Pemberton is a village municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. This Pemberton Valley community is on the southwest shore of the

Lillooet River The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of W ...

and northeast shore of Pemberton Creek. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road about north of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, northeast of Whistler, and southwest of

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...

First Nations

The valley lies in the traditional territory of the Lil'wat First Nation, who have resided for thousands of years, but are now concentrated at Mount Currie. During the hunting season, the people journeyed into the headwaters of the Lillooet River. The absence of trails indicates travel was mostly by canoe. Indigenous farmers introduced potato growing to the area, having received seed potatoes either from passing early traders or from visiting the Lower Mainland.

Early European exploration

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

(HBC) employees were among the first outsiders to venture into the valleys of the

Birkenhead River The Birkenhead River, formerly known as the Portage River, the Pole River and the Mosquito River, is a major tributary of the Lillooet River, which via Harrison Lake and the Harrison River is one of the major tributaries of the lower Fraser River. ...

and

. In 1827, Francis Ermatinger came from the northeast via Seton Lake and Anderson Lake. Three years later, James Murray Yale arrived from the south. Their likely objective was to discover a feasible route between

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

and

Fort Langley Fort Langley is a village community in Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of approximately 3,400 people. It is the home of Fort Langley National Historic Site, a former fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company. ...

that bypassed the dangerous waters of the lower

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

. The need became more critical when the HBC lost the main access to the Interior via the lower

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

after the

Oregon Treaty The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to t ...

transpired. To determine a new route suitable for horse travel, which connected the Fraser with present-day Mount Currie,

Alexander Caulfield Anderson Alexander Caulfield Anderson (10 March 1814 – 8 May 1884) was a British Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) fur-trader, explorer of British Columbia and civil servant. Anderson joined HBC in 1831 and emigrated to Canada from Europe. He was placed ...

journeyed by way of

Lillooet Lake Lillooet Lake is a lake in British Columbia, Canada about 25 km in length and about 33.5 square kilometres (22 mi²) in area. It is about 95 km downstream from the source of the Lillooet River, which resumes its course after leavi ...

and

Harrison Lake Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres (95 mi²) in area. It is about 60 km (37 mi) in length and at its widest almost 9 km (5.6 mi) across. Its so ...

in 1846.

Port Pemberton

The

Douglas Road The Douglas Road, a.k.a. the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cattle Trail, which ...

, which conveyed miners and supplies, was a trail upgraded in 1858 during the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

. The now

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

of Port Pemberton, at the head of Lillooet Lake and the hub of this trail, comprised about six restaurants and six huts. Hemmed in by steep bluffs and large differences between high and low water on the lake, the unsuitable site is about by road east of present-day Pemberton. South of the port, Drinkall's Pemberton House provided lodgings and Otis Parsons (later of Parsonville) ran a general store. Completed in 1864, the shorter

Cariboo Road The Cariboo Road (also called the Cariboo Wagon Road, the Great North Road or the Queen's Highway) was a project initiated in 1860 by the Governor of the Colony of British Columbia, James Douglas. It involved a feat of engineering stretching fro ...

, which connected

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

Barkerville Barkerville was the main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada, and is preserved as a historic town. It is located on the north slope of the Cariboo Plateau near the Cariboo Mountains east of Quesnel. BC Highway 26, which ...

via

Ashcroft Ashcroft may refer to: Places * Ashcroft, British Columbia, a village in Canada **Ashcroft House in Bagpath, Gloucestershire, England—eponym of the Canadian village * Ashcroft, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Ashcroft, Colorado, ...

, ended most traffic on the Douglas Road. Consequently, most settlers abandoned the Pemberton area. The port and general area were named for

Joseph Despard Pemberton Joseph Despard Pemberton (July 23, 1821 – November 11, 1893) was a surveyor for the Hudson's Bay Company, Surveyor General for the Colony of Vancouver Island, a pre-Confederation politician, a businessman and a farmer. He was born in 1821 i ...

, a surveyor for the

and Surveyor-General for the

Colony of Vancouver Island The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. ...

in the 1850s. Joseph Pemberton probably never visited the area. By 1874, only a few settlers remained and the indigenous people had returned to their traditional ways. By 1882, only one name appeared on the voters' list. Pemberton House was abandoned in the mid-1890s.

