received very few challenges, but titles have included Michael Slade’s 1986 book Headhunter and even the children’s classic Where the Wild Things Are. Despite these complaints, the Library has never formally removed a challenged book from its shelves. Learn more about challenged books in Whistler and the Library’s long-standing support for intellectual freedom in our latest Whistorical article.

EVENT: Join us and the Whistler Public Library (WPL) Thursday, August 27, 2026 for a conversation with all of our past & present Library Directors – Joan Richoz (1986 to 2006), Lauren Stara (2006 to 2012), Elizabeth Tracy (2012 to 2022), and Mikale Fenton (2022 to present) – moderated by WPL Program & Communications Coordinator Jeanette Bruce. From the basement of Municipal Hall to Whistler’s Living Room, we’ll share stories, challenges, and triumphs from the past 40 years.

Seating is limited! Email [email protected] to register for this event.

Photo: Whistler Question collection.

Whistler Public Library

Written by Anna Donaldson Photo: Joan Richoz with a collection of challenged and banned books during Freedom To Read Week in 1994. Whistler Question Collection. This year marks the 40th birthday o…

08/20/2026

Before Whistler’s Skatepark became the landmark it is today, it began with a set of blueprints, a patch of cottonwoods beside Fitzsimmons Creek, and the vision of skateboard pioneer Monty Little.

In the spring of 1990, Little was asked to design a skatepark for Whistler. Drawing inspiration from the carving movements of skiing and snowboarding, he designed a larger park with big hips, a snake run and a bowl where riders could carve, pump and flow. With builder Terry Snyder, the first phase came together quickly, welcoming its first skaters on August 11, 1990.

Read more about Monty Little and the story behind the original Whistler Skatepark, and see a copy of the original 1990 blueprints of the skatepark.

Photo: VHS screengrab of Monty Little skating the newly opened bowl. 1990. Little collection.

Photo: VHS screengrab of Monty Little skating the newly opened bowl. 1990. Little collection. The 79-year-old man who designed the original Whistler Skatepark first came here when he was 17. O…

08/12/2026

Join us today at Florence Petersen Park at 11 a.m. for the second-to-last Crafts in the Park of 2026!

The in-person portion of the program takes place weekly from July 8 to August 19, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Florence Petersen Park. The program features nature-focused picture books and crafts for children aged 8 and under.

This week’s craft is inspired by Whistler’s famous black bears.

You can find educational and instructional videos from previous weeks’ crafts at the link below.

This program in brought to you in partnership the the Whistler Public Library.

08/11/2026

Today marks 70 years since the derailment that created Whistler's iconic Train Wreck site.

On August 11, 1956, a heavily loaded Pacific Great Eastern Railway train was travelling through a narrow section of track near what is now Function Junction when it derailed. The wreck left several boxcars blocking the railway. Unable to move them with its own equipment, the railway turned to the Valleau family, who operated a logging business nearby. Using D8 Cats, they pulled the boxcars from the tracks and dragged them into the forest, where they remain today.

Over the decades, the abandoned cars have become covered in ever-changing graffiti, transforming the site into one of Whistler’s most recognizable landmarks. Seventy years later, discover the story behind the Train Wreck and how the mystery of its origins was uncovered.

Photo: Whistler Museum Collection

Combine a speeding train going more than twice the speed limit with a heavy load of logs and a narrow section of track and one might say you have a recipe for disaster. Seventy years ago on Aug. 11…

08/10/2026

L’Après Beach Party and “Boat Races” in Creekside, August 6, 1981.

Before the development and completion of Whistler Village, Creekside often served as the de facto centre for community events and gatherings. In 1977, Garibaldi’s Whistler News reported that Whistler had a year-round population of approximately 800, growing to nearly 7,000 during the peak winter season. Summers were much quieter, and local events often took place around Creekside, where many of Whistler’s early amenities and businesses were located.

Small events gave the community the opportunity to gather during the slower summer months, but this began to change by the early 1980s. The creation of the Whistler Resort Association (WRA) in 1979, alongside the development of Phase 1 of Whistler Village (1978-1985), marked a shift toward a year-round destination. New amenities, parks, golf courses, and expanded tourism gradually transformed the quieter summer season. Today, summer is one of Whistler’s busiest times, with Tourism Whistler (formerly the WRA) stating that approximately 55% of visitors visit during the summer months.

Photo: Whistler Question Collection.

08/06/2026

Thirty years, thousands of creations, and countless memories later, the Whistler Museum's Building with Lego Bricks Competition is back!

Join us Saturday, August 16 at 2:00 p.m. at the Whistler Museum as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of this beloved family tradition.

