TOURISM BC – January 2009

Vancouver Concert Set to Mark One Year Countdown to 2010

• A Vancouver Island Resort Sits Pretty on the Small Screen
• Rev it Up in Northern BC
• Winter at a Winery?  Cool Libations Tempt in the Thompson Okanagan
• For a Cruise through the Cariboo Chilcotin, bring your Cross Country Skis
• Settle in for a Soak in BC’s Kootenay Rockies

Vancouver Concert Set to Mark One Year Countdown to 2010: Save the date: February 12, 2009 ushers in the one year countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.  To mark the occasion, Vancouverites will be celebrating in force with a feast of Canadian talent; as part of the 2009 Cultural Olympiad, multi-Grammy award-winning artist Sarah McLachlan will headline a concert to launch the countdown. The concert is just one of 400 performances, ranging from music, dance and theatre, to visual arts, film, and performance art.  Free and ticketed events will take place at more than 70 venues in and around Vancouver and Whistler between February 1 and March 21, 2009.  In Whistler, there’s no need to wait until 2010 to get into the Olympic spirit, thanks to the Whistler Winter Arts Festival.  Set to run during February and March, 2009, the festival will bring a wealth of live music, performing arts, literary soirees, film screenings, art exhibitions and, yes, even competitive snow sculpting to the mountain resort.  With over 100 Canadian and international performers in more than a dozen events ranging from outdoor concerts to photography exhibits, street performances, and even aerial dancing, there’s sure to be something for everyone.  Even better: many of the events will be free.  What’s on the agenda for 2010? A 60-day celebration of Canadian and international art and culture during the Cultural Olympiad 2010, slated for January 22 to March 21 (festivities will begin before and continue throughout the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games).  For tickets and information on the Cultural Olympiad, visit www.vancouver2010.com.  For the Whistler Winter Arts Festival, visit www.whistlerartscouncil.com.

A Vancouver Island Resort Sits Pretty on the Small Screen: For fans of television’s Emmy-winning Boston Legal, the antics of characters Alan Shore (James Spader) and Denny Crane (William Shatner) provided a weekly glimpse into the lives of fast-paced attorneys in one of America’s oldest cities.  Sound like someone needs a holiday?  Even working professionals require a little on-screen down time.  Enter British Columbia’s Nimmo Bay, a gem of a resort nestled off the coast of Vancouver Island’s northernmost tip.  Featured as the vacation destination of choice for the legal eagles in a December 2004 episode, viewers were granted a taste of the province’s scenic shores, fertile fishing scapes, and even a view from within the cosy confines of the resort itself.  The experience led Shatner’s character to remark: “Nimmo Bay is the best fishing resort in the world and I want to buy it.”  So, it seems fitting that the prime-time program chose to wrap its fifth and final season in December 2008 with scenes that once again featured the BC beauty.  To commemorate the occasion, Nimmo Bay has fashioned some off-screen fun for the masses: from July 16 to October 20, 2009, guests can experience Nimmo Bay Resort firsthand with the "Exclusively Yours" Boston Legal Adventure package.  This getaway will provide visitors an opportunity to shine their lines amid pristine BC rivers that both Shatner and Spader's characters explored (also the same rushing waters favoured by the show’s writer/producer and avid fly fisherman, David E. Kelley). During three adventure-filled days, guests can even take it inside with a taste of fresh, coastal cuisine before settling in for four-star comfort.  It’s celebrity-style treatment, minus the legal eagle status.  www.nimmobay.com

Rev it Up in Northern BC: ‘Tis the season for snow.  And if “the more the merrier” is your cool climate motto, rev those snowmobile engines and head to Northern British Columbia.  With heaps of the white stuff blanketing this mountainous backdrop, this is one destination primed for memorable powder-packed exploration.  Rocky Mountain Trench Adventures (RMTA) will customize the experience, and provide plenty of torque, during winter snowmobile outings based from Prince George and further north in Mackenzie.  It’s a sledder’s dream with the Powder Play from Prince George package; outings promise an in-depth training program with focus on safety, excursions with Avalanche Certified Guides to remote locations and trails, big mountain hill climbs for experienced sledders, and more sedate traverses for the novice enthusiast.  There’s even an opportunity to nosh at a summit top.  In Mackenzie, it’s a porch to powder experience, due largely to the heaps of snow just outside your door; the Mackenzie BC Last Frontier package, provides power outings that supply the know-how during day-long excursions and even overnight stays.  Here, mountain trails and snowy fields beckon amid terrain that spans over 2,500 square kilometres (1,000 square miles).  Within this expanse, trails snake throughout the area’s Rocky Mountain Trench and into the Rocky Mountains, making for a scenic, seemingly endless ride.  RMTA rounds out the revs with snowmobiles, certified guides, safety gear, transfers and accommodation at each destination.  Bring on the torque.  Just don’t forget your toque.   www.rmtadventures.ca; www.avalanche.ca

Winter at a Winery?  Cool Libations Tempt in the Thompson Okanagan:  BC’s Thompson Okanagan is known for their grapes, and more importantly, what they do with them.  Indeed, the area proves a hotbed for visitors when temperatures rise, thanks in part to a fleet of wineries that dot the landscape. But who says sipping at a winery is solely a summer indulgence?  Not so at Sumac Ridge Estate Winery, situated south of Kelowna.  Come cooler climates, you’ll find plenty of opportunity to swirl and sip – and an even bigger occasion to make a day of it.  Start with Sparkling Sunday Brunch, the winery’s newest offering this season, which features tasty menus paired with prized sparkling wines (think apple cranberry French toast with Sumac’s crisp, Sparkling Pinnacle or omelettes smothered with grilled chicken, provolone and herbs matched with the Gewürztraminer or the Rose).  Beyond the bubbles, tours and tastings (by reservation) including both public and private sips will have you clamouring for more, while a decidedly more intimate experience can be savoured in the winery’s Founder’s Tasting Room.  Here, guests can partake in a private, tutored tipple of the winery’s premium wines, and even choose to sample a few menu specialities matched with each vintage.  As afternoon fades, indulge in a taste of tapas at Sumac Ridge’s Cellar Door Bistro, and nibble on executive chef Roger Planiden’s newest seasonal dishes, boasting the best of regional cuisine.  An ideal way to round out the day.  But then again, there’s always tomorrow.  www.sumacridge.com

For a Cruise through the Cariboo Chilcotin, bring your Cross Country Skis: If traversing far from the beaten path with nothing but cool, quiet calm strikes your winter fancy, BC’s Cariboo Chilcotin Coast is sure to provide the perfect tailored track.  All that’s required is some traditional cold climate gear: skis, poles and enough fire to fuel the engines.  And with Chilcotin Holidays, situated north of Whistler, one can take to the trails in a tranquil manner with an array of cross country ski adventures.  Until April, both novice and advanced enthusiasts can settle in for an afternoon of the shush-y sort, thanks to ski-in, ski-out options available from Chilcotin Holidays’s own ranch house.  Should you prefer to make it more of a hut-to-hut experience, simply follow your guide; all alpine huts are equipped with stoves, providing shelter suited for rest and refreshment, a bit of ice fishing and a
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