Agriculture

This section outlines agriculture south of the mouth of Ryan Creek.

Pemberton Meadows Pemberton Meadows is an unincorporated community on the west shore of the Lillooet River in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. On Pemberton Meadows Road, the locality is by road about north of Vancouver, north of Wh ...

includes north of this point. John Currie, whose spouse was indigenous, was listed as a permanent resident by 1885, having significant landholdings with partners Dugald McDonald and Owen Williams. In 1888, Currie and McDonald pre-empted two lots which included present day northern Pemberton. McDonald left in 1890. John Currie was also the inaugural Pemberton Meadows postmaster 1895–1901. Unlike the later definition, Pemberton Meadows then included the current Pemberton. The general store/post office was housed in a log building on his farm, which was immediately northwest of Pemberton. Mail travelled via Lillooet. After a few years, the post office reopened at the later defined

. In 1895, Will Miller preempted about northwest, adjacent to what would become Miller Creek. Acquiring further land with his brother Bob, they sold out to the Howe Sound, Pemberton Valley & Northern Railway (HSPV&N) in 1912. Pettit, who had pre-empted immediately east of Pemberton, sold land to Charles Barbour in the early 1900s. The Currie household also provided meals and lodgings, a practice continued by Leonard Neill, the beef farmer who bought the property in 1903.

Early community

In the early 1900s. John McKenzie opened a store on the Barbour land. A small lake a few miles to the north bears his name. In the 1910s, the Pemberton Trading Co (PTC) bought the store, engaging J. Frank Brokaw as the manager. Brokaw was the inaugural Agerton postmaster 1912–1915. The origin for the Agerton name is unclear. One possibility is the Latin "ager" meaning field, another is an abbreviation for "a great town". The post office location was not far from the former Currie ranch, where the Pemberton Meadows post office had closed a decade earlier. However, the store soon moved closer to the proposed HSPV&N train station (which was never built at that location). Bob McLauchlan operated the first Pemberton Hotel for a few years before rebuilding in 1914 near the station. Decades later, this structure became the first unit of the Pemberton Motor Hotel. By the late 1920s, the hotel offered limited interior plumbing. The wife of William Tuck, the

Pacific Great Eastern Railway The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

(PGE) roadmaster, was the proprietor. The dining room also served train passengers and later received a liquor licence. The business passed through several hands over a short period. Although

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

enlistments temporarily reduced the population, the presence of the railway attracted many new families. Whereas the PTC store was about a mile from the built train station, Charles Wellington opened a store with upstairs accommodation around 1914 by the station. In 1915, William C. Kiltz took over at the PTC. About 1923, he left to establish the first Creekside store. Joseph Taillefer, who had joined the staff around 1920, became the PTC store manager. Their boarding house next door had six upstairs bedrooms. About 1930, the PTC relocated closer to the station, with upstairs accommodation for the storekeeper. About 1931, the Pemberton community hall was erected, which hosted the Pemberton community dances instead of the more distant Boys' Club hall at Pemberton Meadows. That year, the Pemberton and District Board of Trade was formed, and the Agerton post office was renamed Pemberton. In 1934, the PTC store burned to the ground when gasoline from a lamp dripped onto a newly waxed upstairs floor. The store safe and some goods were saved. After temporarily operating from the community hall, Wellington's store was bought to become known as Taillefer's store. For decades, the train station possessed the only phone. By the 1940s, Taillefer's store had a phone served by the provincial government network which operated across the railway transmission lines. The Pemberton and District Co-operative Association, founded in 1941, primarily maintained a warehouse adjacent to the railway for shipping potatoes but also operated a small store managed by Mrs Prendergast. During the 1940s, the main street included the community hall, Bob Taylor's garage, Taillefer's store, the hotel, Prendergast's store, and Jack Taillefer's garage. Taylor ran the Pemberton Express (PX), which delivered express parcels, general freight, private mail, and groceries. He provided taxi, car rental, and produce haulage services. Also, he sold gasoline, farm machinery, and real estate. Warren Taillefer's store carried a wide variety of goods compared to Prendergast's small store in a log cabin, which closed by 1948. In the 1950s, the Prendergast building became Wendell and Grethyll Watson's café. In 1951, the completion of the

