Most articles on Whistler talk about the world-class skiing and snowboarding facilities but, after going to Whistler for gay pride the last several years, I decided to take a different take: Whistler arts and culture.

First off, the Whistler Museum. Though not very large, there is a ton of great information. They had a great number of artifacts from when Whistler started out as a village, as well as exhibits on the plant and animal life in the area. There is a history section on skiing and snowboarding, which was cool to see how these sports developed over a short period of time.

They have a section on the decades-long process they had gone through trying to host the Olympics, and artifacts from hosting the games, finally, in 2010.

It was great to see how Whistler has expanded and grown. Though pioneers were in the area in the 1880s, it was not until 1975 that the Resort Municipality of Whistler was established, and it became the first resort municipality in Canada. From then to what you see now – in a short period of time – is pretty impressive. You realize why you don’t see too many old buildings still standing, because everything was built up in the tight space they had. They wisely re-use spaces without impacting the environment around the village.

When I was talking to museum staff, they said that was one of the reasons why the museum is not as big as they wish. They have on display less than 10 per cent of the artifacts that they have in their collection. They need to wait until a larger space becomes available for them to move the museum into. They said that even their library contains artifacts that they don’t have the space for. Businesses also must wait for another to close before they open or move to a larger venue.

The museum does not have very much in regards to the Squamish and Lil’wat First Nations, but there is a dedicated centre that I checked out later in the day. Read the article at http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5385 . The Whistler Museum is worth checking out, especially if you have kids – there are a lot of interactive displays for them to learn from. It is also worth it for adults, especially if you are interested in the Olympics, or the history of skiing and snowboarding.

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Contributor Steve Polyak |

Locale British Columbia | Whistler |

Topic Arts | Museum | Ski and Snowboard | Travel | Whistler Pride |

Photo Gallery Travel |Whistler |