This Year's Theme: Build Your Best Rescue Machine!

In honour of the 70th anniversary of the Whistler Train Wreck, we're challenging young builders to design the ultimate rescue machine.

Variety of age categories (ages 3–12).
All building takes place on site, bricks are provided.

Pre-registration is required.

Register today: www.whistlermuseum.org

Saturday, August 16 | 2:00 p.m.
Florence Petersen Park Outside the Whistler Museum

A special thank you to our generous sponsors: the Province of British Columbia, Dairy Queen, The Circle Kids, Rocky Mountain Chocolate, Lucia Gelato, Armchair Books, Whoola Toys, Escape! Whistler, and Ziptrek Ecotours.

08/01/2026

Rider exhibition at the 2003 Whistler Summer Gravity Festival Industry Expo.

Before Crankworx became one of the world's premier mountain bike festivals, it grew out of a series of homegrown events organized by riders determined to put Whistler on the map. Among them were Paddy Kaye and Chris Winter, who founded Joyride Productions in 1997 to bring freeride mountain biking events to Whistler.

With few major mountain bike events coming to Whistler in 2001 following the cancellation of the planned UCI World Cup in Whistler, which was relocated to Grouse Mountain on Vancouver's North Shore, Joyride Productions took the initiative to develop the Joyride Bikercross. Scheduled to coincide with the Grouse Mountain World Cup, the event encouraged professional riders to compete in both races and helped establish Whistler as a destination for competitive mountain biking.

By 2003, Joyride had become part of the Whistler Summer Gravity Festival, introducing the first slopestyle competition alongside demos, expos, guided rides, clinics, and film premieres. A year later, the festival was renamed Crankworx, launching what would become Whistler's largest summer festival and a globally recognized mountain bike series.

Photo: Insight Photography Collection.

07/29/2026

YCW Student Anna Donaldson writes this week's column on the Citizen of the Year Award.

As nominations for this year’s Citizen of the Year award come to a close, the piece takes a look back on the history of this award. The Citizen of the Year award is an annual honour presented to a single member of the community or a couple by the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, and also happens to be the longest-standing award in the community, even predating the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW).

Read the full piece in this week's Pique Newsmagazine or at this link: https://whistlermuseum.org/2026/07/29/citizen-of-the-year/

Featured Photo: John Howells (left) receiving the 1978 Citizen of the Year award from 1976 winner Paul Burrows (right) as Drew Meredith and Grace McCarthy look on in the background. Whistler Questi…

07/24/2026

Whistler Creekside in the spring of 1998, weeks before construction began on the Creekside redevelopment project.

By the mid-1990s, many of the buildings and infrastructure at the base of Whistler Mountain in the Creekside area were 20 to 30 years old and showing signs of wear. To meet the needs of the growing Whistler community and increasingly popular resort, a complete redevelopment was planned.

Construction began in the spring of 1998, shortly after the end of the ski season. The Gondola Barn and maintenance shed were among the first structures to be demolished that year, making way for flood mitigation work that was essential to the broader redevelopment of the Creekside area. Phase One of the redevelopment was largely completed by December 2003.

Photo: Maclaurin collection.

07/21/2026

'Kayakers as Glacier Gaugers' is the topic of this week's feature, the second piece in a suite inspired by the local kayaking history written by Bronwyn Preece.

The impact of glacial recession on local skiing and snowboarding has garnered attention with the closing of the Horstman Glacier on Blackcomb for summer camps in 2023, however this was the first time I had had reason to consider the impact on other non-on mountain sports. As the Whistler Museum actively continues to gather oral histories from a generational cross-section of local kayakers, Preece extended the question to Archer McLeay, a pivotal advocate within and for the paddling community: a relative newcomer on the scene, having lived in the Sea to Sky for 5 years, moving here, however, for the kayaking.

Preece asked McLeay, if in his handful of years here, he had witnessed the impact of glacier recession in the waters. He unequivocally answered: “It’s drastic.”

This aligns with Shawn "Puddles" Hughes’ deduction that “after 40 years of visually watching this, we're in some trouble.”

Read the full article in this week's Pique Newsmagazine or at the following link: https://whistlermuseum.org/2026/07/21/kayakers-as-glacier-gaugers/

Also read last week's article: 'Whistler's Whitewater River Runners' at www.whistlermuseum.org

Photo: Lyall Featherstonehaugh paddles the Cheakamus River on May 11, 1980, during a demonstration organized for the Whistler Chamber of Commerce to showcase kayaking opportunities in the Whistler area as part of their May Day celebrations. Whistler Question Collection.