Bridge River Power Project The Bridge River Power Project is a hydroelectric power development in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the Lillooet Country between Whistler and Lillooet. It harnesses the power of the Bridge River, a tributary of the Frase ...

brought electricity to Pemberton. In 1953, the British Columbia Telephone Co. installed party lines connected through the Squamish exchange. In 1958, an automatic telephone exchange opened at Pemberton. The village was incorporated in 1956. Brotherston and McNally bought Jack Taillefer's garage and Ford agency in 1952, but the building became the first drugstore in 1964. In 1956, the Pemberton and District Credit union was established, and two years later,

the Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toron ...

opened twice weekly. In 1957, Warren's (Taillefer) department store split into separate grocery and hardware stores. The latter opened a laundromat in 1964. An

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

detachment formed in 1961.

Railway

In 1873, a route via the Pemberton area was an option surveyed, but rejected, for the proposed Canadian transcontinental railway. By 1909, the HSPV&N Railway had bought the Neill ranch and Miller land. By 1911, the company owned around Pemberton. The HSPV&N planned townsites adjacent to the Squamish and Agerton settlements, naming the former as Newport. The prior Neill land was subdivided into 74 lots ranging from . The former Miller land was divided into larger acreages. After the company floundered,

Foley, Welch and Stewart Foley, Welch and Stewart was an early 20th-century American-Canadian railroad contracting company. It was owned and operated by Patrick Welch and J.W. Stewart of Spokane, Washington and T. Foley of Saint Paul, Minnesota. The company was created ...

agreed in 1912 to build the line under the title of the

(PGE). In February 1914, PGE renamed Newport as Squamish. The rail head reached the Pemberton area in early October 1914. When the first train from Squamish reached Pemberton later that month, passengers alighted onto a roughly hewn temporary platform, and a weekly mail service began. During the decades of passenger travel, Pemberton was a regular stop. Tisdall station to the southwest also opened in 1914, but existed intermittently over the years. Eastward links existed to Mount Currie and beyond. A water tower stood during the steam train era. The first reference using the expression Pemberton station was 1919. The precise date the station name officially changed from Agerton is unclear, but was definitely the case by 1922. About 1932, a steel structure replaced the wooden trestle bridge over the Lillooet River. A wye existed at the southern end of the station. Later construction projects were a station agent house in 1958 and a new station in 1962. The withdrawal of the

Cariboo Prospector The ''Cariboo Prospector'' or ''Cariboo Dayliner'' or The BC Rail Budd cars was a passenger train service in British Columbia, Canada, which used Budd Rail Diesel Car trains. It was operated by the Pacific Great Eastern, later known as the Britis ...

in October 2002 ended passenger train service.

Trails, roads, ferries, and bridges

The

Lillooet Cattle Trail The Lillooet Cattle Trail, also known as the Lillooet-Burrard Cattle Trail and also as the Lillooet Trail, was an unusual and daring public works undertaking by the Province of British Columbia in the 1877, and was the largest 19th century public ...

, built via Pemberton in 1877, rendered limited benefit in relation to its cost. Maintained for four years, the trail slowly fell into disrepair. In 1891, rehabilitation was carried out, but the route remained unpopular. Bob Miller built the first wagon road in Pemberton. In 1909, the Red Bridge was erected north of the later PGE bridge. During 1914 and 1915, a road was built from the eastern end along the north bank of the Lillooet River to Mount Currie. Formerly, travel was only possible during low water along the south bank. In 1922, two

howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

es were replaced over the Lillooet, one being the Red Bridge. A Pemberton ferry was subsidized 1926–1935 but may well have operated for a longer period. The location is unclear, but may have been over the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

. By 1953, a gravel road across former swampland replaced the old narrow dirt road to Mount Currie, which had included three unguarded

railway crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

s. A wider bridge over the Lillooet opened that year. Until 1958, no road existed between Pemberton and

Bridge River The Bridge River is an approximately long river in southern British Columbia. It flows south-east from the Coast Mountains. Until 1961, it was a major tributary of the Fraser River, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of ...

