Does any stretch of Canadian landscape party as hard as the Sea to Sky? We doubt it. Words :: Steve Andrews.
Celebration is a fundamental aspect of the human experience, and mountain people are known for their ability to get triumphant and celebrate almost anything. Here amongst the breathtaking backdrops of the Sea To Sky corridor, that party spirit is deep-rooted and all-inclusive. But in a region this tight-knit, do we really need to crown a party king? Attempting to single out the “best night ever” across three communities and a couple generations is a bit futile. Instead, can’t we just revel in the tales, folklore and unique party vibe each town offers?
Whistler: We were made for this.
Whistler Village was built to host parties (and reports of locals “surfing” the tops of gondola cabins coming down from a mountaintop gala are all true), but some of the most legendary ragers came from the neighbourhoods. Picture the Stoop in Creekside, the Dirtbag Hotel in White Gold, West Side’s Lake House and A-Frames or The Oasis of Key in Nordic—these (rental) homes rocked so hard, old-timers swear they vibrated. On powder days, après-ski parties raged till midnight, turning ski boots into dance shoes and ordinary Tuesdays into wild adventures.
Before Whistler evolved into a tourist magnet, locals fueled the town’s heartbeat. Stump’s bar at the old Delta, with its “beat the clock” drink prices, was a haven for the thirsty and thrifty. Everyone flocked to Seppo’s grotto, a communal hub where everyone knew your name—and your drink. And the UBC lodge in Nordic played host to a number of shakers so severe, most attendees plead the fifth when asked about them.
But most agree, The Boot Pub, demolished in 2006, harboured the soul of old-school Whistler. A place where the Tragically Hip jammed incognito, and Punk Night meant $5 jugs and legendary acts. And let’s not forget the Boot Ballet’s Amateur Night—definitely not your grandma’s ballet (unless she was a local).
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Live music gradually gave way to DJ beats, with Tommy Africa’s Soul Kitchen leading the revolution. Local hero (and frequent Mountain Life contributor) Ace MacKay-Smith and her go-go girls set the tone while DJs Czech and Vinyl Ritchie served up a kaleidoscope of dance music—house, breaks, techno, they even introduced hip-hop to crowds more used to “walking 500 miles” with The Proclaimers. The longest-running DJ night in the country, Soul Kitchen ended up defining Whistler’s dance scene.
But perhaps the purest essence of Whistler’s wild heart was the legendary full-moon parties. Post-bar, excited revelers would spill into cabs, heading off into the night and the wilderness to dance under the stars on remote logging road pullouts. And if you made it to one of Chili Thom’s storied bush bashes, he’d provide sunglasses for all to keep the beats rocking well into the next day.
“The whole corridor is full of incredibly creative and artistically gifted humans,” says Pat McKinnon, a party organizer who has lived and celebrated in all three towns. “That makes for good times everywhere, but Whistler obviously has the most consistently raging party scene.”
Pemberton: Home of the (really big) backyard bash
Though less tourist-centric than Whistler, Pemberton still knows how to get down. Once famous for its potatoes (and the Friday-night fights at the PemHo bar), the town found its way on partygoers’ maps back in the ‘80s with the Stein Valley Festival, a benefit to save the now-protected Stein Valley from logging. The yearly event began in the Stein, and eventually outgrew the location, culminating in 1989 with 16,000 people committed to “Save the Stein” alongside Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn, David Suzuki and more.
In a sort of “hold my beer” kind of move, Pemberton welcomed upwards of 40,000 partiers to a local hayfield in 2008 for the inaugural Pemberton Festival, which boasted global acts like Coldplay, Tom Petty, Jay-Z and Nine Inch Nails. Traffic was unimaginably bad as the valley transformed into the place to be for loud live music and the antics that come with a three-day send’er. Despite its on-and-off history and the sometimes-disheartening aftermath of littered campgrounds, the festival left an indelible mark on the valley.
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Not surprisingly, the true essence of Pemberton’s party scene lies in the more intimate, community-driven events. The Two Acre Shaker, a brainchild of local residents, started as a simple backyard pre-party to the original Pemberton Festival and blossomed into a much-anticipated (and larger) annual event, migrating to the scenic Lillooet Lake Rodeo grounds, courtesy of the Lil’wat Nation.
“That was truly a rewarding experience,” reflects Lon Flath, co-organizer of the Shaker. “I think the energy was in the land we were lucky enough to enjoy.” A symbol of Pemberton’s neighbourly camaraderie and love for a good celebration, The Shaker epitomized the joy of reuniting old friends and forging new connections. For its last hurrah in 2014, the event even hosted hip-hop duo Blackalicious for one of their final shows before the untimely death of front man Gift of Gab.
Squamish: Giv’er
Squamish has leveled up from a highway pit stop to a real estate hotspot, but the party scene hasn’t evolved at the same pace. The James Bondage parties are (sadly) over and the nightly brawls at The Griz are long gone, as is the flannel-clad Loggers Stomp community hootenanny that used to close out Loggers Sports and Squamish Days each summer. Somewhat appropriately, the Chieftain Pub (or whatever it’s called this month) is the only truly consistent game in town.
But outside of town, things happen. In the early 1990s an outdoor rave called Summer Love set up in the Squamish woods and fueled the engines of the electronic dance music scene taking grip throughout the corridor. Ace MacKay-Smith reminisces: “Ohmygosh, it was epic, especially that one by the river with Deee-Lite and Doc Martin!”
More than a decade later, that same venue became the birthplace of Bass Coast, a now world-renowned art and music festival spawned by three local ladies and a few hundred friends lending a hand and bringing what co-founder Andrea Graham (aka The Librarian) calls, “really big energy that set the stage for Bass Coast’s growth.”
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That growth quickly surpassed the available space, and in 2013 Bass Coast moved to Merritt, BC, where it still thrives and has twice been awarded Best Boutique Festival in North America by industry heavyweight DJ Mag.
Back in town, LIVE at Squamish started in 2010 and was pretty good (even with the 120,000 attendees at the final fest in 2015) and the annual Arc’teryx Academy gives the best glimpse of what a Squamish festival of the future can be. But before it outgrew us, Bass Coast truly captured Squamish’s soul—good friends working hard to make something that would last.
There’s a similar energy in Trickster’s Hideout, Squamish’s latest haunt. A nightclub/dayclub/art/dance/community hybrid, it’s a throwback to the old days, full of events for those itching to ditch the mainstream. MacKay-Smith compares it to “early Whistler days,” a haven for the wonderfully weird.
These three towns—nestled amidst nature’s grandeur and with their own rich histories of shaking a leg and hoisting a cup—remind us that at the heart of every celebration is human connection. “When everything lines up perfectly,” McKinnon says, “dancing together in a sweaty, heaving mass, synchronized by the delectably dirty beats of a masterfully curated set, that is pretty hard to beat.”
And, around here, pretty easy to find.
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