. In earlier times, produce was transported to the mines by packhorse. In addition, the Pemberton Portage Road has provided a northward link. Paving of the Duffy Lake Road (Highway 99) to Lillooet was completed in 1991. The narrow Squamish to Whistler gravel road built in the early 1960s was extended to Pemberton in 1964. This road was paved in 1969 as far Mount Currie.

Forestry

First Nations were the first loggers. During the

, timber was felled to build bridges and boats.

includes a broad outline of logging and milling in the area. In 1938, a BC Forest Service ranger cabin was built close to the railway. In 1971, Evans products established a sawmill, creating 175 mill jobs and 125 logging ones. During its short lived presence, the wellbeing of the community was enhanced.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Pemberton had a population of 3,407 living in 1,357 of its 1,430 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 2,574. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Pemberton included: *

Irreligion Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and a ...

(2,705 persons or 79.7%) *

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

(590 persons or 17.4%) *

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

(15 persons or 0.4%) *

Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...

(15 persons or 0.4%) *

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

(10 persons or 0.3%) *

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

(10 persons or 0.3%) *Other (45 persons or 1.3%)

Later community

The village fortunes have been interdependent with Mount Currie for decades. Whereas agriculture, then forestry, previously dominated, the community moved from a resource based town to a resort dependant town in the 1980s. By the end of the 1980s, agriculture and manufacturing had all but disappeared. Accommodation, food, and beverage had become the largest employer. However, residents dislike being a bedroom community for Whistler. The rapid population growth has created a housing shortage. Local employment opportunities are limited and commuting is the norm. In 2019, TELUS completed the laying of fibre optic cables to homes and businesses in the area. New modernized traditional style commercial structures include Portage Station, Winchester and the Pemberton Gateway Village Suites Building (with nostalgic Red Clock Tower) with covered porches, Pemberton Valley Lodge, and the Pemberton Barn that houses the Friday Farmers Market. The library and community centre have a covered walkways on three sides. Two residential development proposals presented in 2022 were Benchlands on the northwest corner of Pemberton and Redwoods between Pemberton and Mount Currie. The former would create 270 new single-detached and multi-family units and the latter 176 multi-family townhouses. Community opinions are split between affordability and high density threatening the community character.

BC Transit BC Transit is a provincial crown corporation responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside Greater Vancouver. BC Transit is headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. In , the syst ...

provides daily services. The municipality operates the

Pemberton Regional Airport Pemberton Regional Airport is a registered aerodrome located south southeast of Pemberton, British Columbia, Canada. Canadians and a few US pilots practiced landing here, to train for Kandahar, Afghanistan. Facilities There is an automatic ...

(CYPS)

Education

In 1929, Bertha Green was the inaugural teacher when the Pemberton school opened near the train station. In 1951, the Pemberton Superior school opened for grades 1–10 to replace the existing school. In 1957, the new larger Elementary-High school was completed, which provided additional classrooms and a gym. In 1963, Signal Hill Elementary opened. In 1995, a separate new high school was built.

School District 48 Sea to Sky School District No. 48 (Sea to Sky) is a school district in British Columbia, Canada. The school district serves three major population centres along the Sea-to-Sky Corridor The Sea-to-Sky Corridor, often referred to as the Corridor or the Sea t ...

operates three public schools in the village: Q'aLaTKu7em Community School, Signal Hill Elementary and

Pemberton Secondary School Pemberton Secondary School is a public high school in Pemberton, British Columbia, part of School District 48 Sea to Sky. In addition to standard academic and athletic courses, it offers French Immersion, Aboriginal Education, and International ...

. The latter two offer dual track English and French immersion.

Recreational trails

The Pemberton Valley Trail Association has built of public trails for cross-country skiing, biking, walking, or horseback riding. The latest trail connects One Mile Lake to Nairn Falls, a 1-hour hike in summer each way but can be used year-round with skis or snowshoes in winter. This trail was completed in 2012 and is part of the TransCanada Trail Network, Sea to Sky and Cariboo Trail Section. There are real hitching posts all round town to tie up your horses. There are almost of public trails in the Pemberton Valley System.

Music festivals

On July 25–27, 2008, Pemberton hosted the Pemberton Festival, produced by

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

, which had a musical lineup of 66 acts including

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer ...

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, ...

Metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathem ...

, and

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

. The festival was the first to be held in the valley since the Stein Voices for the Wilderness Festivals of 1989–90, held in nearby Mount Currie, which drew over 35,000 people, the largest number of people in the valley since the gold rush. Its roster of artists included

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, po ...

, and

Spirit of the West Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ma ...

Pemberton Music Festival Pemberton Music Festival was an annual four-day music festival that took place near Mount Currie in Pemberton, British Columbia. Produced by Huka Entertainment, the 2016 event took place on July 14–17. The festival features multiple sta ...

was re-organized in 2014 by

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

-based company, HUKA Entertainment. The event took place July 16–20, 2014, and brought in over 30,000 attendees over the span of five days. The festival featured multiple stages of live entertainment, with different genres including

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

, hip hop,

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

, heavy metal, and

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

. Buses and shuttles were used to bring people from surrounding communities to prevent the first Pemberton Festivals traffic issues. Approximately 20,000 attended in 2014. The second revived Pemberton Music Festival July 16–19, 2015, included the artists

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...

and

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...

, with an estimated attendance of 115,000. In 2016, the daily crowd was estimated at 45,000, with an overall attendance of close to 180,000. The 2017 Music Festival was officially cancelled and declared bankruptcy on May 18, 2017. From 2008 to 2014, the one-day Two Acre Shaker music festival was held. The Becker's property, the venue until 2011, would sell out. The Lillooet Lake Rodeo grounds at Mount Currie, which had double the capacity hosted the final years.

Notable people

Barry Sonnenfeld Barry Sonnenfeld (born April 1, 1953) is an American filmmaker and television director. He originally worked as a cinematographer for the Coen brothers before directing films such as ''The Addams Family'' (1991) and its sequel ''Addams Family Va ...

(1953–), movie director, is a resident.

Media

Pemberton news is covered by Whistler's weekly newspaper, ''

Pique Newsmagazine ''Pique Newsmagazine'' is the only newspaper serving the resort community of Whistler, British Columbia. It was founded in 1994 and operated as an independent, locally owned weekly newspaper until July 2013, when it was purchased by Glacier Media ...

'', published every Thursday and also available online. ''Pemberton Magazine'' is also published once a year by Pique Newsmagazine for Tourism Pemberton.

Climate

The climate of Pemberton is very warm and dry in the summer and mild and wet in the winter. Pemberton is an ecologically complex and diverse zone which is referred to as the Coast-Interior Transition zone. Moving from west to east in the direction of the prevailing winds and taking into consideration the elevation changes; it follows that there is a windward, wetter zone and a leeward drier zone and an even drier zone on the leeward side of the

Lillooet Ranges The Lillooet Ranges are the southeasternmost subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. They are located between the drainage of the Lillooet River and Harrison Lake on the west and the canyon of the Fraser Rive ...

and the

Pacific Ranges , photo = Mount Garibaldi (50997016501).jpg , photo_size = 280px , photo_caption = Mount Garibaldi massif as seen from Squamish , map = , map_image = South BC-NW USA-relief PacificRanges.png , m ...

north of the rail line. High summer temperatures and the pronounced water deficits during the growing season are the norm.

Fauna

Mammals Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

: ** Large

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s: *** Bears:

Grizzly The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

and

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

bears *** Big cats:

Canada lynx The Canada lynx (''Lynx canadensis''), or Canadian lynx, is a medium-sized North American lynx that ranges across Alaska, Canada, and northern areas of the contiguous United States. It is characterized by its long, dense fur, triangular ears ...

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

and their hybrids,

North American cougar The North American cougar (''Puma concolor couguar'') is a cougar subspecies in North America. It was once common in eastern North America, and is still prevalent in the western half of the continent. This subspecies includes populations in weste ...

***

Grey wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

, and their hybrids,

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

Herbivores A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

and

ungulates Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...

: *** Hybrid

black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

mountain goat The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...

s, and

mountain sheep The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild sheep that roams the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains. Description The name 'argali' is the Mongolian word for wild sheep. I ...

Avians Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

and raptors *

Reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

: **

Garter snake Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the ...

s – 3 species: *** Northwestern garter snake Thamnophis ordinoides ***

Western terrestrial garter snake The western terrestrial garter snake (''Thamnophis elegans'') is a western North American species of colubrid snake. At least five subspecies are currently recognized. Description Most western terrestrial garter snakes have a yellow, light oran ...

AKA Wandering garter snake

Thamnophis elegans vagrans The western terrestrial garter snake (''Thamnophis elegans'') is a western North American species of colubrid snake. At least five subspecies are currently recognized. Description Most western terrestrial garter snakes have a yellow, light orang ...

***

Thamnophis sirtalis The common garter snake (''Thamnophis sirtalis'') is a species of thamnophis snake, in the natricine subfamily, which is indigenous to North America and found widely across the continent. Most common garter snakes have a pattern of yellow stri ...

– 3 subspecies 3a) Valley garter snake / Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi, 3b) Valley garter snake / Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi, 3c) Red-sided garter snake (or "Red Racer")

Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis The common garter snake (''Thamnophis sirtalis'') is a species of thamnophis snake, in the natricine subfamily, which is indigenous to North America and found widely across the continent. Most common garter snakes have a pattern of yellow strip ...

** Northern

Rubber Boa The rubber boa (''Charina bottae'') is a species of snake in the family Boidae and is native to North America. It is sometimes known as the coastal rubber boa or the northern rubber boa and is not to be confused with the southern rubber boa (''C ...

Charina bottae The rubber boa (''Charina bottae'') is a species of snake in the family Boidae and is native to North America. It is sometimes known as the coastal rubber boa or the northern rubber boa and is not to be confused with the southern rubber boa (''Ch ...

Limited Range

is the most Northern, and closest boa range to either pole. ** Sharp-tailed snake

Contia tenuis The sharp-tailed snake or sharptail snake (''Contia tenuis'') is a small species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Western United States and British Columbia. Common names Additional common names for ''C. tenuis ...

Endangered newly discovered, limited range only known mainland habitat. **

alligator lizards An alligator lizard is any one of various species of lizards in the family Anguidae that have some shared characteristics. The term may specifically refer to: Species of the genus ''Elgaria'': * Northern alligator lizard (''Elgaria coerulea'') ...

Elgaria coerulea ''Elgaria'' is a genus of New World lizards in the family Anguidae. Their common name is western alligator lizards. Geographic range Species in the genus ''Elgaria'' are distributed in western North America, from Mexico to Canada. Species The ...

principis and

Western Skink The western skink ''(Plestiodon skiltonianus)'' is a species of small, smooth- scaled lizard with relatively small limbs. It measures about 100 to 210 mm (about 4 to 8.25 inches) in total length (body + tail). It is one of seven species of ...

Eumeces skiltonianus The western skink ''(Plestiodon skiltonianus)'' is a species of small, smooth- scaled lizard with relatively small limbs. It measures about 100 to 210 mm (about 4 to 8.25 inches) in total length (body + tail). It is one of seven species of l ...

both lizards Limited Range in hottest and driest areas ** Northern Pacific

Rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small anim ...

Crotalus oreganus oreganus ''Crotalus'' is a genus of venomous pit vipers in the family Viperidae, known as rattlesnakes or rattlers. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates ( ...

Edge of Historical Range, no longer extant, limited range. Once found only in specific micro-climates: hottest and driest areas with southern exposure under rock outcroppings and long needle pine, before DDT. *

Amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

– newts, tree frogs, frogs, and large

Western Toad The western toad (''Anaxyrus boreas'') is a large toad species, between long, native to western North America. ''A. boreas'' is frequently encountered during the wet season on roads, or near water at other times. It can jump a considerable distan ...

Footnotes

References

* * {{Authority control Villages in British Columbia Populated places in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Pemberton Valley